© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

First Watch: Angelica Garcia, 'Orange Flower'

"I went with him to dinner / and didn't even pay / and then he called me dude the next day!" sings Angelica Garcia to a giant papier-mâché monster in her new video for the song "Orange Flower." Garcia is from Los Angeles but relocated with her family to small town Virginia, where she found herself, seventeen and alone with all the time in the world to make music without judgement.

In "Orange Flower," Garcia's been let down by a good-for-nothing guy. In some moments, he treats her like a lover, but in others, she's basically his mom. Throughout the video, we see Garcia nailing blues guitar riffs backed by a band and going on a series of crappy dates. In an interview with NPR Music over email, Garcia shares that to make the video, she convened a team of young art students from Richmond: "Director/cinematographer Julian Ashbee and I worked closely together to capture the spooky and quirky sound of the song. From there we rounded up a local team of artists to assist us." Garcia's infectious swagger comes to life in this video: When she sings she does it loaded with sarcasm embedded in a blues rock sound akin to another southerner, Adia Victoria, and even the raunch of The White Stripes. At the core of "Orange Flower" is devilishly good rock and roll with a perfect, swampy, devil-may-care attitude.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.