For the past few years, Ricky Garcia has been involved in ensemble projects that have allowed him to shine as both a singer and an actor—from the Simon Cowell-assembled boyband Forever In Your Mind to the Disney Channel’s Best Friends Whenever. As he heads further into 2021, this is the year the 22-year-old shares more of his solo efforts, starting with brand new single, “All I Wannna Do.”
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“I want people to feel the pain, the love, the good, the bad,” Garcia tells American Songwriter. The single, a slice of R&B loving dedicated to someone special, is something he’s been working on since 2019. The track details the ups and downs of his personal life, and he wants that to become a signature of the music he makes from here on out. “As much as I respect having privacy, I want people to see who I am and the time it took to get here,” he says.
Here, where Garcia finds himself, is that sweet spot in between an ending and a beginning, when anything can happen. Born in Puerto Rico, raised in Texas, Garcia busied himself watching his favorite TV shows and playing around with music—two of the activities he ended up making into a career.
His first taste of fame came from X Factor, where he performed in front of Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland, and won over the people he looked up to. That led to Forever In My Mind, the boyband he was part of under Hollywood Records, along with Emery Kelly and Liam Attridge, and together they toured with Demi Lovato, Fifth Harmony and Jesse McCartney. Their songs aired frequently across the Disney Channel, and collectively, singles like “Smooth,” “Enough About Me,” and “Compass,” picked up over 70 million YouTube views.
As his music career was taking off, so too was his acting. Known for his role as Naldo on Best Friends Whenever, Garcia also went on to earn a Teen Choice Award nomination for his part in the family comedy Bigger Fatter Liar. More recently, he took on the part of Monks in “Finding ‘Ohana.” The film, popular among Netflix viewers, is TV director Jude Weng’s (Young Sheldon, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) directorial film debut. “I was blessed with the opportunity,” says Garcia. “My agent contacted me and told me that the Finding ‘Ohana team reached out in regards to me being in the film. It was a dream come true moment.”
Garcia is part of the feel-good film, a thrilling adventure with long-lost treasure, steeped in authentic Hawaiian culture. “For acting, I feel like I’m able to dive into a character and bring something out of me that I wouldn’t necessarily see in myself,” he says. Music affords him a different kind of experience. “I’m letting myself get lost in my own art. Creating the words and sounds of my life. Something a bit more raw and honest. But I love them equally for the mere fact that I get to express different parts of myself through both,” he says.
This year, Garcia returns his focus to his music, polishing the track he’s been wanting to release since he wrote it in 2019. “All I Wanna Do” marks a new, more mature, chapter for him. “I see the music touching anyone and everyone,” he says. He wants his songs to be transparent too. “Moving forward I see a lot of tears, laughter, and a lot of love because ultimately I think that’s what we’re all on this Earth to do. Loving one another.”
Garcia is taking the lessons he learned from being part of Forever In Your Mind — “being comfortable in my skin, building others up, finding the truth between words and becoming a better lyricist” — into this next phase. “I’m working on my entire career,” he says. “I’m applying pressure to myself this year to make things happen and follow through. I’m truly hoping that the music and acting will be taken for what it is. I’m available to give my all and that’s what I intend to do. I think that’s what’s going to take me where I need to go.”
