Rey of Light

AngieRey’sremarkablejourneyfromSeminoletoHollywoodhas turnbeennothingshortofinspiring,culminatinginastar-making sheonNBC’sTheVoice.Witheverypowerfulperformance, sharednotonlyshowcasedherimmensetalentbutalso herpersonalstoryinawaythathastouched audiencesaroundtheworld.

ByNICKSTEELE

TThe 25-year-old Cuban-American country singer-songwriter Angie Rey, known for her alluring voice and charismatic stage presence, is a home-proud local girl who describes her stage persona as a cross between Shania Twain and Shakira.

“So, girl next door but spunky,” she offers enthusiastically.

She gained national attention as a contestant on Season 27 of the popular reality competition show, where she was coached first by Kelsea Ballerini and then Michael Bublé, before being eliminated in the Knockouts.

During her Blind Audition, Rey performed Ballerini’s song “Penthouse.” Her rendition impressed Ballerini, who turned her chair and praised Rey for hitting notes she herself couldn't and then joined her onstage to perform a duet.

Growing up in Southern California, Rey began acting in TV commercials at a young age. It taught her some valuable lessons about competition, rejection, image and the realities of the entertainment business. So, it follows that she has found her greatest successes thus far through reality competition shows.

Her sound is a fusion of her Cuban heritage and love of country music.

“I actually didn't encounter country music until I moved to Florida. I was in seventh grade. We just picked up and moved across the country,” she recalls. “That can be a really hard age to make friends. My mom was like, ‘Hey, there's a girl that lives across the street. Why don't you go say Hi?’ So, my mom walked me over and introduced me to her. We are still best friends to this day. Her mother had an extra ticket for a Lady

Antebellum concert and that was the first time I experienced country music. I just fell in love with it.”

It was a transformative experience in another way as well.

“I always loved singing,” she admits. “I think I was 8 years old when I started vocal lessons, but the performance aspect kicked in for me when I was at that concert. There was a moment when everyone held up their lighters—all those lights in the air. That was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I was like, This is awesome. I want this. I loved that feeling. And I realized, if I feel like this down here, it must be unreal from up there.

Her dream eventually led her to relocate to Nashville, the epicenter of the country music scene. Once there, Rey found a way to parlay her ambition into opportunities to open for such artists as Wynonna Judd, Tanya Tucker, John Michael Montgomery, Scotty McCreery, Gabby Barrett and Ashley Cooke.

She credits her parents for her adventurous nature, but also her practical approach needed to achieve success.

“When you’re young, you really want your parents to be like, ‘I love you. You’re perfect.’ But my parents gave me a really good mix of reality while also encouraging me to chase my dream,” she shares. “My mom always told us, if you plan for Plan B, Plan A will never work.”

She admits that rejection always stings, but says it only motivates her to work harder.

“I think when you’re chasing something you want so bad and then hearing ‘no,’ it can be heartbreaking. And nine times out of 10 you are going to get a no or actually, maybe more like, 11 times out of 10,” she jokes. “It can really deteriorate your spirit and it makes you wonder, Am I good at this? Persistence is really hard. There have been times when I've been like, Man I am so frustrated. It's the worst feeling in the world to be told no. But I choose to let people just keep telling me no, until someone says yes.”

She has found social media especially helpful in her pursuits as well.

“I am the queen of the Instagram DM (direct message). It took me a really long time to get this way, but something just clicked in my brain. If you don't ask for what you want, no one is going to know that you want it,” she advises. “So, I started asking for what I wanted. You know…This what I need. Who do I need to talk to? How do I get there? And I started popping up in places I needed to pop up. Now, I just DM anyone I want to talk to on Instagram. I have written songs with #1 songwriters because of it and met with some really incredible people.”

Many of these strategies didn’t come into play until she was in a place where her ambitions lined up with potential opportunities.

“A lot of my realizations happened after I moved to Nashville. I had to learn from all the let downs and get in the driver seat,” she asserts. “It really clicked in after about a year and I thought, Okay, no one's knocking at my door. So, I had to ask myself how I could be seen and noticed. I always say that the music business is 90% business and 10% music. It’s really about your brand and how you market yourself.”

She says she also had an epiphany about the type of fans she wanted to cultivate.

“One thing I love about Kelsea Ballerini is that girls go to her concerts by themselves, because they know that her fans are nice enough to include them in their friend groups. And that’s what I want too.”

Of her relationship with Ballerini, she says that while she may not have captured the show’s top prize, she came away with something more valuable.

“I have always loved her. You know, I'm a fan of hers before anything else. She's phenomenal and so talented, but also so nice and genuine,” Rey shares. “Our connection was special, I think, partly because here she was on this show and she's sitting next to people that she’s listened to and thinking, These people don’t listen to me, so how am I worthy of being here? But what I was able to was give her a feeling of, Oh, she sang my song. I do deserve to be here.”

Ballerini actually took a moment to pause her show during her tour stop at the Amalie Arena to call out Rey (who was in attendance) and confirm that it gave her confidence as a judge.

She even kneeled down to address Rey, acknowledging that It was “one of the things that made me feel okay to be in that seat” before bringing her up on stage to perform a duet of “Homecoming Queen” with her, echoing the moment when Ballerini joined Rey on The Voice stage to perform “Penthouse” together, praising Rey for hitting notes she herself couldn't.

“In Angie’s voice, I hear a little country, I hear pop and soul...she's full of surprises,” Ballerini offered. “She’s so good.”

Rey says the connection went further than mutual admiration and continued privately as well.

“There were a lot of conversations that we had off camera that were really special,” she reveals. “We talked about all kinds of different things, like life and relationships…being lonely as an artist. She gives great advice. She really is like a big sister to me.”

While filming The Voice, Rey released a single about coming home to Tampa called “Running Back” and since leaving the show has been making moves to bring her dream—that sea of lights dancing in front of her, as she performs— to life, as she fields opportunities with record labels, potential publishing deals, a management relationship and plans to tour.

“I have some really cool stuff going on. On July 11th, I have a song coming out called ‘Dear Drunk Driver’ and it's already had millions of views on TikTok. It’s actually a true story about a friend of mine that was hit by a drunk driver in Seminole. It’s been really cool to open that conversation up. And I'm hoping to get on tour within the year.”

In November, she will be performing alongside Parker McCollum and The Red Clay Strays at the first St. Pete Country Fest. But even as her star continues to rise, she says she hasn’t forgotten the fans who help get her where she is today.

“I just want the people that came to my shows, when there were maybe three people in my audience, at whatever bar in Seminole, to be proud,” she shares. “Those people still follow me and message me. I really want them to be like, That's our girl!”

To learn more visit, angierey.com

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