21-year-old folk rock singer/songwriter Calista Garcia has penned a raw, vulnerable, and sensitive track — “The Way I Love You” — aboutunrequited love. Released today, the single marks the third installment from her forthcoming 2023 sonically diverse eight-track album, Confession (exact release details TBA). 

“‘The Way I Love You’ is an unflinching, bittersweet eulogy to unrequited love,” Calista explains. “When I first wrote the phrase, ‘Someday, somebody’s gonna love me the way I love you,’ I found it heartbreaking. It took time, healing, and finally experiencing healthy, reciprocal love to understand how hopeful the phrase was. Acknowledging that one deserves better is the first step to receiving it. In wanting this song to be intimate and direct, I laid off pet names or metaphors. As a result, it defies genre.”

Calista delivers flairs of Latin, blues, roots and pop, all tied together with introspective lyricism. Her distinctive, expressive style and musical ingenuity shines through on Confession.

Recorded at Plyrz Studios and produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Jim Scott, Confession showcases a “new classic” style — with a fresh, modern twist that hearkens back to the ‘70s era — drawing inspiration from legends such as Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. 

“I sat with myself for a couple of years during the pandemic, and I felt myself change,” Calista opens up about the inspiration behind Confession. “I’m now 21, and will be 22 by the time the record is out…there’s a lot of wiring and rewiring during this stage of life. I’ve moved to New York City by myself, I’ve had my heart broken a couple times since the last record, and a lot of strange, beautiful and difficult experiences. I learned that the best way to deal with hardship was to stare it in the eye, then just keep moving. I think the world’s gotten too crazy for music you can’t move to.” Collectively, Calista devotesConfession towards personal growth and learning to love your imperfections. 

Confession follows Calista’s previously released EP’s, A Beautiful World (released October 2021) and Wild Woman(released April 2019), which garnered a nomination for “Best Roots/Country EP” in the 2020 Independent Music Awards. The project also won multiple nominations and awards from International Acoustic Music Awards (IAMA), the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) and the Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest (MASC).

Photo Courtesy: Henry Yuliano