Rock minister of souls: The music and vision of Angelica Garcia

The 27-year-old pop-rock artist Angelica Garcia was on the cusp of a major popular breakthrough when President Obama included her single "Jicama" on his influential end-of-year best of 2019 playlist. In "Guadalupe," a pop-dance track with the chanting chorus "I wanna be like her," Garcia asks how generations of men revere La Virgen de Guadalupe while also undermining the self-determination and integrity of the women and girls in their lives. "When you don't process the things that you did, when you don't face them, when you don't act in loving community with people, and with all people... if it doesn't hurt you materially in life, I think it will hurt you spiritually" This is the work of the "ministry of souls," Garcia describes - the mediating role of the performer opening a space for accountability for righteous rebellion, for plunging into mystery and sorrow, for exchanges with God, the saints, and the devil, all while utterly owning the dance floor.