Making it on your own as a musician once seemed to be the only plausible path to singer-songwriter Vanessa Garcia.
Garcia, a 20-year-old UF media production, management and technology and economics sophomore — whose artist name is Vané Light — took to YouTube University her freshman year of high school and started learning to produce music on her own. She released her first three songs last year, all written and recorded individually. She wasn’t accustomed to teamwork.
Growing up in a Cuban immigrant household, independence was a core value instilled in her, so asking for help has never been in Garcia’s nature. That is, until “Ultraviolet.”
The alternative indie pop artist’s newest song, released Feb. 27, marks the first time Garcia has collaborated with her band to record a track. The five-piece formed last spring, but until now, Garcia has put together her tracks all on her own.
She said “Ultraviolet” is a big stride in her own self-development and is the next level in terms of her music’s quality.
“That song is kind of the epitome of my growth as of the last couple months,” she said. “I always felt like if I didn't do everything on my own, there was no way I was going to be able to succeed.”
Garcia, whose love for music is innate and whose songwriting journey began in middle school, grew up faced with the societal stigma that pursuing a career in the arts was unsustainable. For a long time, she felt ashamed of her passion.
But last year, she decided it was now or never.
“Now in college, I was like, this is my last chance, and I'm taking it the most seriously I've ever taken it in my entire life, and it's made me the most happy I've ever been,” she said. “I feel like when you're fulfilling who you are, you are the most happy.”
Toward the beginning of the project, Garcia wasn’t entirely comfortable with her material, and she even doubted whether her bandmates wanted to show up to practice. But since last spring, Garcia’s keyboardist Gabe Collante said her confidence has grown.
Collante, a 21-year-old UF music business and entrepreneurship sophomore, said Garcia’s not the only one who’s used the band as a point of growth. The project has also gotten him out of his own comfort zone.
“Her music actually gave me kind of a unique challenge, because a lot of what I was working on before was classical, jazz and stuff like that,” he said.
Carlos Tovar, now the frontman of indie group Dumpster, has also witnessed Garcia’s growth, even within the short time he played guitar for Vané Light. He was excited to be asked to play on “Ultraviolet,” his favorite track of the band’s to rehearse.
Tovar, a 22-year-old UF music business and entrepreneurship sophomore, admires how Garcia’s stage presence has developed. Whether it be a show at University Club or a set at the AM/FM Festival, the frontwoman always hops off the stage, becoming a part of the crowd and spurring them to “get hype.”
Garcia also inspires Tovar with her dedication and organization. He recalled the singer had a Google Drive with demos and chords for each track to keep the band in the know while practicing.
As an up-and-coming musician in the Gainesville scene himself, Tovar is grateful to have Garcia and her band as a support system and knows if there's ever an empty space to fill at one of her gigs, she’ll give him a call.
“It's really nice, because these new waves of bands that are coming up, I'm friends with all of them, and it really feels like a little family,” he said.
On “Ultraviolet,” Garcia also teamed up with audio engineers back home in Miami to help refine her track — and to teach her more about the world of producing.
When it comes to songwriting, Garcia takes on the task herself again in “Ultraviolet.” Most of her past work has explored themes of introspection and identity, but the new song is her first interpretation of romantic relationships. Garcia’s struggle with self-esteem is still evident in the track, in lyrics like “I don't need to be convinced I might only want you because I don't want myself.”
Between writing material and pursuing her double major, Garcia finds much of her time as an independent artist is allocated to social media. She finds it unfortunate that building a brand often takes precedence over music making in today’s industry, but she’s been hard at work to promote herself and her singles.
From the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed, Garcia’s working, and she said it’s been “grind city” lately. Now with four released tracks, and many more written over the past few weeks, she hopes to have an EP out at the start of next year.
Though it may have been tough to seek out help with “Ultraviolet,” breaking into the Gainesville music scene wouldn’t have been possible without Garcia taking initiative to connect with her fellow musicians.
Early on in Vané Light’s career, Garcia sought advice and collaboration from local bands. Noise Next Door’s drummer, Max Goldberg, recommended her to people organizing gigs around town. He also suggested attending The Bull’s open mic night, where his band got their start.
Goldberg, a 21-year-old UF accounting junior, doesn’t think there’s another band in Gainesville that looks or sounds quite like Vané Light, a female-fronted synth pop group, he said. With a lineup of talented musicians, he added, the gigs are now booking themselves.
“The advice I gave her is the advice I'll give anyone, which is just become a friend of the scene,” he said. “Know the bands, know the people, reach out. She did it exactly right.”
Contact Isabel Kraby at ikraby@alligator.org. Follow her on X @isabelgkraby.
Isabel is the The Alligator's Spring 2026 music reporter. She is a junior studying journalism at UF and is from Ormond Beach, FL. In her spare time, she loves going to concerts, crafting and practicing guitar.
