Swimming With Barracudas – Interview with Angie Rey [Country Artist 2023]
My interview with Angie Rey was quite and ADVENTURE! We talked about swimming with barracudas, her Duck Funnel experience, shark fishing, of course her music and experience on American Idol and La Voz.
Sue Bonzell
She’s open for Scotty McCreery, Jared Neiman and John, Michael Montgomery and she had an appearance on a couple of singing competitions you might be familiar with. Angie Rey is here today. Welcome, Angie. Hello, how are you? I’m good are having me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let’s talk about I always like to talk about, you know, American Idol. Oh my god voice. Yeah. So you’re on both of those, right? So
Angie Rey
I was on when I was 13. I did the voice, but it was the Spanish version for like little kids. Okay, so it’s kind of a different twist on it. It was season one, it was the very first time that was so fun such a cool experiences. Because like, when you’re little, it doesn’t really feel like a TV show or competition show. And they like they do your hair and your makeup and they feed you and they bring things to your room. So that’s nice. And then at 15 I did American Idol. And that was a little bit different just because I was the youngest girl on my season. So it was a very different experience when it came to like, hey, we need you and your call times things like that. It was very much more competition feel everybody was kind of neck and neck with each other. So it’s very different, very cool experiences, but very different.
Sue Bonzell
So on American Idol, how far did you go on there?
Angie Rey
So I made it through. There’s a bunch of producer runs that happened before cameras, even air. So there’s that then after that you go into the judges round, which I honestly don’t remember anything at all, except for the only thing I remember. It was Keith Urban’s eyes were so blue. Like it was the only thing I remember. I remember nothing else. There was that audition, then there were the three rounds of Hollywood week. And then I made it to the end of Hollywood week right before lives and that’s when they cut me. Okay, it made it far for 15. I don’t salutely I don’t entirely think I was ready for it. Well, that’s pretty young to be doing. It was something Yeah. And it takes a huge, like emotional and physical toll on you. So I remember going home and like they do feed you and give you food and like, they do it in a way that like you feel like this big, huge like deal. And so I remember going home and opening the fridge and my mom, like I stood there. She’s like you stood there for so long. And she said back to life back to reality. And I was like, Yeah, and it really does feel that way. For me. I know. I’m like, where’s my sermons is so bad. So but they do put you kind of through that. That feeling of a superstar. And I think that’s kind of what’s cool about the show
Sue Bonzell
that well, it’s prep. It’s prepping you for everything that you’ve got going on now. Right? Yeah. Well,
Angie Rey
you know, I’ve discovered my love for cooking, so I don’t necessarily need a chef but I do. I do like that experience for sure. i How could you not
Sue Bonzell
what’s your favorite thing to cook? Oh, my
Angie Rey
I learned how to make it actually sounds way more complicated. It’s like a salmon Wellington. It’s, it’s so good. I love fish. I know. And I love like pepper tuna and things like that. I’m definitely a seafood girl.
Sue Bonzell
Okay, well, so let’s actually let’s talk about sharks about your mom. Yeah. Your family. So you’re you’re a first generation American here. Tell us about your family. Yes. So
Angie Rey
I was born in Southern California. My parents are both Cuban. And along, obviously, their parents in their parents. I have three brothers. One is a half brother. He was born in in Cuba as well. But I grew up with him as my brother. So he’s like my, my brother than my two other brothers were born in California with me. My mom came from Cuba. I think she was very young. She was like three, I think. And she came and traveled and did a variety of different things. I went through like Mexico, and then ended up in Canada and then ended up in California. Yeah, so this huge thing. And my dad actually floated here on a raft back in the 90s. So it’s kind of cool story. It’s very interesting to talk to him about it. He’s like, I was like, Dad, would you do it again? He’s like, No way. He’s like this. Yeah, he says, It’s so dark, you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. Yeah. And he said that like during so it’s not like a boat. It’s like a, you know, the like inner tubes that you blow up for your pool like that, but two stacked on top of each other. And I know and it was him, his brother and one other guy. And they like blow here and get picked up by the Coast Guard at the time there was a dry foot rule. So if they made it to the United States, untouched land, they were safe here. They did not they got picked up by the Coast Guard. So they got moved to Montana Bay. And then my dad lived in Montana by one time a bay for nine months. And he said that that was like the coolest experience ever. They gave him like really recon bursts and food and he’s like, we didn’t have that in Cuba. I was like, Okay, Dad, so it was like a vacation for nine months. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell
How interesting was what a story of perseverance early. Yeah, really.
Angie Rey
They he’s very much for chasing your dreams. And really, I mean, who does who in the right mind. I mean, you really have to want something really bad to do that. He’s he also tells stories of like, sometimes you would see other rafts that that were empty or rafts that were sinking and you can’t help other people you know, and that’s just not in my dad’s nature. He is so much of like a helper like he wants to help everybody. He’ll give you his own shirt. So I know that was always he always would be like, I would never do that again. I was like, Okay, dad. He was young. In his 20s Yeah, sure. So he was very, very young.
Sue Bonzell
Wow. So you said you have three brothers you? So what’s it like being the only girl The only girl and all the brothers it’s
Angie Rey
not it’s definitely good and bad. I’m definitely like, I’ve been the girl that will dress up by like I had mentioned to you before we started I love high heels. I’m always in high heels skirts very girly. But I also have my like, get down and Let’s wrestle. And I’m like, I always tell people that I’m like part boy like I really think that I am just because I grew up with these these three guys and they’re not little dudes like they’re they’re big dudes. They’re the they’ve all we’re all we’re athletes. My two older brothers were baseball. My little brother played hockey now he’s a fisherman so and they they do all kinds of stuff. But it was it’s been a cool experience to be. I missed out a little bit on the sharing of clothes, but I still see other clothes. I haven’t sweatshirt. I was on FaceTime with my brother yesterday, actually. And I was wearing this sweatshirt. It says baseball is fun, which is a company that somebody we went to high school with. He plays for played for the rays and made this he was in the World Series and was this thing. Brett Phillips and Brett has this company out now called baseball’s final and I was wearing this baseball is fun. He knows it’s not my sweatshirt. It’s a sweatshirt. And he’s like, is that my sweatshirt? I’m like, Do you think that’s my sweatshirt? I was like that’s it my sweatshirt? That’s your sweatshirt? Of course it’s your sweatshirt. I was like, I don’t know we’re talking about. I just wear it. But it’s wonder if you’re wondering where those months it’s been gone for months. And now or he came and visited me. And I do say like, oh, you know, I’m so girly. And I would love to steal girl clothes. But I am notorious for stealing boy clothes. Like, I’ll go visit them and I’ll go to sleep and their T shirts, shorts. And I’m not even the same time. I’ll just like tie a like rubber band to shore. It’s how we
Sue Bonzell
make fashion out of their clothes, right? Yeah. Easy. Of course. Yeah, of course. Sure. Well, let’s talk about music. So here you are this beautiful Cuban woman in Nashville making country music. Tell us about how you started in music.
Angie Rey
I started actually enacting when I was five years old. I booked my first job when I was five, and then fell in love with music. My I think his preschool teacher told my mom that I was just yelling over everybody else. She’s like, I don’t know what it is the ABCs This and that. And she’s just yelling over everybody else. And my mom swears by it. And she’s like, okay, so she took me to a vocal coach. And I was so shy, like, so shy, it was so uncomfortable. My mom paid my vocal coach and I would sit there and not say anything. And we would stare at each other for the hour lesson. And then obviously, you take their time you got to pay them. So my mom pays a singing coach, and Ray who’s my older brother, the one with the baseball jersey, or the baseball shirt. He was very easygoing. He did all the commercials with me so and he was he’s way more charismatic than I am, like, way cuter than me just everything and so much more full life. And so he booked everything. And he was very easygoing. And my mom said, Ray, will you please go singing lessons with your sister? I was eight. And the singing coach goes in with my brother and I and I sing, my brother sings. And she comes out and goes, I just want to let you know your son has the most incredible voice. And my mom was like, that’s great. Okay, he doesn’t want to sing. It’s hardly wants to sing. And so I think it was that and then like, instilled in me that like, I needed to bust my butt to be better than my brother. And it was like this little I’m very competitive. So I needed to be better. And it took like, maybe a year or a year and a half. And we had a singing recital. And he’s saying Wanted Dead or Alive that one. Yeah. And forgot the words on stage. And I was like, This is my moment to shine. And I just I blew the roof off the place. I killed it. And it was like in that moment that I just started like, constantly singing and just recording videos on like YouTube and first become a thing and all those things. And I just I loved music. My family is very, there’s always music in the house. My parents don’t play any instruments. They don’t do anything but they met dancing. So it’s kind of it’s a different way of you know, I think what they say about me and my voice is it was so much God given like they don’t think that it was like something that was around me. My mom played piano when she was very young and saves me her piano from when she was 15. And we’ve just it’s actually still in the garage. I think at my parents house. I ended up buying myself a baby grand piano cool, but they they just always had music playing my dad always had music even though it was Spanish music or different kinds of music. There was always something going on dancing, singing and there they on New Year’s Eve they sent me a video and it was them singing and dancing and I was like this is so fun. I was like this is part of why I love music.
Sue Bonzell
Yeah, so you have a new song out is your third single Isabel Isabel so let’s talk about the song. Yeah, tell us about the song.
Angie Rey
It’s one of my favorite songs at the first moment that I heard it I was like, I love this song. So much of it for me and I I love high energy songs to a fault. I love ballads. It’s what I originally started doing. I started in blues and soul and those kinds of songs. I did a lot of energy themes and that kind of style of music. And I fell in love with that but then I gotten to live performances and sage and things like that. And I love the energy of the crowd when it was high, high speed music, high tempo, all those things. So when I heard Jezebel the first time, I was like, this song is amazing. It tells such an incredible story. And it’s so funny because it’s not like, it’s not a story about me. It’s not a story like that. It’s a story about other people. So it’s more like a narration of it, which is kind of cool and different. But it’s done in such a manner that it really paints a perfect picture of what’s going on in this this world of Jezebel.
Sue Bonzell
Interesting. Okay, well, good. I’m excited about this. Yeah, I think you’re going to be playing that for us. Yes, in a little while. So that’s exciting, too. So you’ve, you’ve worked, you know, downtown on Broadway, and here in Nashville, kind of, you know, gotta gotta get that in, right. I saw some video. Can you tell me about the what is it the duck funnel?
Angie Rey
Oh. Yes. That was actually over in Florida. I traveled which shocker. It doesn’t happen in Nashville. I feel like Florida is the other occasions. Exactly. So that was actually somebody I knew that I was not expecting there. So it was a show during Gasparilla. Which Gasparilla is this event that goes on in Tampa, Florida. And it’s the invasion of pirates. So it’s the they do this big boat parade and the pirate ships come and it’s like, it’s like Mardi Gras but on the water. And so then they like the pirates give the key back to the mayor. So it’s this all day party, though. It’s the parade starts at like 9am. And it goes all day until 6pm. Well, my show was at like eight. So everybody was already like honors. And this particular venue is called Welcome to the farm. And it’s it’s a brand new bar down there. And it’s kind of cool. It’s kind of got the same vibe as like a downtown bar feel. But when we we go up on stage, and I see my brothers were at this show. So they walk in and I’m like, Oh, my brothers and their girlfriends are here. And then this guy walks in and I know who he is because he’s my little brother’s friend and my my little brother’s a degenerate. I love him. And he’s so fun. Like, we’re best friends. But he brings all his little friends and he’ll invite everybody and this guy had just pulled out a duck funnel and I am not I’m a lightweight like when it comes to alcohol. It’s like one high noon and she’s dragged on the ground. Like it’s that kind of feel for me. I remember him walking in and I was like, oh my god, I was like this guy. And I was like, I can’t not experience what it’s like to have this duck right now. So we just messed with it the whole time. And it was it was that’s what
Sue Bonzell
that video it’s actually a funnel. That is a duck. Yeah, so they love duck
Angie Rey
hunting my brother. Yeah, my brother and his friends all go duck hunting. And it’s been this like newfound love for them that they’ve kind of started doing and within the last year, so everything that they have is like duck related. So that was kind of
Sue Bonzell
makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Now did you do some deep sea fishing knots? Not too long. I
Angie Rey
- I love to fish. Okay. Yes, I have a necklace that is a fish hook. And I looked for it this morning. I couldn’t find it. I wear it all the time. But I think I left it on the counter somewhere and I can’t find it. Yeah, I love to fish. It kind of started a few years ago when we moved to Florida and my my little brother loves going offshore fishing and I am not an inshore fish or like it’s really tough for me to insure fish just because I don’t understand the purpose of like, catch and release. Like I don’t really want to like I don’t want to fish like in my mouth and just to be put back you know, now I’m bleeding. I’m sad. And now it hurts to eat like I complain with anything in my mouth. So I if I’m going to catch it, I want to keep it I want to eat it. I want to you know, cook it and all that. And so we go offshore fishing and I am notorious for catching the biggest fish of the trip and catching sharks. That’s my specialty. Okay, every shark in the world it’s ridiculous. So it’s like I’ll bring something out that’s like really nice and then all of a sudden this like struggle just I’m just like, like I know and I should have known it happens all the time but I’m like the lucky one and I don’t know if it’s just because I go out there and I’m like so ready to kill it that I think it’s just like I get good luck in that way like energy good energy brings gonna say I think it’s a good energy. It’s not like you have light you’re like they’re like oh, it’s something shiny. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. And it comes straight to you. It’s funny because we’ll go fishing with my with my brothers and they’ll sit out there and they’ll pick Why don’t you always get why she was get the first one why she was get the biggest one and I’m like I’m just that good. Fair, competitive, it kind of creates a good environment when we go out there.
Sue Bonzell
That’s super fun. Okay, so more music are you do you do any music in Spanish? And are you planning to do any music? Yeah,
Angie Rey
so I’m sure we’ll cross that bridge eventually there is my next single that’s going to come out we’re working on it now is called Who is this girl and it’s kind of a different I really wanted to bring some Latin elements into country music there’s so much that ties in people think it’s not the same or and it’s very different. There’s a lot of differences in it but a lot of the thoughts behind country music and a lot of the thoughts of what is a Spanish a Latin family are very very similar. So like, there’s god there’s having a good time there’s high energy there’s fun there’s there’s love and passion chin and that’s very, very, very neck and neck with country music, even though it’s just in a different language. So for me it’s kind of creating that bridge and gap where my love for country music and still ties in a little bit of that Latin flair that makes me who I am. So and who is this girl? There’s a lot of like Spanish guitar in it. So it’s kind of a cool, different take. It’s in English. But there are Spanish flavors in there, which is something that I really, really love and that song and I’m sure eventually we’ll get somewhere where we’ll cut something in Spanish.
Sue Bonzell
Awesome. Okay, well, I was excited that you’re here. Yeah. We’re gonna be playing some, some music. If you want to see her performance, you can catch the link in the description. And when we come back, we’re going to be playing a world famous game truth or truth. Its truth or truth. All right, it’s time to play my world famous game truth or truth with Angie, Ray. Are you ready? Angie?
Angie Rey
I don’t know. I’m nervous. Oh, it’s
Sue Bonzell
easy.
Angie Rey
Okay. Let’s see. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done? Oh, this is I feel like a lot of my answers are gonna be water related. The scariest thing I’ve ever done was actually swim. go diving with a barracuda. That was so terrifying. Yes. So scary. I’ve like been in water with sharks and other things. And the Barracuda really freaked me out. That would freak out. Yeah, that was a really, really scary one. For sure.
Sue Bonzell
Okay, well, how like, how did that happen?
Angie Rey
I don’t think I intentionally meant to like get in the water. But I was in the keys. And we like go in the water. And I was wearing a necklace or something. And you’re supposed to take all your jewelry off. But nobody I was new. I was a newbie. So nobody told me. Hey, take your jewelry off. But they’re very attracted to the sparkle. Yeah, they were just very territorial. They swim in rectangles. And this one I My dad says I practically ran on water. I was like, Well, I
Sue Bonzell
bet I did. I told you you were like, you’re like the bait. You really worried?
Angie Rey
Yeah, exactly. I knew I was setting myself up for that one.
Sue Bonzell
Okay, she survived. Okay. I want to live to live to tell about it’s
Angie Rey
scary. Let’s see. What’s the worst physical pain you’ve ever experienced? Who, probably my appendix Oh, really, I had appendicitis. And I think it was a it’s funny because I don’t do well with needles or anything like that. Nothing related. So even like now I have really, really severe eczema and I get an injection every two weeks. And it’s just my parents asked me for videos of it because they don’t believe that I’m going to do it because it’s a needle. So I’m like, of course I’m not gonna do it. So there’s that. But I remember during my appendix, it was the next day I was supposed to get my blood drawn. And my mom was like, You’re just being dramatic. Like you’re not and I was like, no woman like take me to the hospital. I was like, This is worse. And she was like, oh, okay, so this is serious. And I remember like bending over I slept on it the whole night. Wow. And I went and I I’m good now. Barracuda. Okay, what’s next?
Sue Bonzell
Okay, we need a different theme.
Angie Rey
Let’s see. What famous person do you think you look most like? This one I get a lot of is what did I just tell you? I feel like no, no, it’s a Celine Dion. That’s the way India Yeah, I get that a lot. That’s probably my most common comment on my facial features more than anything
Sue Bonzell
that somebody said share
Angie Rey
yet, but I’ve never heard that one before. Like, it’s I think it’s probably more than hair that Yeah, I think most people will be like, Oh, she has curly dark hair. So then they’ll compare me to everybody that is currently and I’m like, just because we have the same hair doesn’t mean we look anything alike just because from what we like the same from behind from yeah, I’ve gotten a lot recently to was Shania Twain is the other one. But I think that’s also curly hair. It’s probably the curly hair.
Sue Bonzell
Yeah. Have you ever had lighter hair? I Yes.
Angie Rey
I’ve been blonde like you before? Yes, I’ve gone through a whole phase of colors. My hair is naturally dark. And I like it. I think I’m good with it dark. Yes. I went through this phase where it was like straightening my hair every day because I wanted to look like all the other girls and be blonde and and that’s in Florida. Everybody’s blonde straight hair long, straight, beautiful hair. And I was like always the girl with curly hair. And I was like, I have to do my hair every morning because if I don’t I have an afro and I just didn’t know how to do it. So I would just straighten it and then my mom would be like, I’m gonna three straighteners wave.
Sue Bonzell
Well, I love that you’ve embraced it. Thank
Angie Rey
Me too. I took a long time. But
Sue Bonzell
yes, great. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, don’t go back.
Angie Rey
Like it was my girl to blonde hair will kill your girl so it’ll really make it straight. And I think that was what a lot of my problem was. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I
Sue Bonzell
like it. I like a dark. Well, I do too. Thank you. Thank you so much for playing the game and being here today. Angie Rey, follow her on all the socials. Thanks for watching up in country be sure to like and subscribe and leave us a comment. We do new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to follow up and country on Instagram Tiktok and Facebook and you can follow me to add Sue Bonzell on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
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