Spanish professor Benjamin Garcia Egea heads to campus each day with a passion for teaching. But what some USC students may not know is that Garcia Egea has another passion he cares about just as much: music.
Music has always been an important facet of his life, he said. Originally born in Spain Garcia Egea would write and sing songs growing up to accompany his brother's guitar. His cousins also know how to play instruments such as the guitar, piano and flamenco cajon, he said.
And in April, Garcia Egea was able to release his first few singles and album "Broken Trust."
Garcia Egea is a professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. After earning his master's degree in Spanish at West Virginia University, he came to the University of South Carolina in 2014 to get his Ph.D. He has taught at three universities, including West Virginia University and Marshall University.
Garcia Egea’s music focuses on themes such as anxiety and relationship problems, specifically related to being cheated on and finding the strength to move on. “Better Off” is a song about being in a relationship with someone only to find out that they have been talking to someone else, he said.
“I like for people to feel identified or to see themselves in songs," Garcia Egea said.
Garcia Egea said his music resembles that of dance and pop music, similar to music from the '80s and '90s, and he takes inspiration in his music from a variety of female artists he listened to growing up, such as the Spice Girls.
Since a young age, he said has always viewed the Spice Girls as role models. Garcia Egea is also a fan of Madonna. He admires her for her activism, he said.
"Singers that have a stand on things — that they're not afraid to speak up about issues," Garcia Egea said. "Those are the people that I like."
Jack Johnson, a second-year international business student, said there's a distinction between the teaching style and the music produced by Garcia Egea.
“He’s a fun professor." Johnson said. "These are pop, techno, club dance songs, so it’s kind of just completely different and unexpected of him."
The integration of his music into his lessons is a fan-favorite from his students. Kayla Richer, a second-year finance student who has a minor in Spanish, has taken two classes of Garcia Egea’s.
“He used that to help us learn what we were learning in class because some of the things we were learning were in his music,” Richer said. “There was a reflexive verb (in the song) and (we had to) find the verb."
Because she listened to his music that he played in class, she said she felt the urge the check it out again and was very fond of it. But his music is not the only aspect of her professor that she said she finds admirable.
“My Spanish teachers in the past have not been very personable," Richer said. "You can just tell he has such a good soul.”
Garcia Egea isn't done yet, however. He is set to release his next song on Nov. 5, he said.