Diego Garcia, former lead singer of indie rock band Elefant-turned solo artist, said there is one thing that needs to be present when writing a song.

“A topless girl. Always have one while writing music,” he said. “You have to if you’re trying to write about girls and heartache.”

It was that topless girl, along with Garcia’s long-time friend Dhani Harrison, son of the legendary Beatle, George Harrison, who were present on a casual day when Garcia’s single “You Were Never There” was written. Co-written with Harrison, that song would be Garcia’s first single off his debut album “Laura,” which was released last spring.

“We were in L.A and I was just kind of playing around with my guitar by the pool,” Garcia said. “Dhani was going through a breakup at the time so he started adding to the song so sitting in our bathing suits, it formed from there.”

Garcia will be performing at 8 p.m. at The Basement Dec. 16.

Though Garcia first got his singing start with Elefant, his music style changed when he went solo.

“The message is a romantic thread. With Elefant it was young and innocent, like a first kiss,” he said. “Now I sing about love and heartache. It’s more real.”

Along with his music, Garcia’s fan base has changed too.

“It’s a super new fan base with kids that can really appreciate this kind of music,” he said. “But it’s also a lot of Elefant fans that (grew) up with it and can now really relate to the material from their own experiences.”

Since going solo, Garcia has a hard time narrowing his music down to just one genre.

“I would say it’s romantic pop but that’s misleading to a lot of people,” he said. “I think a 22-year-old would be turned off by that type of title. It’s still punk, but refined. You can’t really pin me down. I just kind of do my own thing.”

Doing his own thing and writing about his life is exactly how his debut album, “Laura,” named after his longtime love, formed.

“It’s all about her,” he said. “She was my one true love from day one. It’s about break-up, heartache, losing love, and finding it again. I had to ask myself, “Can you really be happy without your true love?’ and I answered it by writing songs about it.”

Lindsey Kerr, a fourth-year in political science, said she is happy Garcia is coming to Columbus.

“I remember him in Elefant and I’m glad he’s coming to Columbus soon,” she said. “It’s nice to see him successful as a solo artist.”

Alex Mayer, a third-year in health sciences, said he doesn’t think Garcia’s music is anything extraordinary.

“I just think his music is OK,” he said. “Nothing special.”

Garcia said students can expect powerful, raw and passionate show when he performs in Columbus.

“I stand there telling my love story,” he said. “It’s just me singing about my life through this beautiful thing called music.”