Australian-born Orianthi wants to inspire America's young women to put down their cell phones and pick up guitars. As the guitarist for Michael Jackson's ill-fated final tour, the 24-year-old followed in the footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Jennifer Batten in working with the late legend. But as the video for 'According to You' -- from her forthcoming album, 'Believe' -- proves, Orianthi is ready to break out on her own."'According to You' is a pop song but I think the lyrics will really connect with a lot of young girls," Orianthi tells PopEater. "It will make them feel good about themselves. It's really empowering and it connects with a lot of people as it's about leaving a bad situation and moving on to a better one. It's not a negative song. I thought that lyric would be great and then rocking it with the music and adding a guitar solo."
Channeling the spirits of Stevie Ray Vaughan and her biggest influence, Carlos Santana, Orianthi gleefully shreds and slashes her axe as her two fellow guitarists rock out in the background.
"Playing guitar is my passion, and I love it," she admits. "The two male guitar players in the video are in my band and we have so much fun playing. They are great players and we jam away all the time, we act like six-year-olds at band rehearsals playing old songs. We add 20-minute guitar solos to Hendrix and Stevie Ray songs. We love playing."
A robot-like hand playing chords on a guitar neck is also seen in the video, a la 'Guitar Hero.' But Orianthi says she's no game master. "I suck at 'Guitar Hero,'" she laughs. "I get booed all the time! It's really depressing."
Well, cheer up. If 'According to You' is any indication, 'Believe' will soon inspire a new guitar girl nation.
"When I was learning guitar there weren't too many female players like Jennifer Batten and Bonnie Raitt to look up to," Orianthi recalls. "It wasn't easy. It's like being a male ballerina. Ballet is a girl's thing and playing guitar is a guy's thing, but hopefully this will get more girls playing guitar. When you watch the music video it's not too much guitar but it's there. If it inspires more girls to play guitar that would be really cool."
