A lot of music influences me in other ways than this, but I've

The words of Rex Orange County — “A lot of music influences me in other ways than this, but I've always taken a lot of influence from Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, and Jeff Rosenstock for the Rex music. They were also the first three artists that released albums where I enjoyed every song.” — unveil the mystery of lineage in art. No artist creates from nothing; every melody, every lyric, every breath of creation carries within it the echoes of those who came before. To confess one’s influences is not to diminish originality, but to honor the soil from which one’s voice has grown. Rex declares with humility that his music was shaped by the greatness of others — that his own flame was lit by torches carried by Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, and Jeff Rosenstock.

The ancients too knew this truth. Homer sang of the Muses, for he understood that even the greatest poet did not invent from the void, but received inspiration from beyond himself. In Rome, Virgil honored Homer by shaping his own Aeneid in the shadow of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Influence was not theft, but continuity — the passing of sacred fire from one soul to another. Rex’s words remind us that to create is to be part of an unbroken chain, where each new voice grows from those that came before.

Stevie Wonder’s genius was not only in melody but in vision — blending joy, sorrow, and unshakable humanity into sound. Frank Ocean brought vulnerability and raw honesty into modern song, weaving new textures of soul and confession. Jeff Rosenstock gave voice to rebellion, urgency, and restless truth. From these wells Rex Orange County drank, and from them he built his own music — tender, playful, and deeply personal. He found in their albums something rare: not just songs he admired, but works where every song spoke to him. This completeness revealed to him the possibility of building not only single moments of brilliance, but entire worlds of sound.

History echoes this pattern. Consider the young Ludwig van Beethoven, who studied under Haydn and admired Mozart. He did not deny their influence, but allowed it to shape his foundation. Yet from that soil, his own fierce and storming voice arose, forever altering music. Or think of Pablo Picasso, who first drank deeply from classical tradition before breaking it open to give birth to modern art. Greatness rarely springs from isolation; it flourishes in dialogue with the giants of the past.

Rex’s confession also carries a lesson in humility. To acknowledge influence is to admit that one is not self-made, but part of a greater symphony of voices across time. Many strive to appear original, forgetting that originality itself grows from deep roots. True artists are those who honor their influences, yet transform them into something new, just as Rex has taken the echoes of Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, and Jeff Rosenstock and molded them into music that bears his own unmistakable signature.

The wisdom here is not only for musicians, but for all seekers. Whatever your craft, recognize who shaped you. Read the masters, study the teachers, honor the voices that stirred your heart. Do not fear influence — for to imitate is the first step toward creation, and to transform is the birth of originality. Like Rex, find those works where “every song” speaks truth to you, and let them guide your hand as you build something uniquely your own.

Practical action lies before you: immerse yourself in greatness. Seek out works that stir you fully, where not a single piece feels empty. Let them teach you, inspire you, and challenge you. Then, add your voice to the chain — not as a copy, but as a continuation, as one who has received the flame and now tends it in your own way.

Thus, O seeker, remember Rex Orange County’s words: influence is not a weakness, but a strength. To be moved deeply is the beginning of moving others. Drink from the wells of those who came before, then build your own river, and let it flow freely into the world. For this is how art lives — through influence, transformation, and the courage to create anew.