Quotes from Rex Orange County

I won't be the kind of artist speaking in riddles all the time - it will be lyrics that make sense the moment I say them.

I think there's no limit to ambition, and if you want something, you can make anything happen, so go for it.

I took piano lessons and I wanted to play drums when I was six. Luckily enough, my parents let me have a drum kit in my room - which is kind of crazy.

I feel like collaborating is something I need to try more of.

The first person on the BBC that played me was Huw Stephens. I was sat around my laptop with my girlfriend and my family, and it was super-exciting. It felt weird, and it sounded weirder, but it was great.

I think 'Apricot Princess' actually came out before 'Flower Boy.'

I write songs, I play instruments, and I produce music that comes out for the world.

I'm usually just writing lyrics alone in my room, but I'm happy to be producing and writing chords anywhere.

I like being at the front - it's where I'm meant to be.

I want nice songs. I don't want to worry about where I have to place songs on a playlist. I'm looking to make genuine, great songs and put them together into albums.

'Apricot Princess' is like an inside album. You can listen to the album and feel all of those emotions within one night.

I don't think I'd call myself a rapper.

I met a lot of label people at the start of doing this music thing, and I just realised soon that it wasn't much about music but more so about their paycheck at the end of the day.

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.

Alex Tumay is a recording engineer who works a lot with Young Thug and a load of other rappers, like Quavo. I'm just a fan of his work.

Really I've just gotta be making really great music that I love and not worrying too much about what other people are gonna think about it.

I realized that you can achieve so much at the front of a stage, releasing the music yourself and being something more selfish than just the drummer.

Some people can work on the road, and that's incredibly impressive... maybe I'm not working myself hard enough.

I want to make myself better and get working with some of my biggest influences and make the best music I can.

People have cried at a couple of shows. To think that someone could do that for me... Jesus Christ. That's a crazy sign.

I wear my musical heart on my sleeve and show all my influences off. I'm happy for someone to point out that my song sounds like someone else's.

When I fifteen or sixteen and was in London, moving from a small town and now going to a big city, I discovered so much new music. Finding all of that music and being inspired that much all at once, that was the benefit of being from a small place.

School did stress me out, like it does for a lot of young people. I didn't like having to do work that I didn't care about.

As long as you're being yourself and putting out what you want to put out, it'll be the best thing you could do.