Greeley native and musician, Rex Winnfield, draws inspiration from Tyler the Creator, Logic, Childish Gambino, Charli XCX, Travis Scott and more. (Photo courtesy Rex Winnfield)
It's no secret that northern Colorado is brimming with artists specializing in all kinds of genres.
From Armando Silva and his murals to the "sweaty soul music" of The Burroughs and dozens upon dozens of different types of artists in between, the region is a hot bed of creativity.
Just when you think you can't add another local artist to your watch list of up and comers, musician and Greeley native Rex Winnfield, 18, is throwing his hat into the creative ring with the release of his third album, "Break the Internet."
"Break the Internet" was released on Sept. 2 and consists of 15 original tracks including "Good Day," "History" and "Cosmic Brownies."
The musician worked with a variety of artists for the project, including bassist for the band Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, as well as MC Lars, Zenith and BRAYDEN.
"When I was growing up, I was exposed to a lot of different genres; two of them being MC Lars - "The Graduate" by MC Lars was probably one of the first hip hop albums I ever heard - and then my dad is a huge Funkadelic fan, so that is how I heard about Bootsy Collins," Winnfield said. "I was introduced to MC Lars right at the beginning of the pandemic and with Bootsy, I just reached out to him."
In return for his effort in reaching out, Collins sent Winnfield a short interlude of him doling out some advice for artists trying to break into the industry.
Winnfield lays down his smooth, flowy lyrics atop clean musical beats and rhythms, making his music a pleasure to listen to and easy to follow. With his use of electronic sounds and synthesizers, Winnfield's music is best described as alternative hip-hop.
And, he isn't afraid to make fun of himself and does so with the "Hivemind Outro."
"I would say that I am not a very boastful person and if I boast, I like to keep it true to me or to things that I would like to have in the future," he said. "With this album, I wanted to focus on telling people who I am, so there is a lot of humor."
Denver artist, Rex Winnfield, recently released the album "Break the Internet." (Photo credit Rex Winnfield)
While "Break the Internet" is Winnfield's third album, this project was the one that really allowed him to implement everything he learned in the making of his past two projects to find his own style, voice and path.
"Before, it was really trying to copy my influences because I was a lot younger and just trying to figure out how I was going to articulate what I was saying," Winnfield explained. "And then, over time, that slowly began improving and becoming my own sound. Along with just mixing it with my love for creativity, like fashion, photography, art, cartoons, I eventually began just mixing them all together."
In making "Break the Internet," Winnfield pushed pause on hip hop music and pulled inspiration from bedroom pop like Gracie Abrams, Coleen Gray and Olivia Rodrigo.
"That was a lot different from what I originally did and I wasn't able to replicate that sound if I was making rap," he said.
Winnfield, whose real name is Ethan Goddard, was born and raised in Greeley and became interested in music when he was just a youngster.
"My dad introduced me to a lot of alternative rock like Modest Mouse, and over time he showed me some hip hop stuff like Tyler the Creator and Mac Miller, which started my love for hip hop," Winnfield said. "Eventually around eighth grade, I started doing poetry which would later convert to rap."
While he has been dabbling in creating music for around four years, Winnfield began considering the art seriously as a career for just year ago.
"I graduated high school early with some college credits under my belt and I have just been working as hard as I can on music," he said.
Graduating high school early not only allowed the musician to delve full-time into the music industry, but it also allowed him to grow up quicker and "experience life," which has contributed to the music he created for the album.
"The stories I tell on the album and the inspiration was from kind of doing a little test run of being an adult, you could say," Winnfield quipped.
Winnfield returned to his hometown of Greeley this past August to perform with the lineup of Deca, Homeboy Sandman, Felix Fast4ward and Rev Da IV at the Moxi Theater.
"I really wanted to spend this album cycle focusing on playing a lot of live performances and doing music videos - stuff I really hadn't done before and getting myself out of my comfort zone," he said. "Opening for artists at the Moxi was actually my first performance. My goal going into that performance was to make it fun and memorable."
Along with adding to his collection of songs, Winnfield is interested in expanding his musical skills by learning to play some instruments.
"While I do love hip hop, I want to be more musically inclined so I can know more about what it takes to make other genres of music," he said.
"Break the Internet" as well as other songs by Rex Winnfield can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, iTunes, YouTube and Deezer.
Winnfield isn't afraid to "put his eggs in one basket" to forgo college to pursue his passion of music. He is working to promote his music by performing in venues across Colorado, in hopes of headlining his own statewide tour.
"I just really want to make everything I do branded and catered to the people like me and the people that understand, like hey, those creative nerdy kids can also have fun too and be weird," Winnfield said. "I just really want to promote myself the best as I can with live music."
