Theresa Rex
With billions of streams, countless collaborations and a reputation for writing songs that connect deeply with listeners, Danish artist and songwriter Theresa Rex has already made an impressive mark on the music world. But with her latest release, “Fall In Love (To Fall Apart)”, she invites us into a much more personal space.
Honest, vulnerable and occasionally laced with humour, the song explores family, love, parenthood and the patterns we can inherit from the people who raised us — and the difficult question of whether we can break free from them.
Ahead of her upcoming EP These Songs Hurt My Feelings, Theresa opens up about turning painful experiences into music, finding humour in difficult moments, the importance of feeling safe in the studio, and why success isn't always about numbers, but about making people feel seen.
“Fall In Love (To Fall Apart)” is available now.
Fall In Love (To Fall Apart) feels incredibly honest and vulnerable, especially in the way it explores the patterns we can inherit from our parents. When did you realise that this was a story you needed to tell through music?
I am always told that I look like my mother. I do , and in so many ways. I started thinking about the ways I do look like them both, which parts i have taken with me reluctantly and which parts I'd rather have been without. `
The line “I take after my mother, I fall in love with stupid men” immediately catches the listener’s attention. There’s humour in it, but also something quite painful underneath. How important is that balance between humour and vulnerability in your songwriting?
She did fall in love with some very stupid men, and that has not always made life easy. We never really had any money, and for the most part my family consisted of me, my mom and my two sisters, our dads were in prison or off somewhere -with who knows who? doin who knows what.
So all we really had to count on was each other, but these ladies were crazy and funny and I dont think I would have ended up as well as I did if it hadn't been for trying to find the funny and ironic parts of life. That deffently seeps into my songwriting aswell. You can't take life too seriously if your life has been too serious
The song also asks some difficult questions about parenthood and whether you could become the kind of parent you never had. Did writing this song change the way you think about love, family, or the possibility of breaking generational patterns?
Sometimes songwriting is unintentional therapy. It did get me thinking about how I blame my shortcomings on my parents, and how they blamed theirs on their parents, and I’m sure the list goes on until noone is at fault for anything. But it’s just the way I was made, we have passed down hurt and chaos in generations and I really don’t want to be a part of that spiral. I’m not gonna have children if what I have to pass on isn’t gonna be good enough.
Your upcoming EP is called These Songs Hurt My Feelings. It’s a striking title that sounds both vulnerable and slightly tongue-in-cheek. What does that title mean to you?
They did! Or at least subjects of the songs did.
Writing this EP has been really hard, and I have blasted the songs in my car, singing along while crying really hard! I hope it isn't just me and that it might, not hurt but, touch some other peoples feelings.
Your music has always been very direct and emotionally honest. Has being so open in your songwriting ever felt frightening, or has music always been a place where you feel safest telling the truth?
I wouldn't bring up really personal subjects like these in just any session, I have to feel really comfortable with the people in the room. I have made the mistake a couple of times trying to write personal songs in rooms where the vibe wasn’t right and that has left me feeling weird after the session, like gave too much, and those songs never turn out good.
Fall In Love (To Fall Apart) was written with Nikolaj Pellegrini and Craig Lucas both of whom are the loveliest people and I would give my both kidneys if they needed them.
You’ve experienced remarkable success as a songwriter and featured vocalist, with more than 1.6 billion streams and collaborations across the world. How has your relationship with success changed as you’ve grown as an artist?
I think sucesses can be messured on so many parameters, numbers is just one, and not a good one, sucess to me is when I put out the music I love. Like this song! And if just 10 people feel seen or touched in some way, that would be a sucess for me.
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