"This record has a lot of influences that I'd love to cover, like Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind and Fire. Maybe I'll do some covers of my major influences during my live show"

Jon Secada signals an artistic compass oriented toward lineage as much as innovation. By naming Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind & Fire, he points to pillars of soul, funk, and sophisticated pop whose legacies center on groove, harmonic richness, and emotional honesty. Echoes of Gaye suggest velvety phrasing, social consciousness, and intimate, sensuous storytelling; Earth, Wind & Fire evokes horn-driven arrangements, vocal stacks, dance-floor exuberance, and spiritual uplift. To say a record carries those currents implies more than stylistic borrowing; it hints at a deliberate synthesis, layered harmonies, plush basslines, syncopated percussion, and melodies shaped to ride the pocket rather than dominate it.

Secada’s background as a Cuban-born, Miami-raised singer further widens the palette. Folding Latin rhythms into classic R&B and funk lineages can yield arrangements where congas sit beside silky strings, where clave patterns lock with slap bass, and where bilingual phrasing nudges familiar grooves into fresh contours. The goal isn’t mimicry but transmutation: preserving the warmth and communal spark of his influences while filtering them through his own timbre, phrasing, and narrative sensibility.

His nod to performing covers live reveals an ethic of homage and connection. Covers in a concert setting function as bridges, educating younger listeners, honoring elders to seasoned fans, and granting the artist space to play. Live, those songs breathe: extended vamps invite call-and-response, horn lines blossom, and tempos flex to the room’s energy. Medleys can map a genealogy, moving from Gaye’s silk to EWF’s brass fireworks, then landing in Secada’s originals that share their DNA. This curatorial impulse underscores confidence; an artist comfortable in his voice can stand beside giants without being swallowed by them.

Ultimately, he frames influence as conversation. The studio captures his synthesis; the stage enacts his gratitude. By carrying forward the textures of soul and funk through his own lens, he situates his work inside a living tradition, where reverence fuels reinvention.