Rex Orange County
Alexander O’Connor (born May 4, 1998), better known by his stage name Rex Orange County, is an English recording artist and songwriter who grew up in the village of Grayshott near Haslemere, Surrey.
In 2015, Rex Orange County self-released bcos u will never b free on SoundCloud. This put him on Two Inch Punch’s radar, who provided him with a management team. They also collaborated on a few songs – UNO, Best Friend, and Untitled. This also caught Tyler, the Creator’s attention. He sent him an email, appreciating the album, and he also flew him out to L.A. to work on Flower Boy.
Rex Orange County shared online the DIY UNO recording in 2016 when he was 18. Clash magazine wrote, “the buoyant keyboard riff underpins a hypnotic half-spoken vocal, one that veers from topic to topic in a hazy burst of creative mania.”
In 2017 he released his second album Apricot Princess. The name comes from his pet name for his girlfriend, Thea. Three months after the release of his second album, Rex Orange County was featured on Tyler, the Creator’s album Flower Boy; he contributed vocals to and co-wrote the songs Boredom and Foreword. Tyler picked up on O’Connor because of his debut album, reached out via SoundCloud and brought him to Los Angeles. His work has been compared to “other artsy, post-genre teen artists”.
As of May 2018, the most popular track by Rex Orange County on Spotify is Loving Is Easy created in collaboration with the Dutch artist Benny Sings. The song was covered by the Swedish singer Tove Styrke. Rex Orange County performed the song in his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Also, Rex Orange County released a cover of You’ve Got a Friend in Me, performing along with Randy Newman, the creator of the song.
Catch Rex Orange County on the following dates…
Monday 28th January – Albert Park, Auckland
Saturday 2nd February – Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane
Sunday 3rd February – Callan Park, Rozelle, Sydney
Friday 8th February – Hart’s Mill, Port Adelaide, Adelaide
Saturday 9th February – Footscray Park, Footscray, Melbourne
Sunday 10th February – Esplanade Reserve and West End, Fremantle
