Rex Orange County
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O'Connor in January 2020
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexander James O'Connor[1] |
| Born | (1998-05-04) 4 May 1998 (age 26) |
| Origin | Grayshott, England |
| Genres |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 2015–present |
| Labels | RCA[5] |
| Website | rexorangecounty |
Alexander James O'Connor (born 4 May 1998), known professionally as Rex Orange County, is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. NPR Music's Zoë Jones has described O'Connor's music as "a bright blend of hip-hop, jazz, and bedroom pop".[6]
Teaching himself how to produce his own music at the age of 16, he released his debut album, Bcos U Will Never Be Free (2015), free of charge on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. O'Connor then released numerous solo singles throughout 2016 and 2017, including the platinum-certified singles, "Sunflower" and "Best Friend", and released his second studio album, Apricot Princess (2017). After catching the attention of Tyler, the Creator with Bcos U Will Never B Free, they collaborated on two songs from Tyler's fourth album, Flower Boy (2017), which caused O'Connor to rise to prominence, allowing him to sign with RCA Records.
O'Connor released his third studio album, Pony (2019), lyrically exploring more personal topics, such as human emotion, and experimenting with different genres. The album became his first to enter the Billboard 200, peaking at number three on the chart. His fourth studio album, Who Cares? (2022), topped the United Kingdom, and reached number five on the Billboard 200.
Alexander James O'Connor was born on 4 May 1998, to Nina and Phil O'Connor, a professional sports photographer. He grew up in the village of Grayshott, Hampshire near Haslemere.[7][8] O'Connor's interest in music began at a young age. At age 5, O'Connor joined the choir at the school where his mother worked.[9] He became a drummer and later taught himself piano.
The name Rex Orange County is based on a teacher-given nickname, "The OC", after his surname O'Connor.[10]
At age 16, O'Connor began playing the guitar and started to produce his own music using Apple's Logic software.[10][8] At this age, he also began attending the BRIT School where he studied drumming and was one of four percussionists in his year; the relative rareness of his primary instrument provided him with wide exposure to various projects of others in his school which he credits with exposing him to new music.[9]
O'Connor released his debut single, "Corduroy Dreams", as the lead single from his debut studio album, Bcos U Will Never B Free, on 18 May 2015.[11] On 4 September 2015, Bcos U Will Never B Free was self-released by O'Connor free of charge on Bandcamp and SoundCloud.[8] Upon listening to the album, fellow English musician and producer Two Inch Punch got in touch with him, providing him with a management team. The two would later collaborate on O'Connor's singles, including the single "Uno", released on 17 November 2016. Clash described "Uno", writing: "The buoyant keyboard riff underpins a hypnotic half-spoken vocal, one that veers from topic to topic in a hazy burst of creative mania."[12]
Bcos U Will Never B Free caught the attention of the American rapper Tyler, the Creator, who sent him an email describing his enjoyment of the project. This led to Tyler flying O'Connor out the following year to Los Angeles to collaborate on his album Flower Boy,[13] O'Connor co-writing and contributing vocals to the songs "Boredom" and "Foreword".[14] On 25 January 2017, he released the single "Best Friend" (premiering on Apple Music's Beats 1 station), followed later in the year by the release of his second studio album Apricot Princess.[14] His work was compared by Aimee Cliff of The Fader in 2017 to "other artsy, post-genre teen artists, such as Kevin AbstractorSteve Lacy".[15]
O'Connor's first release following the success of Apricot Princess and Flower Boy was on 11 October 2017 with the single "Loving Is Easy", created in collaboration with the Dutch artist Benny Sings.[14] On 16 April 2018, he performed the song in his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[16] On 31 May 2018, he released a cover of "You've Got a Friend in Me" in collaboration with Randy Newman, the creator of the song.[17] He was also featured in Spotify's Rise Program.[13]
On 9 October 2018, O'Connor was scheduled to appear on the French television programme Quotidien, but refused to perform because it featured a sketch by comedian Alison Wheeler parodying the Ku Klux Klan, which he called "tasteless".[18]
On 14 February 2019, O'Connor released the single "New House". Later that year on 12 September, he released "10/10"; the lead single from his third album Pony.[19] Released on 25 October 2019, Pony was his first major-label album release through RCA Records.[6] Review aggregator Metacritic gave the album a rating of 76/100 based on 11 professional reviews.[20]
On 30 September 2020, O'Connor released an EP with recordings from his performance at Radio City Music HallinNew York City during his Pony tour titled Live at Radio City Music Hall alongside a documentary [21] released on YouTube. This documentary showed the events leading up to this performance as well as the early conclusion of the Pony tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, O'Connor confirmed that he was in the process of recording a fourth studio album titled Who Cares?.[22] In January 2021, he liked a Tweet seemingly confirming that it would be released at some point later that year.[23] However, this did not materialise. On 13 January 2022, he began officially teasing the album, sending out postcards containing a phone number that when called, a snippet of a song would play.[24] The album was released on 11 March 2022, and was his first to top the UK Albums Chart, entering ahead of ImperabyGhost.[25]
In July 2022, O'Connor cancelled tour dates in Australia, New Zealand and Europe due to "unforeseen personal circumstances".[26] He then released a stand-alone single, titled "Threat", on 10 August 2022.[27] In late 2023, O'Connor toured in countries throughout Australia and Asia.[28] He then performed at the 2023 Camp Flog Gnaw festival.[29]
Growing up, O'Connor listened to Queen, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, and American alternative artists like Weezer and Green Day.[13] He cites these artists and others as core inspiration for his own music.
In 2015, O'Connor began dating fellow British singer-songwriter Thea Morgan-Murrell (known professionally as Thea), having met while attending the BRIT School together.[30] He sang about her in several of his songs, and they collaborated on the tracks "Sycamore Girl" and "Never Had the Balls".[31][32] On 24 November 2020, he confirmed on Twitter that they were separated, tweeting "i am not in a relationship".[33]
On 10 October 2022, O'Connor appeared in Southwark Crown Court and was charged with six counts of sexual assault of the same woman, alleged to have taken place in June 2021. He pleaded not guilty to all counts and was bailed, with a trial provisionally scheduled for 3 January 2023. A representative for O'Connor released a statement on his behalf which read: "Alex is shocked by the allegations, which he denies, and looks forward to clearing his name in court. He is unable to make any further comment because of the ongoing proceedings".[34] On 22 December 2022, O'Connor released a statement saying all charges against him were dropped and the case was to be dismissed following an investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service. CCTV footage and a police interview with the complainant's partner – who was with her on the night in question – did not match her account, meaning the case did not meet the CPS's legal test for a prosecution.[35]
In January 2018, O'Connor came in second in the BBC Sound of 2018 award after Norwegian singer Sigrid.[36]
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