What Does It Take To Get Rex Orange County's Sound? ABBA, Kanye & Blink-182, Apparently

Alex O’Connor is taking a well-deserved breather at home in London. The 21-year-old behind Rex Orange County has just returned from a run of festival slots around Europe, and even had time to swing by New York as a musical guest on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.

In the past four years, O’Connor has released two albums, several standalone singles and an EP of post-genre neo-soul and indie-pop. Undoubtedly, the song that broadly announced the arrival of Rex Orange County – from Surrey, England – was Loving Is Easy. O’Connor thinks the song's popularity comes from its simplicity.

“If I’m honest, I think it's probably because there’s really only two sections in it – it doesn’t stay for long, it’s two-and-a-half minutes long. I think it’s also because Benny Sings wrote it with me and he’s great at writing pop songs, he has very good intentions with lyrics and structures. Even though him and I made it together, it definitely wouldn’t be the same without him.”

By the time O’Connor had notched up two albums – 2016’s Bcos U Will Never B Free and 2017’s Apricot Princess – he was known for his half-spoken vocals and buoyant melodies. It’s hard to chart how he ended up at his distinctive sound, given the steady diet of early ‘80s pop-rock and punk of his youth, and his interest choral singing and musical theatre. 

“There was definitely a lot of theatrical music around me and I was kind of doing musical theatre, but my parents listened to a lot of ABBA and Queen and put me onto a lot of pop music. I eventually found out who Kanye West was, and I loved Green Day and stuff I just hadn’t heard before when I was young – different kinds of rap and rock. These were things I was excited about at a young age. I think some of the stuff that I write stems from what I truly loved from those songs and bands that I originally listened to; I think that’s still in what I do now.” 

From a young age, O'Connor was interested in performing, whether in a choir, an orchestra, or a band. Even now, O’Connor says the most thrilling part of music-making is touring, and being able to engage with a different bunch of listeners around the world, night after night. 

“I do love it, I really do enjoy it the most out of each of the things that I do that are to do with my music. I find it the most satisfying and fulfilling. I don’t know what it is, but from the start, before I even wrote songs, I just enjoyed being on stage – even if I wasn’t at the front. It was just something I always loved the feeling of. Really, it could just be some strange need for affirmation or attention, but it is just the one thing I’ve always loved.

“If I wasn’t doing this I’d definitely be playing instruments in a band or a pit band or anything really. Or I might have even gotten into acting – I was definitely into drama when I was young. I obviously haven’t done that for a long time but I really enjoyed it at the time. But I'm glad it's music for me. I mean, we all love Harry Styles, but I think I’ll stick with writing songs.”

"After a while, you realise it’s very difficult to find people to work with who 100 percent understand and are on the same page as you. And it takes time to figure that out and who those people are."

Given O’Connor’s appetite for performing in groups from a young age, it’s a welcome surprise that he launched his musical career as a solo artist in the form of Rex Orange County. His persona is so clear-cut that it’s hard to see him blending into a band format, despite being flanked by band members on stage and collaborating when he can, like on the aforementioned Loving Is Easy with Dutch artist Benny Sings. But O’Connor says he easily could have ended up in a band, and although not necessarily as the frontman.

“I mean, yeah, as a child I definitely thought playing drums in a band would be the coolest thing in the world. I wasn’t really even that inspired to be the frontman of a band, but I definitely loved being in a band. I loved listening to Green Day, Weezer, blink-182, a lot of punk rock bands, and I could have been in some kind of band.”

O'Connor has a mammoth touring schedule lined up around the release of his third album, Pony, which underlines just how accomplished he is at 21. At the same time, his success might seem slightly at odds with his lyrics, which are riddled with neurotic optimism. O’Connor looks young, sounds young, and is young, but his riffs on love, mental health, and life suggest he’s been at it for years and years.

“I do my best to be honest and I know that some things I say will sound very negative and somewhat indulging in sadness, and some things will be for the sake of being therapeutic and positive. You know, saying something is good because it really is and making a great song out of it is something that I really love doing. There’s definitely a lot of trying to be optimistic but I can’t be."

On Pony, O’Connor indulges in more of these sharp truths and beguiling rays of idealism. Curtain-raiser single 10/10 picked up plenty of airplay upon its release earlier this year, the first of a new suite of tracks that careen between hope and heartache. O’Connor says he's thankful for his life right now, but he has had some distinct downs and eye-opening experiences in the music industry. 

“It probably happens to everyone naturally with doing this sort of creating. After a while, you realise it’s very difficult to find people to work with who 100 percent understand and are on the same page as you. And it takes time to figure that out and who those people are. I think you have to go do things to realise what you don’t want. And I had a lot of that in terms of ‘the industry’; there’s no point in me directly going into it, but I would absolutely say that I have been and that’s what a lot of this album is about. But I think it happens for a lot of people and it’s natural. It’s not a bad thing, you learn a lot from it and it’s valuable to have bad experiences.

“It’s great to finally have the album nearly out, I’ve worked on it for so long. I’ll be happy to see people react to certain songs and find out what people like and then have the chance to go out and play them live next year in Australia. I’m genuinely excited, and I’m not really nervous now because I’ve been listening to it for a while so, yes, I’m ready for it.”