Back in 2015, Alex O’Connor – aka Rex Orange County – set to work self-recording his debut album, bcos u will never b free. His deft blending of genres piqued the interest of producer Two Inch Punch, who offered O’Connor a management team, and also rapper Tyler, the Creator, who signed him up to collaborate on his 2017 album, Flower Boy.
Since then, O’Connor’s career has steadily blossomed. His 2017 single Loving is Easy was certified gold; his third album Pony was certified silver in the UK following its release in 2019; and this summer he’s set to perform in front of 20,000 people at Gunnersbury Park.
O’Connor tweeted back in October 2020 that he was in the process of recording his fourth studio album, Who Cares. Released today, the album is full of O’Connor’s characteristically jolly melodies and introspective, dark lyrics, as he grapples with his anxieties about being catapulted into fame. In “Keep It Up”, he sings “Keep it up and go on/ You’re only holding out for what you want/ You no longer owe the strangers/ It’s enough, it’s enough.”
In an exclusive video with Dazed, O’Connor gives us the A-Z on his life and career, discussing his love of Stevie Wonder (“I think he’s the greatest artist of all time”), his love of animals (“I’m waiting for the day I can have a puppy”), and watching stressful TV shows (“what’s going to go wrong next? Who’s about to die now?”). Watch it in full above.
