If you like trendy music blogs and great new music then maybe you’ve seen the (awesome) name Rex Orange County floating about over the past week or so? The music industry seem pretty excited about him and we understand the buzz. He’s a sweet, sweet boy with an even sweeter voice and an outlook on life and young love that we’re more than happy to sink into again and again. Last week he put out his debut LP Apricot Princess, a brilliantly lo-fi showcase of his talents with lyrics like, “this ain’t a fantasy, she’s my best fucking friend.”
The music video that accompanies UNTITLED sees him despairing in The Ace Hotel’s Hoi Polloi, something we’ve all done at some point, before being pushed into a pool by the girl he likes and lamenting how he’d probably hate him too. It’s tough, young love, but it’s also raw and lovely.
Meet Rex Orange County below and we’ll see you later, alligator!
1. He is his own favourite Rex…
“To be honest, the only other Rex I know is Rex Harrison, and I don’t really know about him so I’m gonna go with myself.”
2. The Orange County bit of his name came from a nickname given to him by a teacher because of his initials…
“I actually haven’t ever watched The OC. Maybe I should… but yeah, I used to answer to ‘The OC’ from one particular teacher which was not ideal.”
3. He’s from a village called Grayshott, near a town called Haslemere.
“It’s between London and the bottom of the country I guess. It’s super quiet so that’s both positive and negative. I’ve always enjoyed the peace but it’s not all that logistical due to really infrequent public transport, etc.”
4. Now he lives in South London with his girlfriend, Thea. You’ll typically find him hanging around…
“At home I guess. I might end up in my surrounding areas some evenings… but I don’t really go out like that to be honest.”
5. He just turned 19 last week…
“I went go karting with Thea and my two friends. I love that shit!”
6. Rex Orange County is really good at naming things…
“I just said Apricot Princess out loud once and it stuck for a while, then became the two words that best represent how I’ve felt in the past year and a half of writing it.”
7. The new romantic reckons he knows what one of the greatest love songs ever is…
“Bill Withers, Let Me In Your Life is a wild song.”
8. A lot of the record is about his girlfriend, and she’s written songs about him in return…
“The fictional couple we’re most like is probably Beauty and The Beast.”
9. He’s currently got a couple of artists on repeat in his headphones, and his taste is varied…
“I really love Lil Uzi. Also this 22, a Million Bon Iver album is still getting played all the time.”
10. His big plan is pretty straightforward and to the point. We wish him luck <3
“I’ma carry on making music and achieve my goals, collaborate with everyone who makes shit that I think is great.”
