Rex orange county, also known as Alexander O’connor is a singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his blend of soul, bedroom pop, alt rock and jazz elements. He has a rather conversational singing style and his songs are very chilled and have catchy melodies. He is very much a ‘regular guy’ kind of artist who does not intend to glamourize himself or what he does. He is very casual and tries his best to be authentic, his songs are all about his own experiences with love, relationships and his issues with anxiety. His audience consists of younger (Gen z/millennials) who like his interesting pop sound and lyrics. Rex Orange County's appeal is also broad enough to attract fans of various genres, from indie and alternative to pop and R&B, due to his mixed genre sound and ability to create songs that feel both intimate and mainstream. Rex orange county is currently signed to RCA records, who also have artists such as Britney spears, the foo fighters, childish Gambino, P!NK, ect. Rex orange county is the perfect representation of a young adult boy who is honest about his struggles and trying to convey real life struggles.
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Rex orange county’s video for ‘sunflower’ has a very bedroom-pop esc visual style including bright contrasting colours, simple set designs, and a focus on him and how he interacts with others. The whole video is very dreamlike, not making much narrative sense at all. The various outdoor locations as well as the reassurance of his bike add to the sense of freedom and authenticity commonly found in these type of videos. The low budget anti-glamour feel of the video also adds to the authenticity of his brand, making it feel very carefree and amateur The added detail of Rex orange county enjoying himself more and more as time goes on lining up with the pace and vibe of the song is a nice sort of narrative element to the video, however this is also combined with the somewhat performance element of him lip-syncing, so I would say it’s a hybrid of both. The music video includes quite a diverse cast, with people mostly ignoring him at the beginning and by the end being friendly with him! During the video it is noted that most angles of him are wide shots or don’t really go closer than a medium shot, sort of giving a surreal fake feeling to it. This surreal and fake feeling is also added to by the almost artificially bright colour palette used in the video.
Rex orange county’s ‘the who cares? Tour’ has dates for north America, UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, NZ and Asia but is on separate posters with the same layout. The minimalistic colour palette with bright flashy colours is very typical of Rex Orange County's bright loud visual style. The playfulness of the tour title of ‘who cares?’ as well as it being his album is also a playful joke to his fanbase as if to state no one cares about his tour when its very obviously the opposite. The silly cartoon character combined with that playful text is a very common convention of quirky bedroom-pop artists, as well as portraying Rex Orange County's sense of humour. It is layered out very simply and efficiently/easy to read. The whole ‘DIY/ handmade’ feel of the poster paints the artist as approachable; you feel as if he does not have a whole team of people behind him aiding him but rather he made the poster by himself – again bringing back that sense of authenticity
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