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‘Drama’ explores themes of self-realisation and emotional growth, as reflected in the lyrics, “I kept the stress alive, I need a change.” Set to a mellow yet groovy instrumental, the soothing guitar riffs and laid-back rhythm perfectly compliment Rex’s soulful vocals. The single offers a fresh perspective while staying true to the sound that has defined his career. 

Born Alexander O’Connor in Hampshire, England, Rex Orange County first gained recognition with his self-released debut Bcos U Will Never B Free in 2015. That album showcased his ability to pair raw, confessional lyrics with genre-blending instrumentals, as heard in tracks like ‘A Song About Being Sad’ and ‘Corduroy Dreams’. He rose to fame through his collaboration with Tyler, The Creator on Flower Boy in 2017 and solidified his success with his fourth studio album, WHO CARES, which reached number one on the Official Album Charts in 2022. 

Earlier this year, Rex released his fifth studio album, The Alexander Technique, which spans a wide spectrum of emotions and genres. Each track offers something unique, from the heart-wrenching ballad ‘Look Me in the Eyes’, featuring piano melodies and themes of emotional honesty paired with the genuine longing to find a connection; to the  jazzy, upbeat track called ‘2008’ which encourages listeners to embrace the carefree attitude of their younger selves. With lyrics like “I’ma free my mind and treat it kindly, ten years old I was unbothered”, Rex urges listeners to be gentler with themselves, reminding us how modern life can overshadow the simplicity we once knew. 

Rex’s willingness to push creative boundaries makes him a standout artist in his genre. The Alexander Technique captures his journey of personal discovery and growth, blending jazz, R&B, and electronic influences into a cohesive and mature sound. Its introspective nature deeply resonates with his audience, which has created excitement surrounding his latest release.  

In support of the album, Rex took on Finally: A Theatre Tour, performing in intimate venues across North America. The tour will continue in the UK this February with six dates at The London Palladium. Tickets sold quickly, but some are still available. 

As 2024 draws to a close, the release of ‘Drama’ feels like a fitting conclusion to an extraordinary year for Rex. The single encapsulates the emotional depth and musical versatility that defined The Alexander Technique while offering a glimpse of what may come in 2025. As one of the most beloved indie artists of his generation, Rex Orange County continues to create music that resonates deeply, leaving fans eager for what’s next. 

Ticket information can be found here.

The Grayshott musician, (real name Alex O’Connor) issued a statement on social media concerning the matter, stating: “It is with a great deal of sadness to announce that due to unforeseen personal circumstances, I am having to spend some time at home this year and I will not be able to continue with touring as planned…The UK/IRE dates will still go ahead this summer but Gunnersby Park in London on August 13^th will be the last show of the year. I am devastated to say that the Australia, New Zealand and European shows scheduled for September and November will be cancelled. All tickets will be refunded…This is the last thing I want to do. I love touring and I am so sorry to be letting anyone down. I look forward to getting back to it as soon as I can.”

pic.twitter.com/4GoiaEjoaS

— rex orange county (@rexorangecounty) July 2, 2022

O’Connor released his fourth full-length record Who Cares? in March of this year, which landed him his first Number One album in the UK. The record was received well by both fans and critics alike, with NME saying in a four-star review: “Even if there is no clear breakthrough moment for O’Connor on ‘Who Cares?’, there is something to be said for an artist that is this consistent, and this committed to uplifting his listeners. These 11 tracks simply encourage his audience to draw those curtains wide, to look at the sun outside that window, to keep moving forward.”

You can listen to “KEEP IT UP” from the album below, and watch its accompanying music video.

O’Connor’s first foray into music under the Rex Orange County moniker was in 2015, when he self-released his first album Bcos U Will Never B Free via Bandcamp and Soundcloud. The album caught the attention of the likes of American rapper Tyler, The Creator, later leading to a collaboration between the two on the album Flower Boy, with O’Connor contributing vocals to the songs “Foreword” and “Boredom”. O’Connor has released four albums to date under the Rex Orange County name; Bcos U Will Never B Free (2015), Apricot Princess (2017), Pony (2019 and Who Cares? (2022). You can find the entirety of O’Connor’s musical catalogue on all streaming services.

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Whilst accepting his award, the singer spoke to OfficialCharts.com, “Thank you to everyone who listened to Who Cares? I’m so happy to have an Official Number 1 album in the UK, where I’m from. I appreciate all the love.”

Born as Alexander James O’Connor, the 23-year-old singer first cracked into the UK charts with his third studio album Pony. The album was released on 25th October 2019 and marked the singer’s first album to be released via a record label, O’Connor was signed to RCA before the album dropped. O’Connor’s debut album, Bcos U Will Never B Free, dropped on 4th September 2015 and was self-released via the popular distribution services SoundCloud and Bandcamp. The singer’s final self-released album was made available on 26th April 2017, Apricot Princess saw great success within the UK independent albums charts where it reached number twenty-four.

O’Connor first rose to fame through his collaboration with American rapper and producer Tyler, the Creator. The duo worked together on the Grammy-nominated album Flower Boy, O’Connor was a featured artist on the album’s opening track “Foreword”. The singer’s association with the 2017 album garnered great critical acclaim and his fanbase soon began to grow with heightened interest in the singer’s back catalogue.

The singer-songwriter’s number one album Who Cares?  was released on 11th March 2022 and is O’Connor’s fourth studio album. The eleven-track release sees O’Connor team up with his previous collaborator, Tyler, The Creator, the Grammy award-winning artist can be heard as a featured artist on “Open a Window”. The album also sees O’Connor partner with Dutch artist Tim Van Berkestijn otherwise known as Benny Sings, the musician has also lent his talents as a featured artist on twenty albums for various artists.

Elsewhere within the charts, Swedish metal band Ghost have charted at number two with their album IMPERA. The album was released on 11th March 2022 and is the Grammy award-winning band’s fifth studio album and their second release to chart within the top ten. The group’s previous album, Prequelle, reached number ten within the album charts in 2018.

Charting at number three within this week’s album charts is Bryan Adams’ So Happy It Hurts. The Canadian artist’s sixteenth studio album was released on 11th March via BMG, a week prior to its release, Pretty Woman- The Musical was made available online and is the only album by Adams not to be released on physical formats. The album consists of songs penned for the musical adaption of the famous 1990 film and was written by Adams and his long-term creative partner Jim Vallance.

It started a couple of weeks back on January 1^st when O’Connor returned to Twitter, after having been absent for over 8 months. He replied to a fan’s tweet asking about the release of the new album. In it he simply said “oops … sorry for delay … do you still wan[n]a hear it?“.

oops !… sorry for delay… do you still wana hear it ? https://t.co/oAUocYWIsV

— rex orange county (@rexorangecounty) January 1, 2022

Ramping the mystery up even more (as well as the generous fan service), last week saw fans receiving postcards in the mail with a phone number, the voicemail of which said “I know it isn’t easy, and you may have had enough. But I promise that it’s worth it, if you try and keep it up“. Following this was a snippet of a new, as-of-yet unreleased song.

Here’s what happens when u call pic.twitter.com/rw7cETbeUv — E (@mendescollector) January 13, 2022

And yesterday he went to TikTok to post a snippet of what appears to be the same song from the voicemail, with the video showing him lip-syncing to the lyrics. The track was captioned “Keep It Up” and gives fans hope of an upcoming single soon to come from the artist.

@rexKEEP IT UP♬ original sound – rex orange county

NME quotes the lyrics as “Every time I open my mouth, I have regrets in my mind.  Every time, and no one seems to figure me out. I guess it’s stress. It’s making me feel so depressed. Most my life I felt so tired, but every now and then when I try I say keep it up and go on, you’re only holding out for what you want. No longer owe to strangers. It’s enough. It’s enough.“

Despite the lack of new material, O’Connor did find time to release a live album back in 2020, entitled Live at Radio City Music Hall. The singer-songwriter grew up in Surrey, and first rose to fame after featuring on famed US rapper Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 album Flower Boy. Like many new artists these days, he started out making music as a teenager, producing his own songs with Apple’s Logic software and releasing a debut album on SoundCloud/Bandcamp back in 2015, which you can listen to here. It caught the attention of Tyler, the Creator and English musician Two Inch Punch, and the rest is history.

With only three studio albums to his name, fans can be pleased to hear something new is finally close to surfacing. Otherwise, we’ll just have to wait and see what’s coming next from this elusive artist, who seems ready-in-waiting for a comeback any time now.

For fans, the EP will no doubt be forty-five special minutes, whether you were at the Radio City Music Hall concert or not. It has all the thrill of live music and all the intimacy that Rex Orange County is so good at cultivating. In the midst of it all, right as ‘Best Friend’ is about to take off, he asks that everyone put their phones away because “anyone that didn’t come into this venue will have no clue – this moment is just for me and you!”

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REX ORANGE COUNTY LIVE AT RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL – LIVE ALBUM out tomorrow 12pm ET / 5pm BST

A post shared by rex orange county (@rexorangecounty) on Sep 29, 2020 at 10:35am PDT

In addition to the EP, Funny How Things Go From One Thing To Another is wonderfully introspective. At 25 minutes it’s not particularly long (by the standard of this kind of thing!), and the footage largely speaks for itself. Rex voices over occasionally, but there are no words needed to explain the atmosphere of the tour. We get this anyway from footage of the stage being prepared, of thousands of pieces of colourful confetti being sifted, of fans queuing for hours and hours before the gig starts, and of an endless string of intimate moments. Rex Orange County and his band are always hugging, and there is no doubt that every member of the tour is supported through everything.

And likewise, he is polite and respectful but also generous and tactile with his fans. Throughout the documentary, he speaks about making the gig environment inclusive and comfortable. You can tell that it works as you see fans dancing away or falling to the floor in delight when the house lights come up. Rex Orange County understands this: “I’m just like them, them and their friends and parents and everyone they know.”

So when the pandemic strikes off the last few dates of the tour, Rex Orange County is evidently gutted – for a number of reasons. He is part of an industry that has come to a standstill, and the tragedy of losing live music has been expressed in so many ways since March. But what Rex says is this: “there was no hugging or any contact.”

For some, a socially distanced return to touring and fan interaction is viable and indeed welcome. For Rex Orange County, it’s very clear that this would entirely contradict the ethos of a Rex Orange County gig, a Rex Orange County tour or even a Rex Orange County pop up shop. Everything that contributes to the Rex Orange County experience is warm and intimate and personal. The first thing he does when he gets on stage is head straight for the crowd.

The combination of the EP and the documentary show a young, vulnerable male artist. It’s rare to find someone so authentic – and so generous, with their energy and their emotions. Rex Orange County is certainly riding a peak of his career, but this won’t be the last. He just has too much to give, to his band, to his industry and to his fans.

1.  ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ – Billie Eilish

Among the debut albums from breakout artists this year, ‘WWAFA, WDWG?’ by 17-year-old Billie Eilish, stood out as the most impressive and innovative record, and there’s no denying that.

The LP is well thought out and is an honest narrative of an individual from Generation Z, with lyrics about being depressed yet ironically and ridiculously dauntless.

Sonic-wise, Eilish and her brother Finneas also managed to turn trivial noises like breaking glass and a dentist’s drill in “bury a friend” or people booing and clapping in ‘Wish You Were Gay’, representing their generation’s quirkiness. From now on, many emerging—and yes, existing—artists are likely to make an effort to replicate what, ‘WWAFA, WDWG?’ has achieved.

– Jay Arpiwach

2. ‘Music To Listen To’ – Bring Me The Horizon

The second entry in the top ten of this list is from Sheffield heavy metallers, Bring Me The Horizon. From the very long title to the surreally named track listing, ‘Music To Listen To’ deviates drastically from Bring Me The Horizon’s earlier works. That being said, this album is by far one of the best 2019 has to offer.

It stirs to memory sounds of deadmau5’s more recent discography, a fusion of electronic beats with the harsh grunginess of Tool’s latest album, ‘Fear Inocolum’.

Highlights of the album: The brass at around three minutes into ‘Steal Something’. An eerie, unsettling looped vocal sample playing for eighteen, yes, eighteen minutes as Oli Sykes delivers a haunting and reflective monologue on life over it.

The villainous ‘A Devastating Liberation’, (an instrumental reworking of ‘why you gotta kick me when I’m down?’, from ‘Amo’), and lastly, ‘Dead Dolphins’, are magnificent.

– Matthew Bailey

3. ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’ – Lewis Capaldi

The Glaswegian born singer-songwriter and all round funny guy released his debut album in 2019 to huge acclaim. The production values feel like warm caramel to the ears. If that’s possible…

‘Someone You Loved’ is the piano led ballad that is instantly recognizable. Capaldi’s vocal performance is much more controlled and restrained and it’s only in the chorus that his voice captures that unique husky sound that appears throughout the album.

Tracks like ‘One’, ‘Headspace’ and ‘Bruises’ illustrate Capaldi’s abilities as a songwriter and vocalist. However, it’s in ‘Hold Me While You Wait’, another piano impressive ballad, that his true vocal abilities are seen, as he builds from soft husky tonnes to a burning crescendo. Ultimately, these songs are highlights of an album that had to make the cut.

– Matthew Bailey and Caitlyn Hart

4. ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ – Slowthai

‘Nothing Great About Britain’ is the affirmation of intent from self-titled ‘Northampton’s Child’, Slowthai. The Northampton-born rapper’s debut offers a combination of punk and grime, that was released with a bang and came as a fresh of breath air.

Slowthai is a rapper that wasn’t scared to tackle issues of gravity in his debut offering, he showed no fear in speaking out against “the norm” and revealing his tender side.

The self-proclaimed “Brexit Bandit’s” debut album tackles the UK’s most important issues such as the looming withdrawal of Britain from the European Union, class inequality, and poverty. But, in a time when the British public were being bombarded with politics, Slowthai approached these heavy subjects in a light-hearted and fun way.

Tracks like ‘Slow Down’ and ‘Peace Of Mind’ tell the story of his life before his career in music and the struggles he faced growing up in poverty. The album also sees Slowthai collaborate with fellow rappers Skepta on ‘Grow Up’, Mura Masa on ‘Doorman’, and Jaykae on ‘Grow Up’. With the British grime scene experiencing one of its best years, in 2019, its no surprise that this debut offering from Slowthai  hit all the right notes, not only securing him a place on our top ten, but the coveted price of BBC Music Sound of 2019.

– Caitlyn Hart

5. ‘No. 6′ Collaborations Project’ – Ed Sheeran

Sheeran’s contribution, ‘No. 6′ Collaborations Project’, speaks for itself! It’s a statement of Sheeran’s unarguable success in the charts right now, and it features the biggest of the biggest names in the industry.

From Eminem and 50 Cent to Justin Bieber and Stormzy, Meek Mill and Skrillex, it’s frankly incredible to remember where he started with his ‘+’ album in 2011.

‘Remember The Name’, with 50 Cent and Eminem, the Skrillex collab, ‘Way To Break Your Heart’, ‘I Don’t Care’, with Justin Bieber, and his team up with Stormzy, ‘Take Me Back To London’ are stand out features on this record.

– Matthew Bailey

6. ‘Amo’ – Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon’s first entry at number three. Listening to ‘Mantra’, the first glimpse into their fifth album, it felt reminiscent of ‘Can You Feel My Heart?’ from ‘Sempiternal’. It’s a heavy, mainstream, well-executed track, but pales slightly in comparison to others.

‘Nihilist Blues’, for instance, is an example of their effortless ability to transition between EDM beats and heavy rock influences. The album’s finale, ‘I Don’t Know What To Say’, opens with elegant, swaying strings, before delivering a chorus at two minutes remarkably similar to Rammstein’s epic ‘Mein Herz Brennt’.

For the fans of Bring Me The Horrizon’s earlier work, this record will take some of them in a direction they may not favour. However, if a band failed to develop musically, they’d be at risk of being left behind in the past. Bring Me The Horizon have then excelled at maturing into a group to be taken seriously.

– Matthew Bailey

7. ‘Grey Area’ – Little Simz

North London born, Little Simz made her triumphant return in 2019 with ‘Grey Area’ and has been regarded as the “UK’s most overlooked rapper who dares you not to stare this time.”

‘Grey Area’ is Little Simz’ third album which she said she used to experiment and explore new sounds, and reflects the “grey area” in her mid-20’s. The album sees her trying to navigate through, this “grey area”, and out the other side.

Tracks like ‘Offence’, ‘Boss’ or ‘Therapy’ have been described as seeing Simz put on a “strong, independent tone”. With the establishment of this new sound, one might think all tracks sound alike, but no two songs are the same, on “Grey Area”. Meanwhile, on the track ‘Sherbet Sunset’, Simz lays all her cards on the table by laying out her struggle, which sees her leaving herself open and vulnerable.

Simz concludes the album with a reflective track, ‘Flowers’, which features the soulful vocals of Michael Kiwanuka. The track sees Simz close, a hugely successful return, with an impassioned rap about the artists that have sadly left us – such as Amy Winehouse – with whom she said she shares a kindred spirt. It can only be described as touching conclusion to a victorious return.

– Caitlyn Hart

8. ‘Sucker Punch’ – Sigrid

Another remarkable debut record of 2019 belongs to Norwegian synthpop star Sigrid. As suggested in the title, ‘Sucker Punch’, the LP is filled with killer hooks and thunderous sounds thrown out of Sigrid’s wide-ranging voice.

Similar to Billie Eilish, whom she beat on BBC Sound of 2018, Sigrid successfully crafted a story of a modern-day teenager who experiences doubt, delight, and desperation in life and falling in and out of love.

– Jay Arpiwach

9. ‘Pony’ – Rex Orange County

Alexander O’Connor is no stranger when it comes to talking about feelings and deep thoughts. In ‘Pony’, O’Connor keeps extending his soft-boy persona, using his sharp skills of lyricism to explore what it feels like to be a man in the 21st century.

While many songs on the album are devoted to his genuine affection for his girlfriend, Thea Morgan-Murrell, he still manages to slip his criticism of fame and the idea of masculinity in. The record, therefore, is not only like a hot soothing tea to the ears but also a hard-to-swallow pill – like the truth you are afraid to hear.

– Jay Arpiwach

10. ‘Hyperspace’ – Beck

Pop music, to many, is somehow considered a less cool genre to listen to, but the king of alternative music’s fourteenth studio album, ‘Hyperspace’, has proved that pop music can be cool after all.

‘Hyperspace’ is a follow-up to Beck’s 2017 initial venture into pop music, ‘Colours’. It seems like he can’t shake the fun to make pop album so much that he asked pop monster producers Pharrell Williams and Greg Kurstin to help him craft one more gigantic pop record.

The result is the synth-heavy album that balances the pop elements with alternative lyricism. These 11 tracks offer such perfect sonic coherency and heart-warming voice of Beck that bring us to the space of hyperexcitement.

– Jay Arpiwach