Rex Orange County is a 21-year-old English musician who makes indie, neo-soul, and alternative jazz music. He released his first studio album, Bcos U Will Never B Free in 2016 and his second Apricot Princess in 2017. On October 25th, 2019 he released his third and most recent studio album Pony, which features 10 tracks (as all his albums do), including one of his most recent and popular songs, “10/10”. Much like his previous two albums, Pony is an alternative album that features notes of trumpet and piano, but also includes many electronic elements.

Pony is much more personal and heartfelt than Rex Orange County’s previous two albums, talking more about himself and what he goes through rather than just about other people. This album has a lot of brass instruments and piano which adds to the personal element of Pony. His second album, Apricot Princess, also includes brass instruments but 

“10/10” (2:26) – The most popular song from Pony, “10/10” is about self growth/self confidence and how when your going through self growth you need to make decisions that change how you grow. Even the song has a deep message, it’s very upbeat and features electronic backing music. The message of the song is easy for many people to relate to, which is why it’s the most popular song off of Pony. 

“Laser Lights” (2:11) – “Laser Lights” includes mostly trumpets, piano, and flute as the backing track which causes it have a jazz feel. It’s about detaching yourself from people who aren’t good for you and learning how to find yourself after being with someone. “You don’t really hear people using brass instruments in their music anymore, but he uses a lot of brass so it makes his music unique,” said freshman Ceci Audibert.

Face to Face (3:40) – “Face to Face” has a similar meaning to “Laser Lights”, talking about growing up and realizing that you would be better off with yourself rather than someone immature. It shows that when someone doesn’t listen to what you say and then they just end up stopping you from truly growing. The background music in “Face to Face” is a sort of light, happy electronic beat and doesn’t include any instruments.

As previously mentioned, Pony has far more personal lyrics, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s better than his other albums. The feedback from Pony has been mixed, some people loving it and other people hating it. Rex Orange County fans on social media have been saying that Pony doesn’t amount to the same level as his other albums do, that the quality of the songs just isn’t the same as it was before. Even though the meanings of each song are more personal, the backing music in Pony has quite a few electronic songs which may lead people to be less connected with Pony because it seems less authentic. Freshman Arvin Chaudhuri states, “It’s not exactly my favorite album, but it does have a few good songs.” Even though many don’t like this album as much, many others disagree and think that songs like “10/10” and “Pluto Projector” make this album his best one yet. 

“Face to Face”  song link