"I could have made you mine. But no, it wasn't meant to be and see, I wasn't made for you and you weren't made for me... I'm on my own sh*t now. Let me tell you how it feels to be f**king great. I feel great," Rex Orange County laments on his latest Zane Lowe-premiered #ROCKMUSICFOREVER second single, "BEST FRIEND." Rex Orange County is the recently adopted alter-ego of Alex O'Connor, a self-loathing 18-year-old "bedroom" musician hailing from the outskirts of London in Haslemere, Surrey. "Being in a picturesque, but culturally void town didn't stop him from admiring fellow do-it-yourself producers Thundercat and Toro Y Moi, or falling in love with Frank Ocean's Channel ORANGE; "if I could do anything close to that musically, then that's it," O'Connor beamed within a recent press release. I would best compare Rex Orange County's unique half-sung half-rapped style to "Loser"-era Beck, fellow genre-melding London upstart King Krule, Kid Cudi, or even equally self-loathing 808's & Heartbreak-era Kanye.


"BEST FRIEND," however, is a bit more upbeat, jangly affair when compared against Rex's previous works—November released "UNO" and 2015 mixtape bcos u will never b free. It almost evokes the same kind of Jamaican Ska, Reggae, and Hip-Hop-leaning vibe as Lily Allen's Mark Ronson-produced debut, Alright, Still (2006). I'm thinking maybe it's the "dreamy guitar licks and elevator [music] pulled into a frenzied brass outro" that kicks in right around the 3-minute mark, which likens itself to Ronson's commonly used The Dap-Kings-assisted horn fills and 2 Tone Ska-leaning back beats. Nothing has yet been 100% confirmed, but it appears as though Rex Orange County is currently gearing up to release his full-length follow-up to bcos u will never b free, which would likely feature both "UNO" and "BEST FRIEND." Friday morning, following "BEST FRIEND"'s Wednesday Jan. 25th release, @rexorangecounty teased "ANNOUNCEMENTS IN ONE HOUR !!," which ended up being two upcoming shows: "a special evening with..." Rex Orange County at Peckham Liberal Club in London on May 11th and the second, just a week later at Brooklyn's Sunnyvale on May 18th. Rex's Facebook page additionally teased that there will be more "big announcements at 3pm" ( London time?) Friday, Jan. 27th, so stay tuned, chaps!