In a new interview with Dazed, Rex Orange County opened up about his journey so far and his artistic process.
One would think that being one of the premier faces of new-age bedroom pop would come with a certain level of ease – not for Rex Orange County, or Alex O’Connor, though.
In a new interview with Dazed discussing his album Who Cares?, the pop-star confessed that he sometimes gets ‘impostor syndrome’.
“Sometimes I’ve felt really quite old… but then at other times, I feel so out of place and like a child, that imposter syndrome of ‘I don’t deserve this, what am I doing here?’” he told the magazine.
“But to be fair, I think everyone’s a child. You don’t get to wake up one day and be like, ‘Ah, I’m an adult now, I understand!’ We just muddle through.” he added.
Rex also dove into the process of Who Cares?, admitting that he doesn’t like unpacking the meaning behind his songs because it becomes pointless after a while.
“Once [the song] is out there, your ‘reason why’ kind of goes out the window. Because at that point, it’s up to everyone else,” before saying that the songs on Who Cares? were open to personal interpretation.
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“I’ve just been channeling that inspiration, expressing how these songs made me feel and thinking if anyone tries to ask me what this means, I get to say, ‘Who fucking cares?’” he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Rex also opened up about his longtime friendship with Tyler, The Creator, who also appears on the album’s track ‘Open A Window’.
“Even looking at how I looked back then – shaved head, chubby, always wearing XL clothes – I had a… different swag, and I was very insecure. Not that I’m not still!” he said.
He added: “[In 2017] he was just wearing white tees every day and shorts and a green cap and now he’s like a cardigan, shirt, tie, fucking bejewelled brooches, furry hat and loafer. We’ve definitely both grown and the best thing about it was just that he liked the song and our instincts were aligned on that.”
You can read more about this topic over at the Pop Observer.
Check out ‘Open A Window’ by Rex Orange County feat. Tyler, The Creator:
