Pony (Rex Orange County album)

Pony is the third studio album and major-label debut by the English musician Rex Orange County. It was released on 25 October 2019, through RCA Records. The album was entirely recorded at Strongroom Studios in East London, with an orchestral recording at Air Studios, and solely written by Rex Orange County, who produced all the songs with Ben Baptie.

Lyrically, the album explores human emotion, and takes inspiration from personal struggles Rex Orange County faced following his rise to prominence between 2017 and 2018. Pony was supported by three singles: "10/10", "Pluto Projector", and "Face to Face". The album received favorable reviews; with both criticism and compliments directed towards its lyrical content. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, marking his first entry on the chart. The album reached the top ten in five other countries, including his native country, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Background
Rex Orange County rose to prominence throughout 2017 and 2018, selling out his first four shows in the United States, visiting festivals such as Primavera Sound and the Panorama Music Festival, and contributing to the American rapper Tyler, the Creator's fourth studio album, Flower Boy (2017). Rex Orange County revealed information of a follow-up to his second studio album, Apricot Princess (2017), in an interview with Billboard on 15 February 2018, stating he was slowly working on it, and that he wanted to write about subjects he did not cover much, claiming it was because "some of the best songs aren't actually love songs". Little information about the project was revealed throughout 2019. He released the stand-alone single, "New House", on 14 February 2019, which was his first release since 2017.

On 4 September 2019, Rex Orange County began to tease his third studio album, tweeting "REX3". On 12 September 2019, he revealed through Twitter that he would be releasing a new single, "10/10". The song was released the same day, as the album's lead single. He officially revealed the album's title, tracklist, and artwork on 19 September 2019, alongside its release date of 25 October 2019, and a tour to support the album. On 16 October 2019, he released a video on social media, showcasing the recording of the orchestral section for the album's second single, "Pluto Projector", at Air Studios.

Composition
Musically, Pony is an indie pop, jazz, and neo soul record which includes influences of rock. Lyrically, the album primarily explores Rex Orange County trying to figure out who he is as a person, while also exploring human emotion, and documents the struggles he faced throughout the years prior to the album.

In an interview with Hot Press, Rex Orange County explained the album's title was chosen because he "just [liked] the word." Stating that it was hard to adjust to pressure from his newfound commercial success, he did not want to make the same music from his early beginnings, due to him being younger at the time. He wanted to deliver something he would love, while not straying away from his older music.

Singles
On 12 September 2019, Rex Orange County premiered "10/10" on BBC Radio 1 with Annie Mac. The song was officially released the same day, alongside its music video, as the lead single from the album. The song peaked at number 68 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Pluto Projector" was released as the album's second single on 17 October 2019. The song peaked at number 7 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart.

"Face to Face" was released as the album's third and final single on 23 October 2019. The song peaked at number 86 on the UK Singles Chart.

Performances
Rex Orange County performed "10/10" for the first time on 24 September 2019, alongside a cover of "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. On 11 October 2019, he performed "10/10" for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He performed "Pluto Projector" live at Rak Studios on 23 November 2019. In his debut appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, he performed "Face to Face" on 8 January 2020. On 18 March 2020, he performed "Pluto Projector" and "Always" alongside two other songs for NPR's Tiny Desk concert. He appeared at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival on 24 May 2020, performing "Pluto Projector". On 30 September 2020, he released an extended play consisting of live performances of songs from Pony and his other two projects, Apricot Princess and Bcos U Will Never B Free (2015), recorded during a show at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

A live performance of the album's closing track, "It's Not the Same Anymore", was released on 5 March 2021, following an increase of the song's usage on the social media app TikTok.

Tour
Rex Orange County announced a tour in promotion of Pony, entitled The Pony Tour, on 19 September 2019, which visited the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States. The tour began on 13 November 2019, and ended on 27 February 2020. Tour dates in Asia were announced in December 2019, but were cancelled in October 2020, due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Critical reception
Pony received generally favorable reviews from critics upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Hannah Mylrea from NME rated the album five out of five stars, writing that it was a "dazzling follow up to Apricot Princess," and that although the world might be "miserable" and "going to shit," Mylrea wrote that it would not be possible for the listener to listen to Pony without "feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future." Elly Watson expressed similar views in DIY magazine, describing it as "equal parts heart wrenching and hopeful".

Giving the album an average 3 out of 5, Tara Joshi at The Guardian described the album as "jaunty and engaging", though Joshi expressed that "Pony meanders, seemingly unaware of its purpose".

Luke Levenson from American Songwriter rated the album four out of five stars, writing: "His unique pop prosody and production skills, more sophisticated than ever in Pony, foretell that his sound will continue progressing to new creative heights, with the heft of catchy pop music and the inventiveness of its growing indie subgenre."

Commercial performance
Pony debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, earning 70,000 equivalent album sales, being boosted by a concert ticket and album sale redemption. The album debuted behind Post Malone's Hollywood's Bleeding and Kanye West's Jesus is King.

Track listing
All songs produced by Rex Orange County and Ben Baptie.

Personnel
Credits for Pony adapted from AllMusic.
 * Rex Orange County – vocals, guitar, bass, drum programming, drums, Fender Rhodes, keyboards, organ, percussion, piano, producer, saxophone, strings, synthesizer, vocoder, woodwind
 * Ben Baptie – guitar, drum programming, brass, saxophone, woodwind, strings, percussion, production, mixing
 * Sally Herbert – arrangement, conducting, strings, violin
 * Pino Palladino – bass
 * Michael Underwood – clarinet, flute, saxophone, woodwind arrangement
 * Nick Barr – viola
 * Natalia Bonner – violin
 * Seb Brooks - viola
 * Ian Burdge – cello
 * Reiad Chibah – viola
 * Calina de la Mare – violin
 * Louisa Fuller – violin
 * Richard George – violin
 * Ian Humphries – violin
 * Oli Langford – violin
 * John Metcalfe – viola
 * Steve Morris – violin
 * Tom Pigott-Smith – violin
 * Rachel Robson – viola
 * Tony Wollard – cello
 * Chris Worsey – cello
 * Amy Stewart – string conductor
 * Haydn Bendall – string engineer
 * Johnny Woodham – trumpet
 * Choir: Karima Abdi, Ayana Ahmed, Abdul Akbari, Zainab Al-Shammary, Mahad Ali, Retaj Almataj, Ghena Alshteiwi, Emily Amoura, Junaid Attoh, Vihan Bhudia, Nelu Dobie, Adelina Gherman, Luke Halpin, Mosda Hisharizada, Sarah Jabir, Isa Khalid, Salam Al Lakod, Lisa Marie Massiah, José Mendes, Vanessa Prilogran, Gabi Sandru, Farah Siddique, Houda Warsama, Mohammad Zalghara
 * Thea Morgan-Murrell – backing vocals (track 6)

Production
 * Bráulio Amado – design, illustrations
 * Madeleine Pfull – paintings
 * Tom Archer – assistant
 * Natasha Canter – assistant
 * Alex Ferguson – assistant
 * Ted Jensen – mastering