At just 19, Rex Orange County is already living his dreams. His sweeping alternative pop songs weave together the mundane reality of teenage life and the epic fantasy that is teenage love — he takes his moniker from The O.C., a nod to the hyperreal and melodramatic. But Rex is no ordinary teenager: with the release of his second album Apricot Princess in April, he won acclaim from The FADER, The NME, and Noisey, before appearing on Tyler, the Creator’s Flower Boy, and performing live with Skepta. In between working with his heroes, over the last 12 months the multi-instrumentalist has maintained a steady stream of inventive electronic pop singles, exploring new retro-futuristic sound palettes. “The moment you start thinking about what other people think, and other artists, then you’re going to start writing like other people,” Rex reflects. “As long as you’re being yourself, and putting out what you want to put out, it’ll be the best thing you could do.” It’s that single-minded approach that has seen him crowned second in the prestigious annual BBC Sound of 2018 poll.

Born Alex O’Connor, Rex grew up in the leafy town of Haslemere, in Surrey. It was close enough to London that he could occasionally catch a train to London to skate on the Southbank or visit the theatre, but far enough away that he spent most of his time delving into a private world of music. As well as the theatrics of glam-rock and pop bands like Queen and Abba, he was drawn to both rough-edged punk and American pop-punk like Green Day and Weezer. As a drummer (and occasional self-taught pianist), he pictured himself growing up to play percussion for a rock band, or perhaps a jazz ensemble. It was when he attended the BRIT school, at the age of 16, that he realised he actually wanted to be at the front of the stage.

At 16, Rex also picked up the guitar, and began producing his own music on Logic. While at BRIT, he was falling deeper into the music of contemporary pop experimentalists like Mac Demarco and Frank Ocean, and classic songwriters like Stevie Wonder. Like them, he began building a sonic world of his own: Rex’s was one of lo-fi, scratchy guitar soul, fusing sung-rap observations of teenage life with whistling and wistful melodies. It took shape in the 2015 bedroom-produced, self-released album bcos u will never b free.

“I was really angry, and kind of sad, and a little bit self-pitying and self-loathing,” he reflects, on the songs of bcos. “It was all because of a certain situation with someone else.” That frustrated heartbreak coalesced with a newfound sense of artistic purpose: he spent the summer between his first and second years at BRIT on his bedroom floor with a guitar, keyboard, laptop, and mic. “That album was pretty much all the raw Logic files.”

Despite its modest beginnings, the album was a turning point for Rex. From it he gained the attention of producer Two Inch Punch, who introduced him to his management, and went on to work with him on three confident new alt-pop songs: ‘UNO,’ ‘Best Friend,’ and ‘Untitled.’ Across the Atlantic, bcos also made a fan of an artist Rex had been following for years as a skate culture obsessive: Tyler, the Creator emailed Rex directly to say he loved the album. After a short back and forth, the Odd Future rapper flew the 17-year-old out to L.A. to work on his acclaimed 2017 album Flower Boy.

In between eating soul food and Roscoe’s chicken and waffles, Rex spent days in the studio with Tyler hashing out the melodic song ideas that became ‘Boredom’ and ‘Foreword.’ “Something that I took from it is that me, him, and everyone else that makes music is doing the same thing,” Rex explains. “He was just doing what I do, but in a different way, on a different level. He’s super friendly, we get on really well, I was pretty much laughing the whole time. It was pretty positive.”

That positivity fed into the next solo release Rex was working on, Apricot Princess. With a young relationship blossoming and a newfound ability to add live drums, brass, grand piano, and other fleshed-out elements to his sound, Apricot was a bold, optimistic new frontier for Rex. “It was basically the polar opposite of [bcos],” says Rex. After its release in April 2017, the sumptuously produced, at times symphonic release propelled Rex Orange County to new heights. The NME called it “the sound of falling in love”; Noisey declared it had the “expansive tonal palette of an established artist.” The reaction, Rex reflects, “was maybe better than I thought [it would be] — I didn’t realise a lot of people would still be finding it and listening to it today, and being super nice about it.”

Since that album, Rex has appeared on stages across the U.K. and Europe both under his own name and with high profile collaborators. At the 2017 Mercury Prize ceremony, he joined Skepta onstage to play the guitar for ‘Man (Gang).’ “I met Skepta on the morning of the show to rehearse, and he was so friendly. He was super happy with me doing anything, and was like, ‘You can just improvise from this point on.’”

Rex closed out 2017 by sharing two new songs, the sparse, shuffling ballad ‘Edition’ and ‘Loving Is Easy,’ a lush collaboration with Dutch artist Benny Sings. ‘Edition’ in particular is an indication of where his sound is heading in 2018, he explains: “It was quite a spontaneous idea. I wanted to put out this song that’s bridging the gap between Apricot Princess and where I’m going, as far as sound and melodies. More stripped-back. I love things that are really linear and perfect and simple. Then again, that’s bullshit, because I’m still going to put out really massive songs as well.” In his music, Rex is embracing slowness and space — but the momentum around him isn’t going to stop speeding forward any time soon. “It’s been a fucking great year. I’m just positive, and hoping next year will be even better.”