''Pony'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and major-label debut by English musician

Rex Orange County Alexander James O'Connor (born 4 May 1998), known professionally as Rex Orange County, is an English singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. O'Connor rose to prominence in 2017 following multiple features on Tyler, the Creator's Grammy-no ...

. It was released on 25 October 2019.

Critical reception

Hannah Mylrea from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote of the album: "A dazzling follow up to ''Apricot Princess'', Rex Orange County’s third studio album is a total delight. It may be miserable outside, and the world's going to shit, but try listening to ''Pony'' and not feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future. Go on, we dare you." Elly Watson expressed similar views in ''

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

'' magazine, describing it as "equal parts heart wrenching and hopeful". Giving the album an average 3 out of 5, Tara Joshi at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the album as "jaunty and engaging", though Joshi expressed that "''Pony'' meanders, seemingly unaware of its purpose". Luke Levenson from ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' commented: "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."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Pony'' adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. *

– 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 Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military *Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, the Allied reporting nam ...

– arrangement, conducting, strings, violin *

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

– 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 Haydn Bendall (born 13 April 1951, Essex, England) is an English people, English record producer, Audio engineering, audio engineer and Mixing engineer, mixer. He was Chief Engineer at Abbey Road Studios for ten years and was awarded the Audio P ...

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

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

Critical reception

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References