Conan Gray is the latest singer-songwriter to burst out of YouTube fame. He began growing his following as a vlogger on YouTube. Gray would often upload videos about his everyday life and talent for drawing. Another talent his fans were introduced to was Gray's singing. He would often upload covers of popular songs to his channel. This opened up a whole new set of doors for Gray's career.
Gray eventually landed a record deal with Republic Records in 2018. From there, he released his debut EP, "Sunset Season." His debut album, Kid Krow, was released in 2020. Gray's most recent offering was his sophomore album Superache, released in 2022. His music is layered with meaning, often coming from Gray's own personal experiences.
These eight songs serve as good examples of the personal nature of Gray's lyrics. They're just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Gray's personal revelations in his songs.
8 Idle Town
This song was released in March 2017. It was later included as the first track on Gray's debut EP "Sunset Season," released in 2018. The song is a reflective homage to Gray's memories from high school and his hometown. In the video's description on YouTube, Gray said the song is "a tribute to my senior year of high school; for my friends, my town, my homes, and my memories." He also thanked his best friend Ashley, whom Gray said helped with the recording of the video.
7 Crush Culture
This song was released in 2018 as the second single from "Sunset Season." The song talks about Gray's dissonance toward the culture of crushes in the modern adolescent world. Gray also criticizes the delusions that go into a lot of infatuations and the lack of honesty it results in.
"I think Crush Culture came out of this spot of bitterness," Gray said. "I think everyone’s who’s single kinda looks at people who are in love and you kinda wanna be happy for them but you’re more just kinda like 'God, like ya’ll are so disgustingly in love. I wanna be you but I can’t so I’m just gonna beat you up,' you know."
6 Wish You Were Sober
This song finds Gray talking about a real life experience he had with someone he was interested in. According to Gray, this person would only ever tell him they liked him when they were drunk. The song finds Gray wishing the person would tell him the way they feel even if they were sober. This was the fifth track released in advance of his debut album Kid Krow, coming out two days before the album's release.
5 Affluenza
This is another song from Gray's debut album. It came from a particular experience he had when growing up. Gray didn't grow up in a home with a lot of money. When he moved with his family to Los Angeles, he heard many of his wealthy friends express unhappiness with certain parts of their lives. This confused Gray, since he always felt that money can buy happiness. This song confronts that idea and comes to the conclusion that even money can't buy a person true happiness.
4 Heather
"Heather" is another highlight from Gray's debut album. He previously teased the song on multiple occasions via his social media accounts. The song talks about a person Gray was interested in who doesn't feel the same way. Instead, they were interested in Heather. In the song, Gray talks about having a love/hate relationship with Heather. While he thinks she is a wonderful person, he is also jealous of the fact that she possesses the qualities his crush likes. He even says in the song that sometimes he wants to be Heather.
3 People Watching
Gray has often talked about not having a lot of experience under his belt when it comes to relationships. He previously discussed this in a Sidewalk Talk interview with Lauren Engel.
"I’ve never dated anyone before," he said. "I’m like nineteen and I still haven’t even had my first kiss yet. But like, throughout high school all my friends were always dating people and going through a lot of boyfriends and girlfriends and things like that so I was always super bitter about it, you know, I’d see them and I was like 'Ugh, disgusting, ya’ll are so in love' and I didn’t have it at all."
This song touches on that same issue. It talks about seeing couples happily in love and yearning for the same thing. It talks about Gray feeling like he's on the outside looking in.
2 Family Line
This deeply personal song was included on Gray's sophomore album, Superache. The track talks about Gray's childhood and his relationship with his parents. He talks about his parent's divorce and the abuse his mother suffered at the hands of his father.
"It’s about watching generations of hurt people pass their pain onto their kids, and then their kids pass them onto their kids," Gray said in an interview with Apple Music. "In my childhood, I felt like I was told that I was going to end up living this very specific life and that I wasn’t going to have a bright future because of my past. 'Family Line' is me saying, 'Well, it doesn’t really matter. I can be whatever I want to be.' I was so scared to put it out; that was the reason why I needed to put it out."
1 Memories
This was the first song Gray released from his sophomore album Superache. In the song, Gray talks to a former romantic interest he is trying to get over. The song talks about how that person is staying around physically and making it more difficult for Gray to move on.
"'Memories' was the very last song that I wrote for Superache," he said. "I wanted to take this phrase that I’ve heard so many times in rom-coms, sitting on the curb like, 'Oh, I hope that you’ll stay in my memories forever. I love you. Never leave me.' I wanted to take that phrase and completely deconstruct it, like, 'You know what? I actually do wish you would stay in my memories and not exist in my present. I don’t want you right now. Go.'"
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