This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Fainite Auguste. Find her on Instagram at @ceilingdancing. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Conan Gray is set to release his third album Found Heaven in April of this year. Let’s take a look back at Gray’s early career and what lead him to where he is now. A big part of his success is thanks to his original Conan Gray YouTube channel he ran in his teen years.
Who is Conan Gray?
Some people’s first introduction to Conan Gray might have been the song Heather. It went viral on TikTok in 2020. And for good reason; the song beautifully captures a one-sided relationship. The lyric “I wish I were Heather” exposed the jealousy we have all felt in our lives. People used the song to make TikToks of what they believed was a specific beauty standard they didn’t fit into.
People used the song to make TikToks of what they believed was a beauty standard they didn’t fit into. For the next couple of years, Gray would continue to release music, with Dan Nigro as producer, and worked to grow his fanbase to what it is now.
Conan Gray’s YouTube Channel
I started watching his videos in 2017, right before I entered high school. I was in the middle of binge-watching accepted art portfolios because I was planning on applying to art school. His video looked interesting, so I clicked. Gray’s paintings were beautiful. One of his pieces was a self-portrait, with stars covering his face, which immediately caught my eye. I decided at that moment to subscribe to the Conan Gray YouTube channel unaware that wanted to pursue music.
He was a down-to-earth teenager, mostly posting vlogs about his life in Texas. He took his audience thrifting and showed his monthly favorite things. Gray also occasionally covered songs. You might have seen his cover of Lana Del Ray’s “Video Games,” which has nearly seven million views on YouTube.
In March 2017, Conan Gray took a chance and released the song “Grow” a few months later released “Idle Town” on YouTube. That same year, Gray moved to LA and began studying at UCLA, posting a class orientation vlog on his channel and an apartment tour video.
I was obsessed with his style. The only word I can think of to explain it is simply aesthetic. It had pops of color, plants, music equipment, and posters on the wall. However, he decided to pursue music and stopped attending UCLA. In 2018 Gray would begin touring for various places in the US and Europe. It was referred to as The Sunset Shows.
The Early Years
Gray released his EP Sunset Season in 2018. The EP did something that so few artists have been able to: capture teenhood. Sunset Season contains five songs: Idle Town, Generation Why, Crush Culture, Greek God, and Lookalike. The lyric, “Killing time at the Yellow Cafe,” from Idle Town reminiscences on a certain time in Gray’s life. The whole song feels like a romanticization of childhood, but the lyric “we all vowed that we wouldn’t stay,” reminds the listener his hometown was not the place for him. In later years Gray would discuss his difficult homelife in songs like Family Line and Summer Child.
Debut Album
Gray released his debut album Kid Krow, at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The album has twelve songs, two of them being shorter than a minute. I categorize it as a breakup album, even though Gray has said numerous times he hadn’t been in a real relationship yet. Many of the songs are angry, dissing the person in songs for being inconsistent. For example, Wish You Were Sober, tells a story of being stuck at a party with your drunk crush and not knowing the romantic gestures are genuine or because they are intoxicated.
The album does have its slower moments, the final track The Story chronicles the lives of different people Gray once knew and his own life. The last verse is hopeful that he will have a happy ending someday.
Just like the millions of other people out there, I’m excited to see what Conan Gray does next. From what we’ve heard so far of the new album Found Heaven it seems like Gray is leaning toward an 80’s pop sound.
Will you be listening to Found Heaven when it drops? Or do you still listen to Conan Gray’s music from his YouTube days? Let us know!
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