Conan Gray on Being the Pop Prince of Sad Internet Teens, Growing Up in Texas, and His Upcoming Debut Album
During the month of June, Teen Vogue is celebrating rising music stars who transcend genres. Through in-depth profiles, we're highlighting artists who make songs our readers should know and will love.
Name: Conan Gray
Age: 20
Hometown: Georgetown, Texas
Conan Gray’s first time performing on stage was in preschool, where he dazzled parents as Elvis Presley singing “Blue Suede Shoes.” The rising musician has come a long way since then, now touring around the world and playing for thousands of fans screaming his own lyrics back at him. With tracks such as “Crush Culture,” off his 2018 EP Sunset Season, that so perfectly encapsulate teenage angst, punctuated with dramatic beats and dreamy, ethereal crooning, it’s no surprise he’s been given the title of “sad boy pop” — which Conan’s totally fine with and is even leaning into for his upcoming, first full-length album.
“It's extremely accurate, I definitely am sad boy pop,” he tells Teen Vogue with a laugh. “It’s hard for me to not be 100 percent who I am. Especially in songwriting, I'm a really bad liar. I just say things exactly how I feel them, and I feel a lot of sadness all the time.” Adding, “I think it's definitely showing and it's hilarious that I've already been given that title when my album's definitely exponentially more sad boy pop. It goes so much deeper into it. My favorite thing to do is get a real upbeat song and write the darkest, most demonic lyrics in it.”
The 20-year-old got his start making music from the confines of his Texas bedroom, taping a cheap mic to a broken lamp and using GarageBand to record “Idle Town,” which went viral on YouTube and snowballed into his music career. It’s understandable why the track connected with listeners everywhere, distilling the stillness of suburbia that can often feel stifling for those coming into their own. That tension and Conan’s own experiences feeling like he didn’t fit in helped him discover his passion for songwriting.
“Being a mixed-race kid growing up in Texas definitely affected who I am as a person, [it] made me feel like I didn't really belong anywhere,” he says. “That's when I turned to the Internet and songwriting 'cause I didn't know where I belonged, and I didn't know where I was going. I couldn't relate to my white friends, and I couldn't relate to my Asian friends, and I couldn't really fit anywhere else. I think that feeling of loneliness is what made me start songwriting because it was just a way for me to express what I was feeling in a way that was more understandable and tangible.”
But that doesn’t mean that Conan harbors resentment toward his hometown. He admits that he hasn’t been back to Texas in a while and when he’s homesick he listens to the likes of Dolly Parton, Kacey Musgraves, and Willie Nelson — country music stars that capture the essence of his Southern upbringing. To feel a sense of home, he’ll sit in his car and sing with his “good ol’ Texan accent.” And when Conan does make it back, he and his best friend will hit up Austin’s Kerbey Lane Cafe, where they’ll sit and people watch for hours along with ordering the most random plates: fries, pancakes, hot chocolate, broccoli, and more.
Even as Conan racked up tons of streams online, it took until his debut tour in 2018 to realize the reach he has. Playing for a crowd of people, hearing people sing back the lyrics that he wrote in his bedroom finally made him realize that it wasn’t just some dream. His life as a pop star had begun.
It’s only the beginning for Conan, who has several more festival gigs this summer and another tour in the fall. There’s also, of course, the eventual full-length album that he’s diligently been working on. While his EP was reflective of his senior year of high school, he says the album sounds a bit more like his first couple of years out of Texas and in college at UCLA.
“Kind of that era of moving out, and being so confused about what's going on and things changing so much,” he explains. “That early adulthood era, it's just so confusing, and so electric, and explosive. Everything is so new and confusing. It's definitely a bit darker than my EP, and I think it definitely has an era of not really knowing what's going on but trying to figure it all out.”
It’s Conan’s talent and candidness that has helped him rise in the music industry, which will undoubtedly catapult him to pop stardom. Going forward, he wants to stay as true to himself as possible while also setting the example.
“I think that [being inauthentic] would just be an injustice to the people who are listening. And I hope that in the future, I’m still writing my own songs and that I'm writing songs for other artists. That'd be so much fun,” he says. “Also, growing up it was really nice to see people who didn't fit into perfect little boxes. Just 'cause I didn't fit into any box at all, and I want to be that for people in the future.”
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
