Get To Know: Conan Gray
What do you get when you mix honest emotions, an angelic voice and a chaotic mind? You get Conan Gray, the 20 year old songwriter with an ever-growing fanbase.
It all began when Conan began uploading videos to YouTube at the age of nine… and by 12 years old was uploading his songs on his channelwhich have now amassed over 100 million views. With all this online attention, it’s no surprise that his first ever tour sold out almost immediately…
With music that is catchy, nostalgic and vulnerable,mixed with an authentic personality, there is no doubt that the future is looking very bright for the songwriter.
This week, Conan chats to us about his biggest inspos Taylor Swift and Adele, being an overthinker and his upcoming debut album!
1) For those who don’t know about you and your music, tell us a little bit about who you are and where you’re from…
My name is Conan Gray. I am 20 years old. A chronic overthinker/songwriter from a tiny town in the middle of Texas. Now floating around the world on tour singing secretly sad pop songs to crowds of people who somehow relate to the words I wrote while depressed and alone in my bedroom!
2) Describe your sound in three words…
Chaotic, depressing, and sentimental.
3) Who inspired you to start a career in music?
Not sure. I’ve been writing music for as long as I can remember. I’d write jingles in the car to billboards I was passing on the street, and make up songs from the ingredients on snack packages. I grew up listening to Adele, Lorde, Taylor Swift, the Dixie Chicks, U2. A strange concoction but if you listen to my music now, I think it makes perfect sense that those artists are the ones who raised me.
4) Who are your biggest musical influences?
It’s hard to tell since I’ve been obsessed with songwriting artists my whole life, but Taylor Swift is probably the artist most responsible for making me obsessed with pop music. I’ve been listening to her music since her very first album when I was in elementary school. The melodies, the almost mathematical pop structures, and the extreme gut-punch cathartic catchiness of her writing blew my mind as a kid and still inspires me every single day.
5) Tell us about the writing and recording process for your new single/album…
The writing process for my upcoming debut album has been chaotic as always. I write most of my songs at extremely inconvenient times; in the shower, in bed at 3AM, sitting in airplanes, walking around the street. I come up with an idea, sing it into my phone as fast as I can so I don’t forget, and then rush home and finish the song on guitar. I’m about halfway done now with the album now, and I’m going absolutely insane. It’s wonderful. An overthinker’s nightmare and dream.
6) What can we expect from your live shows?
You can expect to scream your head off in a crowd while I scream my head off on stage and we both look insane but it’s doesn’t matter because we’re in a massive crowd of people who look insane and we all love each other. You can also expect to see me dancing around like a total idiot.
7) What has been your biggest career highlight so far?
To be completely honest, absolutely everything that happens feels like the biggest thing to me. Opening for Panic! at The Disco. Playing the Lollapalooza main stage for my first festival ever. Going on three headline tours in the past nine months. Every day I wake up like “pinch me”. A couple years ago I was a completely normal high schooler, from working class suburbia, who wrote songs in his bedroom — and the fact that millions of people are able to relate to the feelings I have is the biggest accomplishment I could ever achieve.
8) Have you met anyone and been totally starstruck?
I don’t get very starstruck as I’m just a generally shy person and every single person I ever encounter I am struck by, regardless of fame. But I do think if I were to meet Adele I would melt into a puddle and seep through the floorboards.
9) What’s on your playlists that people wouldn’t expect?
French indie music. But maybe that’s almost too expected. I don’t speak french.
10) When can we see you live?
Absolutely any city in the USA this fall! Playing 29 shows for six weeks starting October. And the rest of the world very very soon ;)