Conan Lee Gray (born December 5, 1998) is an American singer-songwriter. He is best friends with Olivia Rodrigo.
Early life[]
Conan Gray was born on December 5, 1998, in San Diego, California, to an Irish father and a Japanese mother. As an infant, his family moved to Hiroshima, Japan, due to his grandfather needing medical care. After living there for 2 years, the family moved back to California. Gray used to speak Japanese fluently but has since lost his proficiency.
Gray's parents divorced when he was three years old. In a "Draw My Life" video, he specifies his experiences with divorce as a young child. As his father was in the military, Gray moved 12 times throughout his childhood, moving 3 times during 6th grade alone. Gray was frequently bullied throughout grade school. At one point, he was one of only five Asian children at his school.
Gray eventually settled in Georgetown, Texas, as a preteen, where he remained for the rest of his teenage years. Gray's life in central Texas inspired much of his art and music. Conan Gray was accepted to UCLA, and he moved to an apartment in Los Angeles, California in September 2017. As recalled in his Draw My Life video, "I like to think of my life in pieces. It's been picked up and moved and rearranged, so many times, that you can barely even tell it's been lived in the same lifetime."
Career[]
Beginnings on YouTube[]
Conan Gray's YouTube channel has about 5 million subscribers. He created his official channel in 2013 and began creating videos at age nine. Gray's vlog content centers heavily on his life in small-town Texas, and he is often hailed for his appreciation of Americana-related nostalgia. Gray has recorded music, showed his art, and created other videos for his vlog, with more than twenty-five million views by 2017. Gray began studying filmmaking at UCLA. Soon after he started his classes, he took a hiatus from school to pursue a music career. He was awarded the 2019 Shorty Award for Best YouTube Musician and has been nominated for Breakthrough Artist at the 2019 Streamy Awards.
Music releases[]
In October 2018, Gray released the single "Generation Why" on Republic Records, which has been described as "a rallying call to millennials." In November 2018, Gray released the EP Sunset Season, including the first single "Idle Town", which received thirty million Spotify streams, and twenty million YouTube views. It also includes the track "Crush Culture", a semi-autobiographical anti-love song that critiques the Founder generation. Gray set up a North American tour in support of the EP with help from Girl in Red, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.
As a performer, Conan Gray was an opening act for Panic! at the Disco, and played concert festivals such as The Great Escape in addition to touring nationally.
In February 2019, Gray re-released the single "The Other Side", after originally publishing it on YouTube in 2016 on the eve of the first day of his senior year at high school. Between March and October 2019, Gray released a series of singles off of his upcoming album "Kid Krow", namely "Checkmate", "Comfort Crowd", and "Maniac". He made his debut single chart appearance when "Maniac" debuted at 30 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart. The music video for "Maniac" features an appearance from British actress, Jessica Barden from The End of the F***ing World. He announced his album “Kid Krow” on January 9th, which was released on March 20th. The day after, January 10th, he released the anticipated single ”The Story.” The music video released on January 16th. Taylor Swift said in an Instagram story that his song "Wish You Were Sober" is one of her new favorites.
In October of 2020, Gray released a collaboration song with LAUV entitled "Fake". Gray's first release in 2021 was a song titled "Overdrive" on February 19. Throughout mid-to-late 2021 and early 2022, Gray released multiple singles for him sophomore album, including “Astronomy”, “People Watching”, “Jigsaw”, “Memories”, and “Yours”. Throughout that, he also released a song called “Telepath” as a promotional single. He announced his album Superache, which was later released on June 24, 2022.
In mid 2023, Gray started teasing a new era, later announcing a new single called “Never Ending Song”. The song was Gray’s highest streaming debut for a song in a week, with 13.5 million streams. Near the end of 2023 he released “Winner” and “Killing Me”. Once 2024 started, a countdown appeared on his website and posters were hung up at record stores around the world. The countdown led to the album’s announcement, cover, name, and release date. Two more singles, “Lonely Dancers” and “Alley Rose” were released. The album, called Found Heaven, released on April 5, 2024.
Discography[]
- Sunset Season (EP) (2018)
- Kid Krow (2020)
- Superache (2022)
- Found Heaven (2024)
- Wishbone (2025)
Relationship with Olivia Rodrigo[]
| “ | We're just pals and I think he's so brilliant - Rodrigo in a 2021 interview with Capital FM.[1] |
” |
He is friends with Olivia Rodrigo, connecting through their shared producer Dan Nigro and mutual love of Taylor Swift. Although never working in the studio together, they have been spotted supporting each other like in 2021's American Music Awards (AMAs). They have also danced and recreated some of Swift's most iconic work like as in "You Belong with Me", where they sang in a hairbrush, imitating the original. Another instance was recreating the ballad "White Horse" on Instagram, where Gray picked her up while wearing a cowboy hat. In an interview with Zach Sang, Gray revealed him and Olivia have written songs but they were only for “funsies”.
References[]
- ↑ Olivia Rodrigo Explains Why She Was In Studio With Conan Gray. Capital FM. Retrieved on December 30, 2021.