Conan Gray

Conan Lee Gray (born December 5, 1998) is an American singer-songwriter and former YouTuber. He was born in Lemon Grove, California, and raised in Georgetown, Texas where he began uploading vlogs, covers, and original songs to YouTube as a teenager. In 2018, Gray signed a record deal with Republic Records, which released his debut EP, '' Sunset Season'' (2018).

Bolstered by the commercially successful songs " Maniac" and " Heather", his studio album '' Kid Krow'' (2020) debuted at number five on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, making it the biggest U.S. artist debut of the year. His second studio album, '' Superache'' (2022), debuted in the top 10 in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands. His third studio album '' Found Heaven'' was released in 2024 and debuted at number 14 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200. His fourth studio album ''Wishbone'' is scheduled to be released in August 2025.

Early life

Conan Lee Gray was born on December 5, 1998, in Lemon Grove, California, to an Irish father and a Japanese mother. As an infant, he moved with his family to Hiroshima, Japan, because his grandfather needed medical care after being diagnosed with cancer. After his grandfather's death, the family moved back to California.

Gray's parents divorced when he was three years old and he was thereafter raised by a single mother. In a " Draw My Life" video, he details his experiences with divorce as a young child. As his father was in the military, Gray moved 9 times during his childhood, including two times during sixth grade. He was frequently bullied in grade school for being quiet.

Gray eventually settled as a preteen in Georgetown, Texas, where he remained for the rest of his teenage years. His life in central Texas inspired much of his art and music. He was accepted to UCLA, and moved to Los Angeles, California, in September 2017. However, he dropped out after only three months to begin touring after he was signed to Republic Records.

Career

2013–2019: YouTube channel and ''Sunset Season''

Gray created his official YouTube channel in 2013, and began making videos at age 15. His early videos were about topics such as baking and mainly focused on his everyday life. His vlog content centered heavily on his life in small-town Texas. 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 25 million views.

Gray self-released his debut single, "Idle Town", in March 2017. The song gained over 14 million streams on Spotify and 12 million views on YouTube. He self-released his second single, "Grow", on September 1, 2017. In October 2018, he released the single "Generation Why" on Republic Records, which was called "a rallying call to millennials". In November 2018, he released the five-track EP '' Sunset Season'', which includes the songs "Idle Town", "Generation Why", "Crush Culture", "Greek God", and "Lookalike". The EP peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers Albums chart. Gray embarked on the Sunset Shows tour in support of the EP. Sometime in 2018, he trademarked GirlyBoy, Inc., his way of owning his masters. He used it for his fourth album, Wishbone.

Gray made his late-night television debut on ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' on the eve of February 2019, before performing several shows as an opening act on Panic! at the Disco's Pray for the Wicked Tour. He 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 of high school. Between March and October 2019, he released three singles from his debut album, ''Kid Krow'', "Checkmate", "Comfort Crowd", and " Maniac", and an independent single, "The King". In October 2019, Gray embarked on the Comfort Crowd Tour, his second headlining tour of North America, with support from acclaimed New Zealand musician Benee as well as American recording artist UMI. As of October 2019, Gray's catalog had gained over 250 million streams across all platforms collectively. He received the 2019 Shorty Award for Best YouTube Musician, and was nominated for Breakthrough Artist at the 2019 Streamy Awards.

2020–2021: ''Kid Krow''

Throughout the second week of 2020, Gray shared daily hints about the title of his debut album on Twitter. On January 9, 2020, he revealed the title, '' Kid Krow'', and wrote, "I say more on this album than I've ever said in my life, and I can't wait to tell you all of my secrets. Love y'all." Gray released " The Story" on the same day of the album's announcement, as well as " Wish You Were Sober" as a surprise release two days before the album's release. During early 2020, Gray's single "Maniac" became successful on international mainstream pop radio, specifically in Australia, where it was certified platinum. The song was also certified Platinum in Canada and Gold in the US, making it his first certified song in all three countries. It became his first appearance on Billboard. The single reached number 25 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, as well as number one in Australia and the top 100 charts of Ireland and South Korea. Gray released ''Kid Krow'' on March 20, 2020, which debuted at number 5 on the ''Billboard'' 200 as well as number 1 on the US Pop Albums chart and number 2 on the Top Album Sales chart with over 37 thousand pure sales. In the US, it was the biggest new artist debut of 2020 as of March and was the top pop solo debut album in over two years since Camila Cabello's 2018 self-titled album. The album was praised by publications such as ''Paper'', ''Billboard'', NPR, ''Teen Vogue'' and ''Paste''.

Gray was scheduled to perform on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' on March 16, as well as Coachella in mid April 2020, however both performances were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-2020, both ''Forbes'' and ''Billboard'' listed Gray as a frontrunner in their predictions for Best New Artist nominees at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Following the commercial success of ''Kid Krow'', Apple Music named Gray as an Up Next artist and released an exclusive mini-documentary about him in April 2020. He would have embarked on the Kid Krow World Tour with support from Bülow in 2020, though it was also cancelled due to the pandemic. In August 2020, the song " Heather" became popular on the social media platform TikTok, consequently becoming ''Kid Krow''s sixth and final single. It made Gray his first entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in his career, and further charted in the top 40 of countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. It became his most commercially successful single since "Maniac", which achieved international mainstream hit radio success earlier that year. Gray performed "Heather" on both ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' and ''The Today Show'' in October 2020. He released the single "Fake" with American singer Lauv in October 2020.

2022–2024: ''Superache'' and ''Found Heaven''

Between May 2021 and January 2022, Gray released the singles "Astronomy", "People Watching", "Telepath", and "Jigsaw". He began his 2022 world tour in March, later concluding in June. On April 11, 2022, Gray announced that his second album '' Superache'' would be released on June 24, 2022. On April 15, 2022, he released the song "Memories", and on May 19 he released the fifth single of the album, "Yours", and revealed the track list. The album is 12 tracks and a total of 40 minutes long. Previously released single "Telepath" was not featured on the track list and remained as a non-album single. It was released on June 24, 2022. Alongside the album, the video for the single "Disaster" was also released, as well as Gray's announcement of his fourth concert tour, the Superache Tour, which ran from September 2022 to March 2023. Speaking about the album, Gray said "Writing this album was miserable, and that's why it ended up being a super-accurate depiction of my life", and "It felt like scraping my ribs of any last bits of meat". In April 2022, he appeared as a surprise guest on Olivia Rodrigo's Sour Tour in Vancouver and they did a cover of the Katy Perry song, " The One That Got Away". On July 18, 2022, Gray sang the national anthem at the 2022 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. His performance was widely criticized across social media, some comparing it to Fergie's performance at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

In May 2023, Gray began posting teasers featuring images of grocery stores across his social media. The teasers were revealed to be in reference to the setting of a new music video that was released on May 19, accompanying the single "Never Ending Song". Both the video and single marked a departure from Gray's usual style and featured 80's inspired visuals and sounds; Gray acknowledged the artistic shift as a "celebration of emotions" and "the beginning of a story". On August 14, he announced a new single, "Winner", which was released on August 25. On October 31, Gray released the single "Killing Me".

On January 31, 2024, Gray announced his third studio album titled '' Found Heaven'', which was released on April 5, as well as "Lonely Dancers", the album's fourth single, which was released on February 9. On March 8, he released the fifth single of the album, "Alley Rose". According to Ken Patridge of Genius, the first four singles off the album have featured an upbeat 80's vibe, while "Alley Rose" is a soaring piano-rock ballad that harks back to '70s-era Elton John. To support ''Found Heaven'', Gray embarked on his fifth headlining concert tour, Found Heaven On Tour, in July 2024 which includes Australia, the US, Asia, Amsterdam, Paris and the UK.

On October 18, 2024, Gray released the single "Holidays" after first playing the song during the ''Found Heaven'' tour at Madison Square Garden. The song chronicles his experiences returning to his hometown in Texas for the holiday season.

2025: ''Kid Krow, Decomposed'' and ''Wishbone''

In January 2025, Gray was announced as part of the lineup for the Governors Ball Music Festival, signaling the beginning of a new promotional cycle. On March 19, 2025, he surprise-released '' Kid Krow, Decomposed'', a fifth-anniversary edition of his debut album. This edition featured a hand-drawn alternate cover by Gray, and featured three bonus tracks: an unreleased song titled "Bed Rest", and live versions of " The Cut That Always Bleeds" and " Heather", both recorded during Found Heaven on Tour.

On May 22, 2025, Gray announced his fourth studio album, '' Wishbone'', set for release on August 15, 2025. The announcement included the reveal of the album's artwork, as well as a short teaser video featuring Gray seated in a dimly lit car, accompanied by a snippet of new music. Wishbone will be his first album owned by himself under GirlyBoy, Inc. Gray also shared that the album was produced by Dan Nigro, Ethan Gruska, Noah Conrad, Elvira Anderfjärd, and Luka Kloser. The lead single, titled "This Song" was released on May 30, 2025. On May 29, 2025, he announced a tour for Wishbone titled the Wishbone Pajama Show that will last from September to October 2025 and will feature Hemlocke Springs as the opening act.

Artistry

Gray is known for his pop music, which has been tagged under the indie, acoustic, and bedroom subgenres. ''Teen Vogue'' called Gray "the pop prince for sad internet teens". He has a tenor vocal range.

Influences

Gray has cited Taylor Swift as his biggest inspiration, stating that he "was raised by er and that he is "the largest Swiftie". He told ''People'', "I love her so much. I love her music. I love what she does. I love her lyricism. I love how she's handled her career. She's just such a fucking boss. I grew up listening to her music since I was nine years old. I feel like she shaped me so much as a person." Swift praised Gray's debut album ''Kid Krow'' and the track "Wish You Were Sober" on her personal Instagram story, to which Gray responded, "Thank you for being my lifelong songwriting inspiration and icon. I honestly feel like you raised me both as a writer and a human and I cannot express in words how much that means to me. Thank you for everything. Swiftie for life." In an interview with Zane Lowe, for Apple Music, Gray stated that Swift is his "number one above all", and continued that "she's just my songwriting icon, and I'll never understand how she does what she does. She's just amazing". Gray also revealed that Swift messaged him and complimented ''Kid Krow''.

Gray acknowledged Lorde as one of his other primary influences, and has explained that his EP ''Sunset Season'' was majorly inspired by the small-town nostalgia of her debut album ''Pure Heroine''. He has also cited the Chicks and Adele as some of his musical influences, as well as expressing a mutual admiration for V of BTS, and Billie Eilish. Talking about Eilish's rapid rise to fame in 2019, Gray told '' ET'': "Billie and I have been friends since, like, literally forever, since she was, like, 15. I was like, 17. We were really young. Watching her have to figure out all these little things along the way has been really helpful for me." Gray has also identified Lana Del Rey as one of his stronger pop influences; he has covered a few of her songs.

Other ventures

Gray partners with and models for agencies and brands such as Puma, W magazine, Yves Saint Laurent, Vogue, Elle Men China, and Burberry.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted and certified songs

Notes

Awards and nominations

Tours

Headlining tours

* Sunset Shows (2018–19)
* Comfort Crowd Tour (2019)
* Conan Gray World Tour 2022
* Superache Tour (2022–23)
* Found Heaven On Tour (2024)
* The Wishbone Pajama Show (2025)

Supporting tours

* Pray for the Wicked Tour (2019) (Panic! at the Disco)

Cancelled tours

* Kid Krow World Tour (2020)

References

External links

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Conan Gray's Fans Had Front Row Seat to His Path to Rising Star
– Documentary by ''Uproxx'' and Honda on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Conan
1998 births
21st-century American male singers
21st-century American singer-songwriters
American expatriates in Japan
American male singer-songwriters
American music YouTubers
American musicians of Japanese descent
American people of Irish descent
American tenors
Living people
People from Georgetown, Texas
People from Lemon Grove, California
Republic Records artists
Singer-songwriters from California
Singer-songwriters from Texas
YouTubers from California
YouTubers from Texas