Conan Gray
Conan Lee Gray (born December 5, 1998)[3] is an American singer-songwriter and social media personality. Gray started out uploading vlogs and covers to YouTube as a teenager from Georgetown, Texas. After signing a record deal with Republic Records in 2018, he released his debut EP Sunset Season which gained over 300 million streams online. His debut studio album, Kid Krow, was released in March 2020 and reached number 5 on the Billboard 200, making him the biggest US new artist debut of 2020. His breakthrough single "Maniac" has accumulated over 100 million streams on Spotify alone and has been certified Platinum in Australia and Gold in the US and Canada.
Conan Gray | ||||||||||
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![]() Gray performing at U Street Music Hall in 2019 | ||||||||||
Background information | ||||||||||
Birth name | Conan Lee Gray[1][2] | |||||||||
Born | Lemon Grove, California[3] | December 5, 1998|||||||||
Origin | Georgetown, Texas | |||||||||
Genres | ||||||||||
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2013–present | |||||||||
Labels | ||||||||||
Website | conangray | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Genre |
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Subscribers | 2.2 million | |||||||||
Total views | 228.6 million | |||||||||
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Updated July 10, 2020 | ||||||||||
Early life
Gray was born on December 5, 1998, in Lemon Grove, California, to an Irish father and a Japanese mother. As an infant, his family moved to Hiroshima, Japan, due to his grandfather requiring medical care. After living there for two years, the family moved back to California. Gray used to speak Japanese fluently, but has since lost his proficiency.[5]
Gray's parents divorced when he was three years old. In a "Draw My Life" video, he details his experiences with divorce as a young child.[6] As his father was in the military, Gray moved twelve times throughout his childhood, moving three times during sixth 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. He was accepted to UCLA, and 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."[6]
Career
2015–2017: Career beginnings on YouTube
He created his official channel in 2013,[7] and began creating videos at age nine.[8] Gray's vlog content centers heavily on his life in small-town Texas. He is often hailed for his appreciation of Americana-related nostalgia.[9] Gray has recorded music, showed his art, and created other videos for his vlog with more than 25 million views.[10][8]
2018–2019: Sunset Season
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.[11][9] In October 2018, Gray released the single "Generation Why" on Republic Records,[11] which was described as "a rallying call to generation Z."[12] In November 2018, Gray 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 and at No. 116 on the Billboard 200.[13][14] Gray embarked on a North American tour in support of the EP with Girl in Red.[15]
Gray made his late-night television debut when he performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers on the eve of February 2019[16][17] before performing several shows as an opening act for Panic! at the Disco during their Pray for the Wicked Tour.[18] He played concert festivals such as The Great Escape in addition to touring nationally.[19]
In February 2019, Gray re-released the single "The Other Side",[20] after originally publishing it on YouTube in 2016 on the eve of the first day of his senior year at high school.[21][20] Between March and October 2019, Gray released a series of singles off of his debut album, Kid Krow, namely "Checkmate", "Comfort Crowd", and "Maniac",[22] and an independent single, “The King”. In October 2019, Gray embarked on his second headlining tour of North America with support from acclaimed New Zealand musician Benee as well as American recording artist UMI.[23] As of October 2019, Gray's catalog had gained over 250 million streams across all platforms collectively.[24] Gray was awarded the 2019 Shorty Award for Best YouTube Musician,[25] and was nominated for Breakthrough Artist at the 2019 Streamy Awards.[26]
2020–present: Kid Krow
Throughout the second week of 2020, Gray teased fans online by tweeting daily hints about the title of his debut album.[27] On January 9, 2020, he revealed the title of his debut album, 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."[28] Gray released "The Story" on the same day of the album's announcement,[29] as well as "Wish You Were Sober" as a surprise release two days before the album's release.[30] During early 2020, Gray's single "Maniac" became successful on international mainstream pop radio,[31][32][33][34][35] specifically in Australia,[36][37] where it was certified platinum.[38] The song was also certified Gold in both the US and Canada, making it his first certification in all three countries.[39][40] It became his first Billboard-charting single when it reached number 25 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart,[41] as well as the top 100 charts of Australia, Ireland and South Korea.
Gray released his debut full-length studio album 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.[42][43][44] 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.[45] 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,[46] as well as Coachella in mid April 2020,[47] before 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.[48][49] 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.[50] His Kid Krow World Tour with support from Bülow has been postponed until further notice.[51]
Artistry
Influences
![](../I/m/Taylor_Swift_Red_Tour_2%2C_2013.jpg)
Gray has cited Taylor Swift as his biggest inspiration, stating that he "was raised by [her]" and that he is "the largest Swiftie".[52] 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."[53] 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 the means to me. Thank you for everything. Swifty for life".[54] 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.[55]
Gray has named Lorde as one of his other primary influences,[56][57][58] and has explained that his EP Sunset Season was majorly inspired by the small-town nostalgia of her debut album Pure Heroine.[9] He has also cited Dixie Chicks and Adele as some of his musical influences,[59] as well as expressing a mutual[60] admiration for V of BTS,[61] and Billie Eilish.[62] 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."[63] Gray has cited Baby by Justin Bieber as a major song that inspired his childhood.[64]
Gray has been named as a "Gen Z vlogging sensation and venue-packing pop powerhouse" by Paper,[9] "the pop prince of sad internet teens" by Teen Vogue,[65] and "Gen Z's ascendant king of sad boy pop" by i-D.[10]
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [14] |
AUS [66] |
AUT [67] |
BEL (FL) [68] |
CAN [69] |
IRE [70] |
NLD [71] |
NZ [72] |
SCO [73] |
UK [74] | |||
Kid Krow | 5 | 26 | 60 | 49 | 5 | 20 | 94 | 32 | 11 | 30 |
Extended plays
Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | ||
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US [14] |
US Heat. [77] |
UK Down. [78] | ||
Sunset Season | 116 | 2 | 57 |
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Bub. [79] |
AUS [66] |
BEL (FL) Tip [68] |
IRE [70] |
KOR [80] |
NZ Hot [81] |
SGP [82] |
UK [74] | ||||||||
"Idle Town" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Sunset Season | |||||
"Grow" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||
"Generation Why" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Sunset Season | |||||
"Crush Culture" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"The Other Side" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||
"The King" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Checkmate" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Kid Krow | ||||||
"Comfort Crowd" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Maniac" | 25 | 24 | 41 | 83 | 43 | 29 | — | — | |||||||
"The Story" | 2020 | — | — | 43 | — | — | 34 | — | — | ||||||
"Wish You Were Sober" | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | |||||||
"Heather" | 21 | — | — | 61 | — | 28 | 22 | 96 | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Awards and nominations
Year | Association | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Shorty Awards | Best YouTube Musician | Himself | Won | [25] |
Streamy Awards | Breakthrough Artist | Nominated | [26] | ||
2020 | MTV Europe Music Awards | Best Push Act | Pending | [83] | |
MTV Video Music Awards | Push Artist of the Year | Longlisted | [84] |
Tours
Headlining tours
- The Sunset Shows (2018–19)
- The Comfort Crowd Tour (2019)
- The Kid Krow Tour (2020)
References
- Gray, Conan Lee. "ASCAP Ace Search". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Conan Gray [@conangray] (October 26, 2018). "my middle name is "lee" so all i gotta do is name my child "fam"" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Dean Stone, Russell (August 2, 2019). "Conan Gray". Notion. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
The story starts back in Lemon Grove, San Diego, where Conan Gray was born on 5th December 1998.
- "Total Subscribers & Video Views Gained For ConanXCanon (Annually)". Retrieved April 8, 2020 – via YouTube. (subscription required)
- Gray, Conan (March 18, 2013), "50 Facts About Me !!!", YouTube, retrieved July 6, 2019
- Conan Gray (June 12, 2016), Draw My Life ( For 100,000 ), retrieved July 6, 2019
- "Conan Gray" – via YouTube.
- Ohlheiser, Abby (June 25, 2018). "YouTube is new way to get famous; at VidCon, tweens want to be next in line". Washington Post. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- Wetmore, Brendan (April 9, 2019). "Conan Gray Hits a Small Town Crescendo". PAPER. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
- Greenwood, Douglas (April 24, 2019). "conan gray is gen z's ascendant king of sad boy pop". i-D. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Wess, Mike (October 8, 2018). "One To Watch: Conan Gray Makes His Major Label Debut With "Generation Why"". idolator. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- Andrew Powell, W. (November 15, 2018). "Watch: Conan Gray's 'Generation Why'". The Gate. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- "Heatseekers Albums Charts - December 1, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
- "Conan Gray Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- Lee, Craig (November 12, 2018). "Conan Gray sets out for The Sunset Shows tour 2019". AXS. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- "Conan Gray releases new single "Comfort Crowd"". Universal Music Group. September 5, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014– ): Michael Moore/Busy Philipps/Conan Gray/Brendan Buckley, IMDb, January 31, 2019, retrieved January 18, 2020
- Smyth, David (May 10, 2019). "Virtually famous: Conan Gray". Evening Standard. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- "Seven Performances That Defined The Great Escape 2019". Clash. May 14, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- Ehrlich, Helen (February 18, 2019). "An Analysis of Conan Gray's "The Other Side" Re-Release". Affinity Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
- Gray, Conan (August 22, 2016), "The Other Side - Original Song", YouTube
- Damshenas, Sam (October 30, 2019). "Conan Gray battles an army of evil exes in Maniac music video". Gay Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "Conan Gray on Instagram: "HEY Y'ALL 🖤 so excited to announce that @whoisumi and @beneemusic are coming on my upcoming north american tour with me!! check out dates…"". Instagram. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "Conan Gray releases new single "Maniac" today". Universal Music Group. October 25, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- "Conan Gray". Shorty Awards.
- Jarvey, Natalie (October 16, 2019). "Lilly Singh, David Dobrik and Emma Chamberlain Earn Streamy Award Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
- Jones, Lexi (January 6, 2020). "Conan Gray Teases Fans With Clues About Debut Album". Grit Daily. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
- Gray, Conan (January 19, 2020). "Conan Gray on Instagram: "My debut album "Kid Krow" is coming out March 20th. The last song on the album "The Story" comes out everywhere tonight at midnight. I say…"". Retrieved January 9, 2020 – via Instagram.
- Daw, Stephen (January 10, 2020). "Conan Gray's 'The Story': Listen". Billboard. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- Damshenas, Sam (March 19, 2020). "Conan Gray releases massive pop anthem Wish You Were Sober". Gay Times. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Top 40/M Future Releases". February 19, 2020. Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- conan gray [@conangray] (February 26, 2020). "'Maniac' is playing on [BBC Radio 1].. y'all we on radio :,))) Thank you for making it Tune of the Week" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Cantor, Brian (March 1, 2020). "Lauv's "Modern Loneliness," Conan Gray's "Maniac" Enter Top 50 At Pop Radio". Headline Planet. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- "Maniac - Conan Gray". Top-Charts.com. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- Cantor, Brian (February 18, 2020). "Sam Smith's "To Die For" Ranks As Pop Radio's Most Added Song". Headline Planet. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
- "Radio goes crazy for Conan Gray's 'Maniac' up 98 spins to No. 8". Radioinfo Australia. April 9, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- "RadioMonitor: Hot 100 Australia". The Music Network. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2020 Singles". ARIA. 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- "Gold/Platinum: Conan Gray". RIAA. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- "Gold/Platinum: Conan Gray". Music Canada. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- Cantor, Brian (March 30, 2020). "Conan Gray's "Maniac" Arrives On Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart". Headline Planet. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- Akingblade, Tobi (March 23, 2020). "Conan Gray releases debut album 'Kid Krow'". NME. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- McIntyre, Hugh (March 30, 2020). "Conan Gray Debuts His First Album Inside The Top 10 And Kenny Rogers Returns Behind The Weeknd". Forbes. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- Cantor, Brian (March 27, 2020). "Conan Gray's "Kid Krow" Debuts At #2 For US Sales, Top 5 For Total US Units". Headline Planet. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Conan Gray emerges as biggest new artist of 2020 with debut album, Kid Krow". Universal Music Group. March 30, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Scheduled To Perform On March 16 "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"". Headline Planet. March 9, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- Shifferaw, Abel (January 3, 2020). "Here's the Full Coachella 2020 Lineup". Complex. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- McIntyre, Hugh (April 7, 2020). "Conan Gray, Doja Cat, Summer Walker And Alec Benjamin: Early Grammy Predictions For Best New Artist". Forbes. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- Grein, Paul (May 26, 2020). "Grammy Watch: Best New Artist Likely Nominees". Billboard. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- McIntyre, Cal (April 8, 2020). "Apple Music Up Next April 2020: Conan Gray". Notion. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- "Tour". Conan Gray Official Website. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Guesses the Lyrics to Taylor Swift Songs | Lyric Challenge", YouTube, Seventeen, December 11, 2019, retrieved December 12, 2019
- Mier, Tomás (January 10, 2020). "Conan Gray Says His Forthcoming Album Kid Krow Was Inspired by His 'Pretty Tough' Childhood". People. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- Kubrick, Kaitlyn (March 27, 2020). "This is how Conan Gray reacted to the recognition of Taylor Swift". Somag News. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Talks Taylor Swift In Apple Music Interview". Billboard. April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- Greenwood, Douglas (March 20, 2020). "Conan Gray on TikTok, Lorde and his new record Kid Krow". i-D. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Wants To Marry Lorde | IT'S A MOOD". MTV Australia. YouTube. February 25, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- Yglesias, Ana Monroy (September 5, 2020). "Conan Gray On "Checkmate," Debut LP, Lorde & Adele". Grammy. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Conan Gray". Republic Records.
- Paper [@papermagazine] (November 19, 2019). ""I want to try doing music in the style of @conangray or "All Tinted." #V..."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Conan Gray [@conangray] (October 4, 2019). "I'M STUNNED @BTS_twt I LOVE Y'ALL can i be your backup singer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Williams, Sophie (August 2, 2019). "Clairo, Billie Eilish, Omar Apollo: meet the Z-Pack". NME. Retrieved March 31, 2020. Note: Both artists have indicated each other as their "Z-Pack" pal
- Drysdale, Jennifer (April 21, 2020). "Conan Gray on How Longtime Friend Billie Eilish Has Helped Him". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- Conan Gray plays Jam or Not a Jam, retrieved May 3, 2020
- Bergado, Gabe (June 20, 2019). "Meet the Pop Prince Making Music for Sad Internet Teens Everywhere". Teen Vogue. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "Discography Conan Gray". australian-charts.com. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
- "Discographie Conan Gray". austriancharts.at. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
- "Discografie Conan Gray". Ultratop. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "The Weeknd Has This Week's No.1 Album". FYIMusicNews. March 29, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Discography Conan Gray". irish-charts.com. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
- "Discografie Conan Gray". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "Discography Conan Gray". charts.nz. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- "CONAN GRAY | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- Caulfield, Keith (March 29, 2020). "The Weeknd's 'After Hours' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart With Biggest Week of 2020". Billboard. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- Masterton, James (March 27, 2020). "Charts analysis: The Weeknd romps to the top of the albums chart with After Hours". MusicWeek. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Chart History: Heatseeker Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- Peaks on UK Albums Download Chart:
- Sunset Season: "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100: 23 November 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- "Conan Gray Chart History: Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- Peaks on the Gaon Digital Singles Chart:
- "Maniac": "Gaon Weekly Digital Chart". Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
- Peaks on the NZ Hot Singles Chart:
- "Maniac", "Wish You Were Sober", "Affluenza" and "Heather": "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. March 30, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
- "The Story": "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "RIAS International Top Charts Week 30". Recording Industry Association (Singapore). Archived from the original on July 28, 2020.
- Alston, Trey (February 4, 2020). "If You Tell Conan Gray About Your Love Beefs, He'll Make A Song About Them". MTV News. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- Drake, Carolyn (July 23, 2020). "Doja Cat, Pop Smoke, And More Are Nominated For VMAs' Best New Artist". Uproxx. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Conan Gray's Fans Had Front Row Seat To His Path To Rising Star – Documentary by Uproxx and Honda
- Conan Gray on Instagram