“Heather” by Conan Gray, Wednesday, October 11, 2023

 

Conan Gray released his debut album, Kid Krow, in 2020. The album entered Billboard’s 200 Album chart at number 5, the highest position for a debut artist in 2020. But artists with such a successful debut rarely come out of nowhere. Gray began uploading his songs to YouTube in 2013 when he was 15. His channel gained many followers for his vlogs about everyday life growing up in Texas; however, eventually he began writing and recording music in 2017.

I STILL REMEMBER THE THIRD OF DECEMBER. California-born and Texas-raised on a musical diet of Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey, Teen Vogue called Conan Gray “the pop prince for sad internet teens.” Republic Records signed Gray based on his online presence and the streaming success of his early singles. The singer performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2019 and later opened for Panic! at the Disco’ Pray for the Wicked Tour on a few dates. Kid Krow was promoted by two singles: “Maniac,” which “bubbled under the Hot 100” at 125. The song was a top 100 hit internationally in Europe, Australia, and Korea. But the single “Heather” was Gray’s first, and so far only, Hot 100 single. The song is Gray’s most-streamed song with over 1 Billion plays since its 2020 release. 

IT’S JUST POLYESTER. Born to an American father in the U.S. military and a Japanese mother, Conan Gray moved nine times in his early childhood due to his father’s job and his parents divorce when he was three. Gray says that he was bullied when he was in school for being “girlish.” Gray hasn’t disclosed his sexuality and has even used both men and women as love interests in his music videos. He tweeted, calling out listeners who speculated about his sexuality: “If labels on sexuality and gender and beliefs and all that great stuff are helpful for [yo]u, I’m all for it. But the second you start trying to shove everyone else into a neat little easy to understand box, I get mad. Stop!" Today’s song, “Heather,” deals with the speaker, a male, falling in love with a girl, who seems to like the speaker. But ultimately, the speaker loses his interest to the perfect girl, Heather. According to Gray, the song is based on a real-life experience of losing someone to a girl named Heather.  He explains to Genius: “I hated Heather with all of my heart and soul. I had no reason to hate Heather. Heather is a perfectly nice girl. She’s sweet and she’s pure and she smells like daisies—she’s perfect, but I hate her.” He also made the comment: “I think everyone has a Heather.” Today’s song is interesting because it’s so open with gender/sexual fluidity, and everyone knows the feeling of being rejected, whether in a gay/straight/bi/pan/etc. situation by someone who is literally you in an upgraded form.

Read “Heather” by Conan Gray on Genius.