“Never Ending Song” by Conan Gray, Monday, June 10, 2024

Conan Gray released his third album, Found Heaven April 5th this year. The album is a departure from Gray’s music before the singles were released starting with the album’s lead single from last May, “Never Ending Song.” The ‘80s-inspired dance-pop track treads on “maximalist” pop (more on that later) the singer flirted with once on the teen anthem “Maniac” on his 2020 debut album Kid Krow, but much of Gray’s early music was emotional acoustic music like his biggest song, “Heather.” Working with producer Dan Nigro, the producer behind Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan, on his first two albums fleshed out Gray as a queer-coded Gen-Z singer-songwriter. The third album is a fun excursion into ‘80s glam rock and synth-pop, and it’s pure pop-rock heaven.

I SAW YOUR FACE IN A MAGAZINE TODAY. Conan Gray didn’t return to work with Dan Nigro on his third album. He told Billboard News that he had begun writing the album while on tour with his second album Superache. He talks about it being the first time that he fell in love. He says that all songs before Found Heaven were just his speculation about what love might feel like—similar to the theme of his song “People Watching”— but the album is about a real love story. In the early writing process, he knew he wanted to write a pop record. To make this pop record, Gray worked with some of the biggest pop producers including Max Martin, Greg Kurstin, Shawn Everett, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Oscar Holter, Fat Max Gsusm, and Luka Kloser. Each producer brings a slightly different sound to Gray’s album. Greg Kurstin’s Elton John-inspired track “Alley Cat” and the final track “Winner” bring Gray back to his singer-songwriter roots. The Shawn Everett tracks “Found Heaven” and “Eye of the Night” bring a Queen-inspired sound to the album. But the glue of the album has to be the songs produced by Max Martin and his associates.

TRIED TO TURN THE PAGE, BUT OUR STORY WASN’T STOPPIN’. Conan Gray is still an up-and-coming pop star. And while he is TikTok famous, I was baffled by how he got Max Martin to produce much of his third album, Found Heaven. While the album charted higher than any of Gray’s previous records, Found Heaven was certainly a low-key album of an active early 2024. Gray told Zach Sang that the Martin collaboration came about because Gray had worked with other artists in Max’s studios for years. The album produced no Billboard Hot 100 hits, not even for the producer with the most Billboard number ones. I think the album is a fun experiment in campy music inspired by the ‘80s. Maybe Conan Gray isn’t the next Freddie Mercury, but his charisma and impeccable fashion sense are iconic nonetheless. The music video for “Never Ending Song” sets the mood for the album with Gray entering a grocery store in a leather jacket 10 minutes before the store closes. Dancing in the middle of the dairy aisle connects the kitschy and the catchy. I’m not sure if there will be a revival of Found Heaven in terms of a radio campaign, but there is certainly an absence of pop stars like Conan Gray. There are still no mainstream Asian American chart staples. Hopefully, Gray breaks through with a force that goes on and on.