Conan Gray FaceTimes Zane Lowe on Apple Music to chat about his musical icons (Taylor Swift, Lorde, Paramore, The 1975, Frank Ocean), being a shy teenager, the simplicity of a great song, going everywhere in pajamas, and reflecting back on his album Kid Krow and the experience of releasing it from his bedroom.
On Releasing His Album ‘Kid Krow’ From His Bedroom and the Catharsis He Felt...
It's been interesting just because I wasn't expecting to release the album out of my bedroom. But it was also kind of perfect in the sense that I wrote the whole album out of my bedroom, and so to release it in a time where all of us were in our bedrooms, felt weirdly perfect. Obviously, the situation of the world is not perfect. I think if the album does anything in sense of giving any catharsis for people who feel trapped in their spaces or feel lonely, I think that's like it's done everything it can possibly do. The day it released I was just like, "Oh gosh Conan, you said way too much and you were way too personal, and now millions of people are going to know." But then after I kind of got over the fact that everyone knows all of my secrets, what am I going to do? They knew them anyways. I think also, the best music is honest. It's just like people aren't stupid. People can tell when something is real or when it isn't. And so, I was like, people are going to find out anyways. Might as well give them the information instead of making them make it up because they're always wrong anyways. Whatever.
On His Songwriting Icon Taylor Swift Posting His Song On Her Instagram and DMing Him…
She's my number one. She's my number one above all. She's just my songwriting icon, and I'll never understand how she does what she does. She's just amazing. well she just recently, literally four days ago, put my song, "Wish You Were Sober" on her Instagram story. I literally lost my mind. She DM'd me afterwards. She was so, so sweet. She told me that my album was perfect, which I was like, "Taylor, that's all you need to say. I can die now.” She never told me anything before. She never said anything to me. It just happened. I logged into my phone, and it was just everywhere. I was freaked. I hadn't reached out to her at all. She just popped in and just said, "Hi," and told me that my album was great. I weirdly, I wrote a paragraph so f*cking fast. I wrote it so fast because there's so many things that I'd wanted to say to Taylor Swift my whole entire life. She raised me. My first YouTube video I ever watched was a Taylor Swift music video. I just said everything I needed to say and I was like, "Bye." She's just incredible. What do you even say to Taylor Swift after she just tells you that your album is good? I don't know. You just say, "Thanks. You're literally perfect.”
On Identifying With Lorde’s Lyrics and Style…
Lorde was the first artist that I'd ever encountered who was writing about a life that I actually related to. It was suburban, it was normal, and she found a way to just perfectly encapsulate what it feels like to be a normal kid growing up in a normal town with normal friends. It's something that I'd never heard because prior to that, it was just party, party, party, sex, drugs, drugs. I was 12 years old. I was like, "No one likes me. I am so scared." That's what I felt. She was just everything to me. Also, I don't think the music industry was ever the same after her, ever, ever. I think also, they pioneered the stripped bass pop sound, which is so familiar in 2020 pop music. Also, I was talking to Joel, I was in the studio with him the other day, and he mentioned that the song that took Royals out of the number one spot on Billboard was Ke$ha and Pitbull, and it was Timber. The difference between Royals by Lorde and Timber by Ke$ha is just so monumental. I think it tells you how early they were in making that specific special sound.
On His Life During Isolation and His Relationship To Social Media…
I've been pretty good. I mean I've kind of taken a stance of if I don't act crazy and get enough food for the end of the world, then maybe the other people won't and we'll actually have food at the store. So I'm trying to be a normal human and not selfishly hoard a bunch of foods. So I've been pretty normal. And when it comes to regards of me sitting at home alone, that's kind of what I do all the time. Yeah, well definitely a lot of my friends have been FaceTiming me and also anytime some horrible goes viral or something about me, they'll call me and be like don't look at the internet today. I'm like okay. I just don't look. I'm pretty addicted. I'm going to be real. I'm not going to lie. I think I'm really just dependent on just being logged into the rest of the world. That's how I grew up and now it's just, you know, the internet's a lot more information about me than I would like these days. Yeah.
On The 1975 Being The Soundtrack of His High School Experience and Meeting Matty Healy...
I think for me and my friends, our favorite thing to do is to just dissect the shit out of their lyrics, you know? Which are just crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy lyrics that you would never think of. They make up words that don't even exist and they're just, I mean they soundtracked all of my high school years. Absolutely. He loves artists and he's been a huge supporter since the EP and he's just, I mean he's one of my icons as well and I've met him and I went to his show and I said hi and he's just the coolest guy ever. I can't believe he exists. Yeah, he's everything you want him to be, you know?
On Being Influenced by Paramore…
I think that anyone who had any ounce of teen angst ever was influenced by Paramore. And I think also for me, they hit this perfect little cord where it's punk music but also really, really borrows from extremely well-made pop melodies. And I mean her voice is just the craziest part about all of it. Every time you think she's not going to hit a note, she hits it. She's like whatever. Easy peasy. I mean I think that they've just absolutely influenced everything I've done. And also their most recent album, After Laughter was so surprising to me, but they made such a special, unheard pop sound.
On Why Frank Ocean Is a Master of Lyrics…
Frank, for me I think, he's just been a master of lyrics since I was in high school. I had a moment when I was younger, as a younger songwriter, where I would just write lyrics, because they just sounded good. But there's a few artists that just made me realize how much depth a lyric can actually have. And with a song like Forrest Gump, it just reminds me so much of high school. But, obviously, I think it's about a very, very different situation. But it's just getting that feeling encapsulated into a lyric and into the way that he sings. I mean, his voice is perfect. I think, for him, it's the melodies and the lyrics that just blow my mind, because they're written in a way that I would never thought before. And, also, he writes from perspectives that aren't common at all. I mean he just fearlessly was himself and made music that sounded like nothing else. And I think it's like every artist in the world, every songwriter in the world, has taken a note from him and been just like, "Is this going to be accepted? Is this going to be right?" And then just being like, "F it, I just have to do what is true to what I am."
