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Earlier than Conan Gray took the stage at Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum on Wednesday evening (Sept. 7), the singer took a while to wander via the house’s carpeted hallways. You may hear “oohs” and “ahhs” as he handed the illustrious garbs of Dolly Parton and music stars from far earlier than his time. Grey himself was dressed to impress, sporting a lacy, black Moschino swimsuit.
And though you wouldn’t count on it by taking a look at him, the 24-year-old spent the remainder of that evening candidly spouting self-deprecating jokes that made the occasion really feel extra like an intimate haunt with a greatest good friend than an trade Q&A.
In the course of the dialog with Billboard editor Lyndsey Havens, Grey was his traditional relatable self, but additionally revealed vulnerability discussing bodily abuse, emotional wounds and goals of affection, all themes current on his sophomore album “Superache.”
“[With ‘Superache’] each single phrase felt like I used to be dragging myself throughout a mattress of nails,” Grey mentioned. “However it gave house to speak concerning the issues that have been too painful to speak about in any other case. I got here to phrases with elements of my life which might be nonetheless onerous to consider.”
Grey added, “The sweetness in pop music and the sweetness in writing music is having the ability to assist folks perceive, perceive what I’m saying and what I need folks to have the ability to relate to what I’m writing about — that’s the entire purpose I began writing music within the first place.”
All through the evening, Grey routinely dissected the eighth monitor of his album, the melancholic “Household Line” which is instantly impressed by “childhood and generational trauma.” The monitor took Grey over two years to jot down and nearly didn’t make it onto the official tracklist had it not been for Grey’s greatest good friend who urged him to finish it. Earlier than he carried out an acoustic model of the monitor for the Grammy Museum viewers — a few of whom had been ready outdoors for the reason that early hours of the morning — he summarized the monitor’s total contribution to the album’s theme.
“I don’t must run from my previous as a result of my previous doesn’t outline me,” mentioned Grey. “I actually may be who i need to be and all the issues that occurred to me, led thus far. … Some folks assume it’s too taboo to speak about trauma however everybody has baggage that they carry with them in every single place they go. My household line made me who I’m at present, in all the unhealthy methods and all the good methods.”
Serving to Grey make sense of his painfully trustworthy lyrics was long-time good friend and producer Dan Nigro, with whom he’s labored persistently since his 2018 debut EP “Sundown Season.” Nigro has turn into considerably of a celeb within the Gen-Z music panorama, having co-written and produced Olivia Rodrigo’s acclaimed debut album, “Bitter” — and sharing in a single Grammy win this 12 months.
Musing on their collaboration, Grey shared: “You spend so a few years form of creating this sound [together] and studying about one another and determining what we like and what we don’t like and at this level, we’re in a position to learn one another’s thoughts. It’s so necessary to make music with somebody you’re comfy round so that you’re free to make errors.”
On the theme of collaboration, Grey was requested if there was a BTS collaboration within the works — seeing as one of many band’s members particularly named Conan Grey as an inspiration in a latest Rolling Stone interview. He gushed together with the viewers who couldn’t assist however set free a string of screeches on the thought, however finally, he mentioned he was intimidated by the proposal.
Grey additionally spilled that he had simply visited South Korea, the place he realized “the music trade there’s so totally different. … I obtained to tour their places of work and it was simply wild. They’ve units inside workplace buildings that appear like homes — it appears to be like like a traditional home however it’s in an workplace — anyhow, you’ll get it later.”
Earlier than the dwell efficiency a part of the evening, Grey briefly paused the occasion to ensure each squirrely teen within the room had grabbed a “candid” shot of him for his or her BeReal (the app that sends a notification a day to all its subscribers who then have two minutes to take and submit a photograph). Then, accompanied by Renny Go on piano, he began his set with “Reminiscences” earlier than leaping into “Heather,” one of many standout tracks from his 2020 debut, “Child Crow.” Grey then appeared solo on stage with a guitar in lap for a stripped-back rendition of “Household Line,” and with every reverberating strum, the sniffles of teary-eyed followers stuffed the room.
Grey might be touring for the rest of the 12 months, heading out to New Zealand and Australia within the fall. Little doubt he hopes to be again in L.A. in for the Grammy Awards, which might be held subsequent door to the museum on the Crypto.com Area (previously Staples Middle) on Feb. 5, 2023.
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