Most known for his song “Heather,” Conan Gray released a new album called “Wishbone,” which contains a mix of love and heartbreak and yearning to show a relationship between his two characters, Wilson and Brando.
On Aug. 15, Gray dropped an album with a tracklist of 12 songs. Gray secretly wrote the lyrics for his songs for two years before releasing the album. He would write them between tours and after shows, with the intention of the album being personal.
The album’s first song, “Actor,” creates a storyline for the whole album. The song sets a tone of feeling like you’re ignored and erased by somebody that you loved. Which I think is the biggest part of this album.
“This song” is one of the two songs that Gray released before the album, and it goes along with the story that was created in the first song. The song is about somebody yearning for love, and you can hear that yearning with the lyrics when he sings, “Something I’ve tried to say, but now I’ll say it straight. I wrote this song about you.”
The song that caught my attention when I first heard this album was “Vodka Cranberry”. The song is about a person who drunkenly dials their ex-lover, and to me, that symbolizes how a relationship can be messy even after a break-up. It was the second song released before the album, and it was very catchy when I first heard it. Not only are the lyrics catchy but the music itself goes well with words that he sings.
Skipping over a song to “My World,” this song really impressed me when I first heard it. I relate to this song a lot. He sings, “But why? It’s my world and it’s my life,” which is him saying he owns his life and he can do what he wants with it.
After only hearing the first 10 seconds of the song “Nauseous,” I got a bit of nostalgia from one of his other songs, “Astronomy.” Although both songs have two different meanings, they tie together about being afraid to love and growing apart from each other.
Going down to “Care,” the last song on the album. This song ends the story of Wilson and Brando, and it symbolizes that it’s okay to move on from somebody and still care about them. When Gray sings “Care,” it feels and sounds like his voice is “cracking,” symbolizing that it’s hard to care after loving somebody.
I have probably listened to this album 10 times already, and each time I found more reasons to love it again. Anyone who has heard any of Conan Gray’s popular songs on TikTok should definitely listen to this 10-out-of-10 album.
