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- The Five Best Tracks on Conan Gray's Wishbone
This past August, Conan Gray returned with Wishbone, a twelve-track album he developed while touring his third studio album, Found Heaven. Considering myself a neutral fan of Gray’s work, it feels as if Wishbone is a return to form. The project is an earnest exploration of adolescence, heartbreak, and closure. It also feels most reminiscent of his debut album—and my favorite Conan Gray work—Kid Krow. This is Gray at his best, and here are my five favorite tracks from the record.
“Connell”
Gray paints a nautical world which maps out the stages of a relationship gone sour, one that is both discreet and painful. “Connell” encapsulates the rawest version of Gray, one who settles for less because he believes it is what he deserves. Subversively queer in nature, I’m struck by his lyricism. “But deep in my bones, I know pain is what I earned / You remind me of how little I deserve.”
There are no steps forward without examining the ones already taken. “Class Clown” explores how healing—especially from childhood growing pains—is not linear. Even in a crowded room, even with friends and fame and fortune, Gray still recalls feeling like a “class clown.” It is this brewing sadness that tethers Gray to the love interest woven throughout this record. “If I get older now, I’ll let my younger version down / And if I stop laughing, all the blood will just start pouring out.”
“Actor”
Wishbone opens with “Actor”, a gut-punch track detailing the short-lived relationship between him and an unnamed British actor. .The song is deeply relatable to any queer person who has felt like a secret. Despite everything wrong with the dynamic, the future is written as a contrast between idealism and reality. “The church bells won’t stop ringing for an undead wedding day.”
“Nauseous”
“Nauseous” might just be the most relatable. Gray perfectly captures the sinking feeling of knowing something is over as fast as it happened, stuck reeling over making the consistent, deliberate choice of dating the wrong man. Gray sings “Maybe that’s why I feel safe with bad guys / because when they hurt me I won’t be surprised.” There is control even within the worst decisions. In my artistic opinion, “Nauseous” is the sister track to “Connell.”
Despite being billed as a pop album, most tracks on “Wishbone” are soft-spoken and raw, carried by the undercurrent of Gray’s sharpened pen. “Vodka Cranberry” follows suit, but captures the best of Gray in his pop form. A relatable track about Gray wallowing in his sorrows over the most deliciously vile drink—a vodka cranberry—Gray screams out for his lover to either declare his disdain and end the situationship, or he will. It is the push and pull of wanting someone you know is not good for you, drunkenly cycling through all that you can do or say.
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