Ella Silva, Arts Editor
On April 6, indie-pop artist Conan Gray released his third full studio album, “Found Heaven,” and it has the potential to alter the modern pop music landscape in significant ways.
From the opening track “Found Heaven” to the closing track “Winner,” the album is full of synth, beats, and ‘80s power ballad-style vocals. Overall, listening to it feels like you’ve been transported back to 1985, and you should be going on night drives with your friends, teasing up your hair, and donning a leather jacket covered in sparkly details.
On the inside cover of the physical album, Conan Gray himself describes the overall theme of the Found Heaven concept. He writes “All my life I have turned off my emotions for the sake of self-protection, but in the last year, I have decided that is a devastating waste. Let yourself get your heart truly broken for the very first time. Let yourself laugh with your friends about how you handled it (poorly). Let go of the idea that the only way you could find happiness in life is within a white Pickett fence with that golden retriever. Let yourself cry a lot about that too. Then, of course, write some ridiculously fun songs about it. Because the fact that you were brave enough to feel anything at all should be a celebration in itself. That is found heaven for me. And with love, this is found heaven for you.” This concept carried over incredibly well into an album that explores the topics of love, loss, familial struggles, and the goofy wish to be part of the Bourgeoise. The choice to frame the album as a celebration of being free from the idea that a picture-perfect typical future is what you should aim for makes the very strong ‘80s musical influence feel even more powerful, a callback to a time period where that perfect future was even more the expectation.
Another thing that felt genius about this album was the order in which singles were released leading up to the album drop. Gray released the first single “Never Ending Song” back in June of last year, and it’s a perfect embodiment of what the entire rest of the album would end up sounding like. It’s fun, ‘80s, and it feels emotionally moving while making you want to get up and dance.
The next single to be released was “Winner” in early fall. This track excellently calls back to the more emotionally devastating style of music that Gray became very well known for on the internet after songs like “Heather” became massively popular on TikTok. He then released “Killing Me,” a fun, Halloween-themed ‘80s dance song about a lover killing you by stringing you along.
As time drew closer to the actual album release, the single “Lonely Dancers” came out. It’s arguably one of the most fun songs on the entire album, highlighting the noblest of human desires, the urge to forget about the problems of your love life and just get up and dance.
The final single to come out before the album was “Alley Rose” a song that Gray himself describes as a love song, though it details being left by the person he loves. There are more elements of a love song present than usually are there in his music, with lines like “But I swore hands were made for fighting / I swore eyes were made to cry / But you’re the first person that I’ve seen / Who’s proven that might be a lie.”
With the release of the album, listeners were gifted with additional songs celebrating a relationship that maybe isn’t that good (“Fainted Love”), breakup songs (“The Final Fight”) as well as songs that are just a lot of fun (“Bourgeoisieses” and “Boys & Girls”). And while every song features incredible lyrics and tone, it’s the ‘80s style of every song that I believe has the ability to change the pop music landscape right now.
There has been an ongoing trend of 1980s-inspired music occurring within the pop sphere for the past handful of years, so this manages to be very on-trend, but the way it explores a range of references, has original lyrics, beautiful messages, and overall is just so fun makes me feel as though it has the potential to influence a lot of music trends going forward. Or maybe I’m just a massive Conan Gray fan and therefore a little bit delusional (I am).
Featured Image Credit: Conan Gray
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