Conan Gray has quickly grown his popularity since he released his first single in 2017. He later released his 2018 extended play (EP) “Sunset Season” where he highlights society’s view on love with lighthearted songs. He strayed away from that message and shifted gears with his 2020 album “Kid Krow.” Gray continued to write love songs, but he focused on adolescent love. The album gained more traction, and it only went up from there with his newest album. He released “Superache” in 2022. It has a heavy message of the heartbreaks of life. While he always will write love songs, the albums are never the same era as the last.
He is continuing that trend after he released two songs to highlight his new era. His songs “Never Ending Song” and “Winner” bring 80s pop rock back to life. However, they don’t do it in the same way. “Never Ending Song” jumps onto the electric feeling of the average 80s pop song. If the lights didn’t suggest that era, the heartbreak love lyrics did. “Winner,” on the other hand, was the pinnacle of an 80s rock ballad.
That’s the surface level of newest additions to his discography, but the depth of the songs should be respected.
“Never Ending Song” is an upbeat song about the turmoil of a painful relationship that never seems to end. Obviously, that’s where the title of the song comes from. Gray’s lyrics “You and I/Sacrificed my adolescence/Just to waste my time/On the edges of your life” describes wasting his teenage years for a relationship that was toxic. He repeatedly says the lines “On and on and on/Like a never-ending song.” It talks about the push and pull of the relationship where they’d be together one day and broken up the next day. Young adults relate to the song because most adolescent relationships aren’t perfect and sometimes end up toxic.
Gray’s second single of this era is a different side of the same coin. However, it focuses on toxic parental love.
“Winner” expresses the hurt that Gray has experienced at home which he has talked about throughout his career. His lyrics reflect this theme he often writes about. He opened the song with “Packed my bags at fourteen/I hadn’t planned on leaving.” He sings about leaving home after having suffered abuse. The person is never specified. Gray talked about leaving and how the person often saw themself as the winner for inflicting the abuse. This person didn’t want to hear the truth. Toxic parents often have the mentality that they’re always right.
Alongside the style and lyrics of the songs, Gray has symbols that allude to 80s albums. The cover photo of “Winner” shows Gray holding an American flag behind him. It nods towards Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album “Born in the U.S.A.” Then, “Never Ending Song” has a guitar pick shaped symbol that is neon which represents a lot of 80s style songs and images.
Conan Gray is always exploring new ideas and experimenting with his styles. He does that through his songs and the music videos that go along with it. “Winner” and “Never Ending Song” show his range and musicianship. His new era brings back 80s rock music that the younger generations aren’t able to experience. He’s on the rise to be a pop rock star that kids can idolize and pass down to their children like parents now pass on 80s rock bands.
