Take a subconscious snapshot of Conan Gray. No, truly. Look through one of the thousand Pinterest boards scrawled with his name. Or pull up your own stan-certified iPhone photo gallery, and you’ll find him there. Take in those wispy black curls that shake out until they frame his neck, falling onto pale ghost skin that’s probably colliding with a choker shaped like a teardrop with a centerfold star. That’s Found Heaven’s emblem, after all! Speaking of his accessories, maybe after you memorize his face, follow with his wardrobe. Inside, you’ll find black gloves with feather-trimmed accents. And a fever dream of disco silver replaced with a pink haze in a sequined set, yet the massive platforms draw our eye! Can you see where we’re going with this? Conan Gray belongs in the 80s. So why is it only now that his music is also catching up?
Before now, classic Conan would’ve been paired with the soft strum of guitars, wistfully singing about being the wallflower to his own love life. Now, those unrequited crushes have not only been replaced with his first love but also simultaneously with his first breakup. It’s a whole shakeup of lyrical concepts and sounds. However, it has the overall essence that led him here. The garage band sound of the 80s is genuinely Conan’s playground now! And we’re living for it.
Found Heaven Viewing List
What pairs well with modern music calling back to the 80s past? Television shows that are doing the same thing! So even though we wouldn’t judge you for having Found Heaven on a constant loop, we’ve also curated a homework viewing list if you’re up for it after those around 36 blissful minutes are up. Here’s the fun part: we’ll let you decide what to watch first based on one of your favorite songs off the album!
‘Found Heaven’
When we mean ‘Found Heaven, ’ we’re not exactly talking about the pearly gates despite the opening’s gospel chant. It starts with a puncture of an album’s introductory couplet: “No God above us / Can we repent this sin?” Instead, it’s in the electric guitar chords that follow, spitting out the music Conan grew up on for what he found in his twenties, that rock n’ roll, disco swaying splatter of the 80s. That’s his current heaven, per se. This song explores the contrast between growing up Catholic and his sexuality, as well as the tension between being scared of falling truly in love and knowing that’s your salvation.
We can’t even remember what song was playing through Max Mayfeild’s headset as she catapulted into the sky because we’re sure that this is what we hear whenever we have to be saved by a Stranger Things monster.
‘Bourgeoisieses’
We’re the sort of hooked where we utter an “oh my god” as soon as we hear those claps in the production, which sound more like tap-dancing shoes colliding on a bar smothered in a highball. We don’t just mean the alcoholic drink but those five percenters themselves, presumably wearing slouchy suits. In other words, the ‘Bourgeoisies.’ It’s no exaggeration (okay, maybe it is) that Conan invented production with this song as the evidence.
At one point, too, he brings back a gospel choir harmony, which could point to the contrast he makes between who he is, the hymns, and who he wants to be, the slinky tunes. What’s interesting to note, too, heh, note, is that the final lyric isn’t finished. It doesn’t spell out Bourgeoisies. It just leaves us hanging with the letter “B” and an ejecting tape, meaning that the subconscious rewiring to shape him into one of them hasn’t worked.
Since the ‘Bourgeoisies’ tape has left our cassettes, we’re pushing Pose into our VHSs. Pose matches the song’s glamour, combining found families with dance.
‘Alley Rose’
Considerably, ‘Alley Rose’ is the big ballad on Found Heaven, where while it follows the 80s theme, it’s done subtly with a riff-styled intermission between verses and choruses. Basically, the lyrics are front and center here! And if we’re following the five stages of a breakup trend sweeping the internet right now thanks to Taylor Swift, then it’s falling in with denial.
There are two Conan’s, one who’s accepted that this is the end and the other still holding on despite getting the shorter end of the stick. Interestingly, the song was written while Conan was in London. In particular, on Abbey Road. As Beatles fans know, it is the famous street crossing featured on the album of the said name. This album is the last they recorded together, which, when contrasting with ‘Alley Rose,’ is jaw-dropping as it’s all about a breakup itself. It’s just another synchronicity.
What other fictional character matches the epic highs and lows of this song’s narrative arc than Carrie Bradshaw herself? Yep, no one. So we’re making you watch The Carrie Diaries, a story about her younger high school years before there was a Mr. Big, but there was an Austin Butler.
Trading Cassettes For VHS
Whether it’s the blood-curdling scream of Hawkins High School’s backing track or Carrie Bradshaw’s high fashion lookbook, all of these 80s-inspired shows quickly Found Heaven with Conan’s latest album! Which one are you watching? Let us know by tweeting us @thehoneypop. And if you’re like us and have a handful of favorite songs from the album and cannot settle on one, perhaps bribe a friend to give you their Found Heaven cassette. Although it’s sold out on the online merch store (yes, that’s our hint at you, Conan, for a restock), it gives us that retro vibe, right?
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