Sad Boy Pop has been making waves for the past few years. Arguably, artists such as Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran are the OGs of this genre for our generation. But we have a new sad boy in town — and he’s stealing everyone’s heart.
Meet Gen Z’s prince of sad boy pop: Conan Gray.
As we sit under the trees to talk about life and fashion, it feels like hanging with one of my good friends. I started to understand more why Conan’s garnered a huge online following — he’s so relatable. Minus being one of the artists to watch for, he’s just like any of us. He struggles to identify his feelings. He uses music to help him deal with his emotions. He shops at thrift stores. He dresses in accordance to his mood at the time.
Conan comes from a small town in Texas called Georgetown, which gives his music, he says, “a small air of sleepiness.” He explains that he learned to find what he liked on his since there wasn’t really a whole lot of popular trends in his hometown.
“Living in a small town has really made me want to work super hard to get out.” He continues, “And to see more of the world and get out of my bubble.”
With the help from his cheap microphone and Garageband, Conan created “Idle Town” — a musical tribute to his hometown — and uploaded it on his YouTube channel. The self-made video he put together with his close friends has cumulated over 14 million views. He was unsigned and unrepresented at the time — and now, he’s selling out venues and playing a music festival as big as Lollapalooza in Chicago.
To anyone who’s nervous about starting a music career due to lack of connections, he encourages them to “make music that you really love to make” because people will notice your passion and desire for it. We can all agree how much we appreciate artists that are honest and personable.
When you’re living the pop star life, you could spoil yourself with all the latest designer items. The “Crush Culture” is like most of us, searching through rack after rack at a local Goodwill. He enjoys shopping at thrift shops and getting the best deals to achieve his cool style. He shares that thrifting has mostly shaped his style.
This is his helpful tip for finding amazing items: “Look in the opposite [section] . . . Look around into everything because you don’t really know what you could find.”
He tells me that his outfit is inspired by one of his idols, Kurt Cobain. With such grungy vibes, he reveals that his upcoming album is definitely grungier after experiencing an interesting year. He explains that it will focus on how he’s been figuring out his way through life.
And, I can’t wait to listen to his new album and let myself feel everything as he advised.