Conan Gray’s Wishbone: 12 Songs That Hit You Right In The Feels

Photo Credit: Island Records

Texas native, multi-platinum selling singer-songwriter Conan Gray releases his brand-new album Wishbone today. It’s his fourth full-length album via Island Records. 

Conan left an indelible imprint on popular culture in 2020 with his debut LP Kid Krow, yielding multiple signature smashes, including four-time platinum track Heather, one of only a handful of songs written by a single songwriter to hit over 2 billion streams.

Conan has since attracted praise from the likes of The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vogue, GQ, Billboard, and NPR.

Wishbone sees Conan return to his singer-songwriter roots after falling in love for the first time, meaning his storytelling is much more intimate and personal.

In this new release, Conan worked with long-time collaborator and executive producer Dan Nigro, along with Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers), Noah Conrad, Luka Kloser, and Elvira as producers. The album continues the highly anticipated love story between This Song’s music video protagonists Will and Bran, and in 12 songs, there’s a lot to unpack. 

The album opens with Actor, a brutally honest song about feeling ‘erased’ and ignored by someone you love. The narrator claims their ex-lover is good at acting because they suppress their emotions through distractions: “You spent the summer drinking whilst I spent it being erased.”

The fusion of beautiful strings, acoustics, and Conan’s powerful vocal delivery is enough to tug at the listener’s heartstrings. This song alone is a strong indicator that this record will be unfiltered and ‘crash-out’ worthy, the only way a breakup album should be.

Following its opener are pre-released singles This Song and Vodka Cranberry. In hindsight, This Song is less a love song and more a yearning anthem about unrequited love. Vodka Cranberry exploded onto the TikTok scene upon its release and quickly became a hit among the fandom. With its earworm chorus, relatable lyrics, and that *one* high note, this is certainly a track that ‘Coneheads’ won’t forget in a hurry.

Caramel, the final single of the album, is perfect for a singalong and ideal for a concert setting. It’s a groovy but heartfelt tune about missing the good times with someone, despite it being ultimately negative for them in the end. The narrator’s anger is felt through Conan’s vocal performance and authentic lyrics combined with the dramatic, rich guitars, strings, and drums.

The second verse is a standout moment where the narrator holds their ex accountable: “You can act real cool ‘cause it’s over now, but man you cried when it all went down/No one believed me, you gaslighted feelings/ Til you had me thinking, that I was the reason/that I was f*cking losing my mind.”

As the title suggests, this rhythmic track sticks in your head like ‘caramel’. 

Another captivating track on this album is Sunset Tower, a song about living in the bliss of being oblivious of an ex’s whereabouts. Its clever rhyming in the verses and contagiously catchy hook (the repetition of ‘Don’t tell me’) make for a brilliant contribution to Wishbone. It can be interpreted that the uplifting beat portrays how the narrator is masking how they truly feel by acting oblivious – an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation. 

The gut-wrenching record concludes with Care, a bittersweet track about loving someone from a distance. It feels like the narrator’s final surrender to the fact that he still cares even though he’s happy they’re apart. It’s an album closer with incredible emotional impact.

The final transcendent moments of the song see Conan repeatedly belt out the title with an accompaniment of grandiose and orchestral instrumentals and vocals enriched with raw emotion. Similarly to the rest of Wishbone, it shows how difficult it is to grieve someone that is still alive.

All in all, Wishbone is an emotional rollercoaster which represents the true peaks and troughs of a healing journey. Each track covers a unique heartbreaking element of a breakup, featuring lyrics that could be taken straight from a journal entry. The album has brilliant musical progression from softer, sombre songs to more upbeat songs with a belting chorus, showing the constant waves of emotion you go through during heartbreak. It truly is a testament to Conan’s commendable storytelling. He is on an extremely positive trajectory, and this album is proof of that. 

One thing we can certainly say is that while Will and Bran might not be forever, Wishbone is. 

Following the release, Conan will perform at Reading and Leeds, Electric Picnic and Superbloom Festivals, as well as playing two shows at Kingston’s newly refurbished venue Circuit. He will also embark on his Wishbone Tour this autumn across America.