"A Wishbone is one of the only wishing rituals that requires two people, and it reminded me a lot of relationships because theres always one winner and one loser." - Conan Gray, The Today Show

Conan Gray throughout his music career has done nothing short of capturing our hearts- and then breaking them, and Wishbone is no different. I've been following his music since 2019 when he was still a Youtuber, and seeing his rise to fame throughout all of the different eras- (from watching his vlogs in 2019 to seeing him perform in Madison Square Garden for his album Found Heaven (2024))- has been one of the best experiences.. EVER! He is one of the most authentic artists I've ever listened to and one of my biggest inspirations, never shying away from topics like his childhood and his (tragic) love life he describes in his music. He's not afraid to hide his emotions, in his music, as well as in real life, which is so relieving to see in a world where we are constantly being told to bottle things up and never let people see the real us.

"I love being dramatic, because, why would you ever deal with any emotion in a logical way?" - Conan Gray

Conan's 4th album, Wishbone, since it's release on August 15th, has become his highest-charting album, gaining his first #1 on the top album sales chart. Conan diverged into so many different and new things with his album, and with immense creativity, he delivered everything. From concepts, to production, lyrcism, and a whole STORYLINE for his music videos, he crafted this album so perfectly, and you can tell all of the thought and time that went into curating it. Conan's versatility shone through this album in the most perfect way, and to me, it's one of his best works.

An Angsty Summer Fling: The Wilson and Brando trilogy and the leadup to Wishbone

To start of the "Wishbone" era, Conan posted a cryptic, blurry photo of him and another person on his Instagram Post in front of a car headlight titled "Spring"- (We now know that it was teasing the lyrics "your voice is like spring" in this song), before announcing the first single, 'This Song' on May 22nd, featuring actor Cory Fogelmanis in the teaser. This began the heartbreaking summer fling of Wilson and Brando, in my opinion, Conan Gray's best concept music video(s).

Wilson and Brando were introduced in 'This Song''s music video, Brando being played by Conan and Wilson being Corey Fogelmanis. Their story began light as their friendship over the summer turned into love, to me, this video demonstrated the honeymoon phase of a relationship- reminding me of the song "August" by Taylor Swift with imagery like running through the fields together, swimming in a pond, and at the end of the video, finally realizing their love for one another.. with W+B etched on the nearby tree.

But in the "Vodka Cranberry" music video (released on July 11th), as the lively tone of the music changed, like the album, their relationship unfortunately declined- with Wilson realizing that Brando was only using him as an "experiment" and believing he didn't truly like him for him. Dramatized by the video, "Vodka Cranberry" tells him to 'speak up' and let him know he doesn't have feelings anymore instead of leading him on.

His fears were worsened, and when Wilson left Brando for a girl at the bar in the video, neglecting him. After reconciling and mending their relationship, at the end of the video, it ends at a cliffhanger as Brando leaves him at the motel the two stayed at- symbolizing the quick end and realization of the end of summer, and the end of their relationship.

In "Caramel", the story gets even deeper. As Wilson reflects, healing after the relationship's toll, he sees Brando again in a grocery store, mirroring the scene in the grocery store in Normal People.

Though he'd come so far, he goes back to Brando again, and, surpise, the cycle of hurt repeats. This video shows how Wilson continues to make the same decision while still getting hurt, never being able to escape the 'summer fling' the two had, and though they know its way more than that- because of the way Brando is, that is all they'll ever be.

Image Credit: McCulloch from Wikimedia Commons

The whole vibe of these videos reminded me a lot of Call Me By Your Name, with the same color grading with warm,summer like tones that turned dark and blue as the story progressed-( as well as the intensely depressing storyline) The way Brando continued to push Wilson aside made me think of Oliver's repeated, "Later"- and Wilson's prologue and commentary at the beginning of each of the the videos reminds me a lot of the inner dialogue and commentary of Elio, with lines sounding straight out of a coming-of-age summer fling movie. Reiterating what I said more about how much I loved the concept, these videos show how creative his mind is with all the usages of symbolism, lighting, and even easter eggs- (in the Caramel music video, you can see Wilson and Brando wearing Wishbone and Found Heaven necklaces).

You can tell that so much love and care was put into these videos, and the fact that these were produced with a look as professional as it was- you could have fooled me and told me that these were short films if I didn't know Conan Gray.

"He's been different. Says he's just sad summers over. I can't believe how much time we wasted. I wish it could just be us for a little longer." -Vodka Cranberry Music Video Opening

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Favorite Tracks and Trend-Worthy moments

Image Credit: Brooke Bacik

The whole Wishbone album is so perfectly unique, with its ballads and bridges-it is the perfect mix of anger, vulnerability, and self-actualization. Conan's lyricism, shown before in his albums like Superache and Found Heaven, are perfected even more in "Wishbone" with his use of analogies and creative play on words. Like I've said before, it's an album I believe could play in the background of a coming of age or romantic drama, songs reminiscent of a 2000's movie.

Every song is so fitting for the vibe of this album, and there's so many creatively unique ideas present across each track, from its production lyricism. It's an album I believe has zero skips.

Here are my top 3 tracks from the album!

3. My World

My World is a lighter, more airy song than all the other songs on the album, like 'This Song'. In this track, he realizes the value of his life more than being stuck on the past, living his life as he pleases with who he wants without the feeling of an ex holding him down. It's such a perfect balancing song for this album, different than the other emotional ballads with a self-realizing approach to what had happened to him.

In the bridge, he says that he doesn't even care anymore about his ex reaching back out to him because it's his life, and he doesn't want to waste it being hung up on someone who "treated him like trash'. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sad music, but this song was such a breath of fresh air along with an album like this- (sort of like Best Friend on Superache) and I loved its sound and production.

2. Connell

When I saw the name for this song, I almost screamed. I love Normal People, and after watching the Caramel music video and it's reference to it before, I assumed that the name "Connell" was a reference to Paul Mescal's character. I expected this song to be heart-breaking, and, I was right.

This song is so emotionally raw, with the acoustic guitar haunting each verse, before breaking into a rock-like style towards the end. The self- decapriating lyrics are heartbreaking, with the realization of being just an 'experiment' in a romance with someone, and the immeasurable pain that comes with it. Conan mentions how the experience made him think back to his past home-life experiences, beliving that all he deserved was pain. This song is so sad, and I applaud Conan's ability to share his deepest experiences in music form.

1. Actor

One of the best album openers I've heard, this song blew me away. I liked this song the best because of how perfectly it introduced the album, and to me, set the tone for the rest of it. The softer, melodramatic tone at the beginning of the song, with its guitar and sad-boy vibe,starts off on such a good tone, before surprising you with a powerful bridge and ending, which Conan described himself as "jumping into cold water".

His lyrics, and the way he paints a picture of his past relationship in this song is so powerful- and painful, like his songs normally are-but on another level because of what he is describing in this song. In this song, he mentions the neglect and erasure of him and his ex's relationship by his ex, calling them a great actor for being able to pretend their relationship never happened as Conan mourns what could have been- "But the church bells won't stop ringing for an undead wedding day....and I try to hide the feeling but it just won't go away." It's such a good pairing of sadness and anger, with the intense power of his vocals and music in the bridge tie into the song so well, and I haven't stopped listening to it on repeat since the album came out.

Album and Tour Aesthetic/performances of the "Wishbone" era so far

Image Credit: Brooke Bacik

The main aesthetic of the album is portrayed by its album cover, shot by Dillon Matthew, Conan is in a sailor's outfit surrounded by a dream-like cloudy background, where he is holding a Wishbone. It's mythical, and somewhat nostalgic with the lighting beaming right onto him as the ribbon on the wishbone and his hat. flies behind him.Conan himself said in a Q&A session that his friends made a running joke that the album was, "Conan's Big Adventure", which Conan said fits because of the fact that the creation of an album was him "jumping into life, even if it felt wierd." Him being in the outfit he's in, doing what he's doing, being authentically himself describes this era- saying on this album that he could "do whatever he wanted on this album, as long as it's me." Which, is very mature and rare to hear artists do-who are backed by a team of curators and people who's jobs are to come up with album concepts, Conan just expressed himself, which I find so inspiring.

Conan announced his tour for the album, the, "Wishbone Pajama Tour" on May 29th. He said that he'd make the 'theme' pajamas because of the fact that he wrote the whole album, in his bed, in pajamas, encouraging fans to wear the same to his shows! I'm so excited to be going on opening night,he didn't fail to amaze me with his strong stage performance, and i'm sure that this tour will be no different!

During the promotion for the album before it's released, he was spotted supporting his musician friends in viral moments like him being Charli XCX's 'apple girl' during her song 'apple' at the Roskilde Festival- and of course, being 'Sally' at Role Model's Governor's Ball performance during "Sally, When The Wine Runs Out" , where he infamously kissed Tucker as he ran on to the stage. Recently, he's performed on the Today Show, Open'er Festival, and as the Reading and Leeds festival-where his outfits steal the show.

He's seen in his sailor like outfits in most of his festival shows and talk shows, but, at the Reeding and Leeds festival, he was seen wearing haunting pirate-vampire kinda outfits with heavy eyeliner, which had lots of people talking on Tiktok as he brought his show stopping vocals as well as looks to the festival, getting lots of fans (including me) excited for what's to come on tour!

In conclusion, Wishbone to me represents expressing yourself to the fullest and allowing yourself to be vulnerable and emotional on whatever journey you are facing in life. Conan Gray is one of the best examples of an artist who takes full artistic integrity when it comes to his albums down to the smallest details.

Each one, including Wishbone, feels like an intimate experience, almost as if he's reading out of his diary- (or my own, considering how some of these lyrics are a little too relatable...) I'm so glad to have opened my school-issued chromebook back in 2019 to watch the Ash and Cone cooking show and his covers of songs like Sweater Weather. I'm so excited to see how this era progresses and i'm so happy that this album as been getting the recognition it deserves!

Image Credit: Brooke Bacik