Conan Gray's 'Superache' Is Here at Last
Music

Conan Gray's 'Superache' Is Here at Last

by Bailey Richards

Never fear, Superache is here. PAPER’s latest cover star Conan Gray just artfully evaded the sophomore slump with his second studio album, Superache. As you can probably infer from its name and cover art, this is a heartache album. From its most-streamed single “People Watching” to acoustic ballads like “Astronomy” and “Footnote,” Superache boasts some of the introverted artist’s most intimate tracks yet.

The music video for the album’s third song, “Disaster,” also just dropped. The third Superache “episode,” the video opens with a title card reading “Conan Tries Dating (he is the problem).” In the video, Gray goes on a series of absurd, red-flag-ridden dates, which are implied to have made him the allergic-to-commitment singer we know and love today.

On Thursday night's episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Gray lit up the stage with the same track. And though he sang “Disaster,” his performance was anything but. It crescendoed during the second chorus as Gray’s hair billowed majestically and ended just as it began, with the singer passed out on the apocalyptic and rose-covered — a nod to Superache’s cover art — stage.

Gray was also the most recent star to perform for The Today Show's Citi Concert Series this summer. When asked on the show how it feels to be at this point in his career, our ever humble Gray responded: “It’s bizarre, I don’t know why anyone cares,” with a laugh — and then proceeded to show exactly why so many people do. The singer performed Superache newbies like “Memories” and fan favorites like TikTok-viral “Heather” to a crowd of adoring fans.

Gray may have “never really been in love, not seriously,” but we’re in love with him — and with Superache. Read more about the album and Gray in our June cover story, a conversation between him and Superache collaborator Julia Michaels.

Photography: Juan Veloz for PAPER