Conan Gray for Issue 18

Conan Gray has tried on many different versions of himself, but sometimes nothing fits quite like that well-worn blue striped shirt you’ve had since you were sixteen. Conan’s upcoming album, Wishbone, shares the version of himself his friends know, unadorned and honest. They call the album “Conan’s Big Adventure” as he says it is his “jump into life,” setting sail on open waters, catching songs like birds in flight, until the moon pulls back the tides and bares a sea of bluebonnets on which to sail home. Wherever you go, there you are.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, he shows me treasured keepsakes around his house - his spiralled fossil from Georgetown, Texas, a string bracelet re-laced with delicately swapped beads every Christmas, and the silver wishbone engraved with a “g” for sugar cube selection. Just as he says his blue striped shirt is exactly who he was and is, so too is everything he chooses to keep (even though he does admit to needing a friend intervention to throw out a piece of paper). Wishbone, in its delicate details, is indescribably him, one who feels resolute with the thought, “All I am is all I’ve ever been.”

With Wishbone, Conan finds himself back in his Kid Krow headspace, sharing without caution, and collecting experiences like a crow hoards treasure. This is meant in the most literal sense, as his “secret little world” in which he created Wishbone is better known to his friends as “the bird’s nest of blankets on Conan’s living room floor.” He is not sacrificing self for the sake of security. And while he admits to that feeling like uncharted waters since his debut album, he also says in the same breath, “I don’t give a fuck.” With fear and hope forever on opposite ends, Conan chooses to pull and wish that fear always holds the short end.

Take in the full 20-page cover story beyond this teaser. Our brand new Spring Summer 2025 issue, "A Little Light" is available to buy online.