Superache, from singer and songwriter Conan Gray, was released on June 24, 2022. This is his second studio album, following 2020’s Kid Krow, and it contains twelve vulnerable tracks. It is available for streaming now on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Gray’s latest album expresses his feelings of vulnerability when it comes to love and relationships. The album focuses on topics ranging from friendship to loss to heartbreak, and Gray spends time reminiscing about past experiences that have left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Every song talks about a different kind of pain. There’s also an underlying sense of relatability here, which will make you cry even more.
The opening track of the album is truly ethereal. “Movies” is a beautiful and heartbreaking song that expresses the bitterness that comes from the inability to meet the impossible expectations of an ideal relationship, the kind that you find in romance movies.
Gray describes what an ideal love looks like, and he rejects the reality of his relationship. The song goes back and forth between this idealized notion of love and what is really happening between himself and his partner. The vocals and melody on this track are absolutely heavenly.
“Disaster” has never sounded so good. The third fantastic track on this album contrasts from the two previous acoustic tracks, as it has a synthy-80’s type of beat. The song expresses Gray’s fear of confessing his true feelings to someone, and it gives you a glimpse into his spiraling train of thought. He analyzes every scenario that has happened with that person, in order to figure out if they have feelings for him, too. This song perfectly describes the danger of overthinking in any relationship.
The weakest song in this collection is “Best Friend”. The beat here is great, but the lyrics are just not going to impress you.
It’s a catchy song, with repetitive lyrics, and it just seems out of place on this album. It would have been better as a stand-alone single. The song is about a friendship, and it has potential. It really does. It just threw me off. I don’t totally hate it, and it might eventually grow on me, but right now, it’s not my favorite.
By contrast, one of my favorite tracks on the album is “Astronomy”, a song about two people who are slowly drifting apart. Gray accompanies this tragic story with amazing vocals, and an even more breathtaking melody.
I love the concept of this song. Gray uses the fact that the stars that we see in the sky may have died out thousands of years ago, representing the fact that his relationship has similarly run its course and there is nothing new for them to share together. If this song doesn’t make your heart hurt even a little bit, you need to go see a doctor ASAP.
I wasn’t mentally or emotionally stable enough for “Yours”. This sixth track on the album is absolutely heart-rending. Featuring a beautiful piano melody, accompanied by gut-wrenching vocals, this song will seriously mess you up.
Gray talks about the lingering feelings that he has towards someone whom he thought loved him as well. The bridge absolutely wrecked me, as all of the effort that Gray has put into this relationship was for nothing.
A track that’s kind-of-but-not-really a parallel to “Yours” is “Jigsaw”, which talks about changing yourself into another person to satisfy someone else. This song has rock elements to it, which I love, and it’s one of the best tracks on the album.
The track titled “Summer Child” is truly deceptive. I initially thought that it was a happy song, but it isn’t. It’s a beautiful acoustic melody that will break your heart.
This song is about someone who fakes happiness just so that people won’t see that they are struggling inside. This is the most relatable song on the album. Creating an easily digestible version of yourself doesn’t make your problems go away, and anyone who is experiencing these kinds of feelings should talk to someone.
The term “summer child” is used to describe a person who is naive, but Gray turns this meaning on its head. The individual described here has been exposed to the real world, but they just don’t want to show this fact.
“Footnote” is about seeing your ex moving on and making you a little text in their book, just like a footnote. This song is calm and quite peaceful, while the lyrics are haunting and morose. Gray expresses that he’s fine with just being a footnote in someone’s life story, as long as he’s not completely erased from his ex’s memory. This track is kind of similar to the concept of “The Cut That Always Bleeds” from Gray’s previous album, which also talks about settling for whatever another person is willing to give you.
Finally, “The Exit” marks a fitting ending for this album. This track leaves you with a “superache” in your heart, as it talks about being stuck in one place while everyone around you is moving on without thinking. These other people might be heartbroken as well, but they still decide to move on while Gray lingers alone at the exit of his relationship.
Gray feels like he is just people-watching, witnessing others going along with their lives. This song perfectly sums up the album, not only because of the title, but also because it encapsulates the feelings that he has been describing this whole time.
In the end, Superache is not an experience that you should miss. It takes you on a painful journey, but it’s worth it. Gray’s vulnerability shines through, and the album’s quite heavy, so be aware that you might just stare into space after you listen to it.
Production-wise this collection is incredible, and right off the bat you can tell that it’s a Conan Gray production. As always, his vocals are immaculate, and if you listen to this album, you won’t regret it. It might scar you a bit, but that’s the best thing about it.
And if you enjoy this album you might also want to check out Gray’s first studio album, Kid Krow, or 4th Wall by Ruel.
