artwork for Conan’s “Memories”
If you don’t know Conan Gray then what are you doing with your life? A little introduction to Conan, He’s 23 years old and one of the most vulnerable songwriters of our generation. He was raised in Georgetown Texas and California. He started off doing covers in his childhood bedroom and vlogging for his YouTube channel. He ended up being signed by Republic records in 2018 which became the reason he dropped out of UCLA film school. He has one producer named Dan Nigro and together they write and produce his songs which is an absolute dream team by the way. You might know him from his hit songs Maniac and Heather but there’s so much more to him than that. he is such a relatable songwriter that makes you feel like you’ve been dumped and cheated on and betrayed while never actually experiencing these things. you can tell he’s good at his craft because he himself has also never been in a relationship. he just went on his world tour recently and has given us the date for his sophomore album Superache, which by the way comes out June 24th. So you know I’ll be reviewing that when it comes out. This is the first single he’s put out in anticipation for Superache. So as always if you enjoy this content, please let me know in the comments and without further ado, let’s get into this article.
Verse 1
“it’s been a couple of months,
that’s just enough time for me to stop crying when i look at all the picture, now i kinda smile, i haven’t felt that in a while
its late i hear the door bells ringing and it’s pouring
i open up the door, see your brown eyes at the entrance
you just wanna talk and i can’t turn away a wet dog”
So the start of the song tells us that this couple broke up a couple months ago and now its starting to be a moment in time where the sadness is starting to fade into the abyss and you can finally remember the good parts of the relationship instead of just the bad memories. You can finally smile. Then they find someone knocking at their door in the pouring rain, me getting fearless vibes. And surprise, it's that ex you were just starting to get over. They come in all needy wet because of the rain and you can't turn them away because you feel bad for them.
Pre-Chorus
"But please don't ruin this for me, please don't make this harder than it already is
I'm tryin to get over this'
SUCH A GOOD PRE-CHORUS. It's so simple but so impactful. That's the message the song conveys. It's about wanting to get over the relationship and you're walking a really thin line with that ex but at any moment the emotions could come back to break our heart today.
Chorus
"I wish that you would stay in my memories, But you show up today just to ruin things
I wanna put you in the past cause I'm traumatized, But you're not letting me do that, cause tonight
You're all drunk in my kitchen, curled in the fetal position, too busy playing the victim to be listening to me
When I say, I wish that you would stay in my memories, In my memories, stay in my memories"
We just find ourselves once again trying to get over this ex but like the chorus says “you‘re not letting me do that”. you don’t need to have your ex show up at midnight when it’s raining but that’s the instance Conan puts in the song. I find myself crying now when I hear this chorus because even though I’ve never experienced this, I can feel the vulnerability and honesty in the songwriting and I can empathize with anyone who has gone through that shit.
Verse 2
"Now I can't say goodbye if you stay here the whole night, You see it's hard to find an end to something that you keep beginning over and over again, I promise that the ending always stays the same"
You know what this lyric reminds me of like a parallel? Do you guys remember the 'Cut that Always Bleeds"? He says the same thing "Cause if you're gonna leave, better leave, better do it fast Can't live a little longer sitting on your lap, Cause you know what you're doing when you're coming back and I don't wanna have another heart attack". That feeling when your ex won’t let you move on and it’s the worst. You’re not good for each other but they’re just not getting the memo.
Pre-Chorus
” So there’s no good reason, in make believin’ that we could ever exist again,
I can’t be your friend can’t be your lover, can’t be the reason we hold back each other from falling in love with somebody other than me.”
I just think that this is my favorite part of the song, it makes me wanna ball my eyes out and sob uncontrollaby. If I could literally comfort the people who this has happened to you. I’m sorry because this actually suck, being the one mature enough to know you have to leave this person because you’re not right for eachother, not just romantically but in a friendship sense. Otherwise there’s gonna be that spark that dies out as soon as action hits it. You don’t want to live that over and over again.
Bridge
”Since you came, I guess I’ll let you stay
For as long as it take, to grab your books and your coat and that one good cologne that you bought when we were fighting
Cause it’s still on my clothes, everything that I own and it makes me feel like dying
I was barely just surviving“
There’s a sense of excitement I felt listening to the first line of the song because it reminded me of Adele so much. Strangers by Nature. It’s so funny too because I remember in an interview Conan said he used to cover Adele and write songs inspired by her and now he’s done it. He’s made it and I’m gonna cry. This bridge is actually offensive because of how good it is. I’m a movie lover and I feel like this bridge represents that flashback montage of everything bad the person did and you’re screaming and crying. Then it all stops to a “blank space”. See what I did there?
I hope you guys enjoyed my breaking down and commentary of Conan's song. Make sure to stream Memories and stay tuned for his sophomore album Superache coming June 24th! Subscribe to our site to get notified when we post a new article!!
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