- Hey everybody I'm B.Dot,
bringing you a special performance right here from
the MTV News Offices here in New York City.
Please welcome today's Office Hours guest, Conan Gray.
(audience cheers)
- Hey, y'all.
Thank you for coming, thank you so much.
Y'all are all adorable.
I already told you that because you are.
My name is Conan Gray as you know,
because he just said it (laughing).
Yeah, I'm just gonna sing some songs for y'all today
off of my debut album that I'm working on right now.
These are all kind of the lead singles off of them.
And this first one is a song
that I wrote called, "Checkmate."
Basically there's this person that I really liked
for the longest time and they were just never, ever
clear about anything, about any of their feelings.
It was always just like so confusing.
One day they were like "Ah, I don't like you that much,
you kinda suck."
And then other days they'd call me super late at night
and they were like, "I love you, please date me."
And it was just all over the place.
I was like, "What's your script, stick to it!"
(laughing)
What's the truth?
Do you know the truth?
And, yeah, it was just like a big mess,
he was just always playing games with all of my emotions.
And so I figured if you're gonna play games with my heart
then I'm gonna win that game, you know?
I'm gonna win it.
Yeah, this is, "Checkmate."
(singing) You think you're funny right
Calling me drunk when it's too late at night
Telling me truths that you know all are lies
Yeah, you think you're funny, right?
You think you're super sly
Flirting with them but telling me you're mine
Buildin' me up, but buttercup, you lied
Now I'm gonna ruin your life
'Cause I've gotten tired of the games that you play
When you tell me you love me then you throw me away
So cry me a river till you drown in the lake
'Cause you may think you're winning but checkmate
Yeah, you may think you're winning but checkmate
Now this is getting fun
I saw you kissing someone else's tongue
You said that I'm the only one you love
Baby, this is getting fun
I'll let you think you won
Date in the park, I'll play it super dumb
Holding your hand but in the other one
I'm holding a loaded gun
Yeah, baby, you should really run
'Cause I've gotten tired of the games that you play
When you tell me you love me then you throw me away
So cry me a river till you drown in the lake
'Cause you may think you're winning but checkmate
Yeah, you may think you're winning but-
And I'ma get you gone
Can't play me like your pawn
Set fire to your lawn
Just like you did to my heart
And I'ma wreck your car
And max your credit cards
A lover on the large
You're gonna wish you never harmed me
'Cause I've gotten tired of the games that you play
When you tell me you love me then you throw me away
So cry me a river till you drown in the lake
'Cause you may think you're winning but checkmate
And you did some damage so I'm making you pay
And no one's ever gonna love you anyways
'Cause you're just a narcissist who's totally fake
Yeah you may think you're winning this heartbreak
But you aren't gonna win it 'cause checkmate
(audience cheering)
Thank you, thank you very much.
Thank you, yeah so that was "Checkmate."
For this next song I'm gonna bring on my beautiful,
amazing guitar player.
(audience cheering)
This is Christine, she's gonna be helping me out.
She's much better at guitar than I am,
and it's gonna be very clear very soon.
(laughing)
Yeah, so this next song is a song that I wrote
over the summer when I was really, really, really, lonely.
I think that everyone kinda has those moments
where you're like, "Damn, there's like
nobody around (laughing)."
"There's like nobody I can text,
there's no one I can talk to."
And it was definitely one of those moments for me
where I just really wanted to be with friends.
I wanted to be with people that I knew.
I was like sitting in bed alone, I'd spent basically
like the past four months just rotting in bed alone.
And I was like, "God I wish I was with my best friend
back home in-"
You know how there are like certain friends that you have
that you're just like so close to that silence isn't awkward at all.
You can just sit in silence and just like perfectly fine.
Sit for hours, do nothing, talk about nothing.
You're just perfectly happy.
Yeah, so that's kind of the type of friend
that I wrote this song about.
And so this is a song that I wrote for
my best friend back home in Texas, named Ashley.
And this is, "Comfort Crowd."
(singing) This hurt that I'm holding's getting heavy
But I'ma keep a smile on my shoulders 'til I'm sweaty
Begging on my knees
Screamin', someone come and help me
But by the time they're there
I've already hid the body
My breath's gettin' short and I'm unsteady
Wellin' up in tears as I lay upon your belly
Telling you I'm fine
I don't really need nobody
But you say through a sigh
That I said that lie already
Yeah I just needed company now
Yeah I just needed someone around
Yeah I don't care what song that we play
Or mess that we make
Just company now
Comfort crowd
We rot thinkin' lots about nothing
Yeah I could spend a lifetime
Sitting here talkin'
And even if I cry all over your body
You don't really mind
Say you like your shirt soggy
Yeah I just needed company now
Yeah I just needed someone around
Yeah I don't care what song that we play
Or mess that we make
Just company now
Comfort crowd
We mess around
And laugh too loud
And make the sounds
We try to hide when people are around
By blood we're bound
Through ups and downs
Through smiles and pouts
Comfort crowd
You can always count
Yeah I just needed company now
Yeah I just needed someone around
Yeah I don't care what song that we play
Or mess that we make
Just company now
Comfort crowd
(audience cheering)
Thank you.
- Wow.
- Thank you.
- Man, that makes me wanna call my best friend.
- You should.
(laughing)
- That was awesome Conan, thank you for that.
- No, thank you.
- Appreciate it.
Yo listen, this is the first time seeing you in real life.
Because I'm so used to seeing you on YouTube.
You used to do your covers.
- Yeah.
- At what point did you realize,
"Hey, I wanna make my own music?"
- I don't know, I don't really know if it was like
a realization moment.
I'd been writing music since I was really little.
I was always writing jingles for stuff.
And my sister has all these videos on her flip phone
of me singing songs about toilets and stuff.
(laughing)
Like fully just I've always kinda been doing it.
And I started writing full songs when I was 12.
And I started making videos when I was nine.
So there was like three years where I was like,
"What's a song?"
(laughing)
But then from there, it was just like, song, song, song.
So I became obsessed with it.
- Where are those videos now?
- I don't know, hopefully deep in the abyss,
because they're horrible. (laughing)
- I doubt that man, but listen, you said you-
(laughing)
- You'd be surprised.
(laughing)
- But listen, you said you embraced the title
of your music being called "Sad Boy Pop."
(laughing)
What does that mean?
- I mean I don't know, it was put upon me.
But I was like, "I'll take that, I'll take it."
I think when it comes to songwriting,
I really like to make music that sounds upbeat,
but it's really
depressing secretly. - I know.
I like it, if you hear it from far you're like,
"Oh, what a fun song."
And then if you're like a fan and you like read the lyrics
you're like, "That boy has some issues."
- Or you see the videos.
- Or you see the videos and you're like,
"He needs some milk, like he needs some help."
(laughing)
- What makes you happy then?
- Oh gosh, you know honestly I'm not like
an extremely sad person just 'cause I write.
When I'm real bummed out, I just write about it
and then I'm like kind of okay.
I mean Christine probably has seen me
in some pretty low times.
But I think what really makes me feel happy,
is just spending time with the people that I love
and also I'm just obsessed with songwriting,
very. - And comfort crowd.
- Yeah, yeah, with the comfort crowd for sure.
- Absolutely.
Now your album right, I know you said it's gonna be
reflective of you time outside of Texas
and your time at UCLA.
What does that sound like?
- Well so far the album sounds very chaotic.
(laughing) It's just a big mess.
And I think the album to me is kind of a big,
I wanted it to be kind of a whole entire timeline
of my whole entire life thus far.
So there's a lot of conversation about my past
that I haven't really talked much about.
Because I'm a pretty secretive person.
Except for y'all, y'all know all my secrets.
- We're all friends.
- Y'all all know my secrets.
It's like we're very deep in this,
it's like real friendship at this point, guys.
But yeah it's kind of about my whole entire life
and what led me to sitting here
in front of these beautiful people.
If you think of the idyllic childhood,
that "Idle Town" paints,
like my life wasn't that.
I wrote "Idle Town", kind of out of a point of like,
"Oh God I wish that my life was that beautiful and perfect."
And 'Sunset Season' to me that EP was mostly kind of
talking about this childhood that I wanted to have
and that I kind of always wanted to relate to.
But I just didn't.
And my album I think touches more upon what my life was
actually like growing up.
And also talks about what it's been like
going from living in a small town
to Texas to like moving into the city.
And meeting new people and having new experiences.
And kind of having my little bubble just being
like bashed to pieces.
And realizing that there's so much more to life,
than what I thought there was.
- Absolutely, now you mentioned this EP.
I know you wrote like over 50 songs for the EP.
- Yeah (laughing).
- You had to narrow it down to five.
- Yeah.
- What's gonna happen to those records?
Are they gonna make the new album?
- No.
(laughing)
I write a lot of music, like a lot of music.
With the album, I probably wrote like around 200 songs
for the album. - Wow.
But we've narrowed it down to
a much, much smaller amount now.
Because also keep in mind, out of the 200,
150 of them are trash, horrible, like real stupid.
And then there's like 50 that you're like,
"Kinda feel that."
And then there's like a few that are like, "Whoa."
That just really resonate with
a lot of people and with myself.
Yeah, I always like play all the songs for my friends.
And if my friends back home don't care, then I'm like,
"That's not going on the album."
- Oh man.
- If my friends don't get it, then y'all wouldn't get it.
I like to treat y'all the same way
that I would with my friends.
And if they aren't able to relate to it I'm like,
"How are we supposed to relate to it if they don't get it."
- Right, I got an idea, you can make a mixtape.
- I could make a mixtape.
(laughing) I like to make playlists
for my friends.
They're like, "I didn't ask for this."
(laughing)
- Now everyone is anticipating this album.
And I read in an interview that you said
when we read the credits, we're going to and I quote,
"We're gonna (beep) our pants."
(laughing)
- I don't know. - Can you tell us about it?
- I can't tell you anything.
(sighing) But it's been pretty bizarre
because the kind of past year, I've had the opportunity
just to meet so many people,
that just I feel like they raised me.
There's a few of those musicians and a few of those people
that you feel like you literally just grew up with.
And being able to meet them has just been so weird.
It's just weird, but it's been a fun, very strange year.
Everything feels like a glitch in the simulation, yeah.
- Can you give us a name of one of those people?
- No.
Nu-uh. - Oh man.
- Not a single. - I thought we were friends?
(popping)
(laughing)
So you have one more song for us left, right?
- I do have one more song left for you guys.
- Let's get into it Conan.
- Okay, guys. - All right.
Okay.
(audience cheering)
I'm really nervous about this, because one,
I've literally never played it live.
And this is also an acoustic version.
And it's also a song that literally is not out.
It comes out in a bit.
I probably can't even say the release date.
But I wanted to play it, because y'all came out.
And were so sweet, it'll come out soon, the real version.
But this is the acoustic version of it.
It's, oh, I'm so nervous.
(laughing)
I've been keeping this secret for so long.
It's a song that I wrote called "Maniac."
It's probably my top song off the album.
It's (smacking lips).
It's like chef's kiss, so good, guys.
It's just one of my favorites,
and it's super fun to play live.
Well I wrote it in the shower, actually.
While I was in New York, I don't know
maybe like six months ago,
I wrote it in the shower, I was like "You maniac."
And it's basically this song I wrote about,
y'all know how you have those people in your life who
kind of in the moment, act like,
they just kind of go around like spreading rumors and (beep).
Like going round like, "Ah, I don't like that person,
trash, crazy, psycho."
Like they send all these rumors out
telling everyone you're a trash person.
Telling all their friends you're a trash person.
But then like a couple days later they're like,
"Hey," like "Hi."
I'm like, "You maniac, you psycho."
It's just like they go around telling everyone
that you're crazy, but like,
you're the crazy one, you are the crazy one.
And so that's kind of what this song is about.
And yeah, this is "Maniac."
If we (beep) up, please bare with us.
We've never done this before.
(singing) You were with your friends, partyin'
When the alcohol kicked in
Said you wanted me dead
So you show up at my home all alone
With a shovel and a rose
Do you think I'm a joke
Well people like you always want back
What they can't have
But I'm past that and you know that
So, you should turn back to your rat pack
Tell 'em I'm trash
Tell all of your friends that I'm crazy and drive you mad
That I'm such a stalker, a watcher, a psychopath
And tell 'em you hate me and dated me just for laughs
So why do you call me and tell me you want me back
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
You just went too far
Wrecked your car called me cryin' in the dark
Now you're breakin' my heart
So, I show up at your place right away
Wipe the tears off of your face
While you beg me to stay
Well people like you always want back what they can't have
But I'm past that and you know that
So you should turn back to your rat pack
Tell 'em I'm trash
Tell all of your friends that I'm crazy and drive you mad
That I'm such a stalker, a watcher, a psychopath
And tell 'em you hate me and dated me just for laughs
So why do you call me and tell me you want me back
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
Psychopathic don't be so dramatic
We had magic but you made it tragic
Now you're manic honestly I've had it
Listen to yourself think you need to get some help
Tell all of your friends that I'm crazy and drive you mad
That I'm such a stalker, a watcher, a psychopath
And tell 'em you hate me and dated me just for laughs
So why do you call me and tell me you want me back
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
Oh oh
You maniac
There it is.
(audience cheering)
Thank you.
Yay, we did it.
(laughing)
We had like two days to practice that,
we were like "Huuuuuh."
Yay, I hope y'all liked it.