Conan Gray Talks New Album ‘Found Heaven,’ Olivia Rodrigo, Working With Max Martin & More | Billboard News

Conan Gray talks about his newly released third album, Found Heaven; how he shares Olivia Rodrigo’s love for pop punk; working with producers such as Max Martin, ILYA, Greg Kurstin and Shawn Everett; how falling in love and the heartbreak that followed served as inspiration for the album; why he decided to name one of his songs “Alley Rose” and more!

Conan Gray:
Everything has ups and downs in this whole album is highs and lows. Hey, y’all, it’s Conan Gray and you’re watching Billboard News.

Lyndsey Havens:
Hey, I’m Lyndsay Havens for Billboard News, and we are here with rising superstar singer-songwriter Conan Gray.

Your third album, the highly anticipated Found Heaven is out. Now let’s start by looking backwards a little bit: When exactly did you start the process? And how do you know that you are ready for a new album to begin?

Conan Gray:
So I started the like ideation of the album while I was on tour during the Superache tour. So a year and a half ago, almost two years ago, I would go, I’d finish the shows. And then I would go into the basement of all the venues that I would play because there’s always a piano in the basement because of like, the orchestra shows they do these theaters that I was playing. And I would play I would just write songs, like while they were loading up the vans, and play in the basement, like in the dark. And that’s kind of when the first … that’s when I started noticing, like, these different kinds of themes that I was writing about and realizing like, oh, maybe … maybe I am ready to start working on another album. And then the very first song that I wrote for the album was “Found Heaven” the song.

Watch the full interview above!