Conan Gray Moves In For the Win On “Checkmate”

Conan Gray Moves In For the Win On “Checkmate”

Jul 31, 2019 in Discover, Music by Trend & Chaos

If you speak to songwriters and ask them how long it takes them to write a song, the answers you will get will vary greatly. Some songs just pour out as if they were already written and just needed a place to go. While other songs may take months of revisions and painful rewrites. As Bob Dylan told CBS in an interview, some of his songs were “almost magically written”. It’s all about the individual process, muse and definitely some magic.

Conan Gray’s new song “Checkmate” is one of those songs that just poured out due to his raw emotional state from recent relationship issues. Breakups are always good fuel for songwriters.

On “Checkmate” Conan Gray said:

“‘Checkmate’ is a song that spewed out of me while alone in my bedroom. It took me about four minutes, and I just ugly cried out a whole song about this person I liked who was always playing games with my heart. They’d call me super drunk in the middle of the night telling me they loved me, then they’d spend the next week cold and ignoring me. “Checkmate” was my last draw; my way of saying “I’m done with these games. If you wanna play this game, I’m gonna win.’”

“Checkmate” is a pop banger the likes of which we have come to expect from Conan Gray. He knows his way around a hook and even when dealing with heartbreak he has a way of lifting the spirit of everyone in the room.

Conan Gray’s first hit “Idle Town” was a track he created in his bedroom with Garageband and a cheap microphone taped to a lamp. Just a couple of years later and he is now taking over the pop world. His recent single, “The King” has over 7 million Spotify streams while his “Sunset Season” EP has over 80 million streams. Add to that recent sold-out European and North American tours and you can see why MTV call him the new “Prince of Pop”. We haven’t heard that moniker given to anyone since Michael Jackson, so let’s see if Conan Gray can live up to the high praise. We wouldn’t bet against him.