Conan Gray’s latest track, “People Watching,” was written in collaboration with Julia Michaels and Dan Nigro — yeah, that Dan Nigro — and can be heard above. Gray investigates what it’s like to watch other people fall in and out of love while remaining outside of the relationship framework, safe from the anguish but also distant from the closeness, following the same pattern as his story-song cadence.
Conan had this to say about the new song:
“’People Watching’ is for all my fellow lonely people who wonder what it’s like to be deeply in love. I’ve never dated anyone in my entire life, so I’ve spent so many years of my life watching perfect couples sit in cafes and share coffee, whispering sweet nothings to each other. I can’t help but fantasize about what it must be like to feel that emotion. There’s nothing I love more than watching them exist in their little world, where seemingly nobody else exists to them. The song’s lyrics are things I’ve eavesdropped off of times I used to spend people watching at the cafe in college. Studying them living their lives lets me live vicariously through them, in a way.”
This track follows up his other recent new song, “Astronomy,” which reveals a slightly slower side of the rising pop star. Hear “People Watching” above and keep an eye out for a new video coming later this week.