(Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Season)

Some Background 

Sunset Season is an EP (extended play) that was released in November of 2018 by Conan Gray, an American singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Composed of 5 nostalgia-filled tracks, the EP peaked at 116 on the Billboard 200 charts.  

I remember first knowing about Conan when a video of him showing off his AP Art portfolio surfaced on my YouTube recommended feed. Why exactly I clicked on this video when I can barely draw a straight line is beyond me, but I nonetheless checked out some of his music afterward. I didn’t really listen to his music until I later rediscovered it on Spotify when he released this EP.  

Sunset Season is the epitome of dreamy and trippy indie pop. It reminds me of Troye Sivan’s Blue Neighbourhood in a way because both are chill and oddly nostalgic.  

The Breakdown 

It opens with “Idle Town”, which is Gray’s way of reflecting on old high school memories and his hometown. I love how the composition and the lyrics work together so well. The music is sluggish yet provides this psychedelic ambiance that persists throughout the EP. In the chorus, Gray sings: 

Yeah, we invent our own little games (in our idle town)
When the lights out at the stadium, hey (in our idle town)
Making life a spinning arcade (in our idle town) 

The repetition of the phrase “in our idle town” further serves to create this feeling of reminiscing but also stagnation in the way in grounds the listener. The subsequent choruses and outro adopt the same phrase being sung in the background as well. 

The next song is “Generation Why”, a more upbeat song that continues to play off this idea of being in a town that has nothing going on. It also takes a lighthearted approach to the criticisms that older generations have for Millennials and Gen Z kids. Gray sings: 

‘Cause we are the helpless, selfish, one of a kind
Millennium kids, that all wanna die
Walking in the street with no light inside our eyes 

It pokes fun at all the things Boomers like to say about younger generations with an apt self-awareness too. Gray acknowledges our generation’s struggle with mental health and this mutual feeling of helplessness and not knowing what to do with the lives that many of us share. I think this is what makes this song so memorable and impactful.  

Then, Sunset Season transitions into “Crush Culture”, which like “Generation Why”, serves to provide social commentary. This time, Gray is poking fun at the culture surrounding modern romance and pining. He rejects the prioritization of romance over other things, which I think is an interesting song topic given the prominence of love songs in popular music in the past century.  

And yet, while he rejects these things, he’s also criticizing himself at the same time. In the commentary he provided to Genius, he stated that he’s making fun of himself in the lines: 

My god don’t look at your phone
No one’s gonna call you
Quit checking your volume (crush) 

That is, he’s commenting on the practice of repeatedly checking your phone when you’re waiting for a text or snap or anything from someone that you have a crush on. In 2020, this would be referred to as simping or clowning, but these terms were unfortunately not in use during the release of this EP.  

Conclusion

Overall, Conan Gray’s Sunset Season is a chill EP to listen to. At just 18 minutes long, it’s a quick listen filled with some catchy music and memorable lines. While it’s never my go-to EP/Album, I’ve listened to it on and off for the past year. It hasn’t gotten old, and I think the themes will remain relevant for a long time. 

Rating: 7/10