American pop prince Conan Gray pleads to be released from the shackles of heartbreak, and treated with a little more respect on his latest single ‘Killing Me’.
Produced by Max Martin (Britney Spears, The Weeknd, Adele), the thrilling track serves as the follow up to recent fan favourite ‘Winner’, which to date has accumulated over 14.6 million streams on Spotify following its debut back in August.
Opening to the delicate sound of a lone piano, played softly against Gray’s isolated raw, yet rich soulful vocal, the pace of proceedings soon switching gears, as the 24-year-old vents his frustration at being used, and emotionally abused by a partner time and time again.
“Too busy deceivin’ and cheatin’ / And lyin’ and competin’ / To know how lucky you are,” Conan sings with conviction across the top of Martin’s ’80s-inspired, synth-pop production, before conceding, “but still I can’t let go of your heart”.
“I wrote ‘Killing Me’ while I was sick with the flu,” Gray says of the soul-stirring songs origins. “It was a miserable time where I was both physically sick, but also super heartbroken over somebody. Hence, ‘you’re KILLING me’.”
“I think we all have those people who don’t treat us nearly well enough, but we just can’t seem to let them go. People who call you at 2AM, and who you know you shouldn’t pick up… but you do. ‘Killing Me’ is for when you’re on your last limb begging this person to just please stop torturing your heart.”
Watch the official lyric video for ‘Killing Me’ below:
‘Killing Me’ is available to download / stream via Republic Records now.