Overdrive

Conan Gray's debut album, Kid Krow, comprises a collection of melancholic tracks inspired by his difficult childhood ("Affluenza," "The Story") as well as teenage experiences with toxic relationships ("The Cut That Always Bleeds," "Maniac") and unrequited love ("I Wish You Were Sober," "Heather"). For his first solo release since Kid Krow, Gray came up with a soaring pop-rock anthem, which is the antithesis to his debut record. "I'm so used to writing dreadfully sad music," he explained to NME. "I love writing sad music and I write mostly sad songs. But I purposely wanted to put out 'Overdrive' right now because I wanted to just spread a bit of joy. This was a song that I found myself listening to over and over, just for fun."

Written by Gray alongside Tobias Jesso Jr. (Adele's "When We Were Young," Niall Horan's "Nice To Meet Ya") and the Miami production duo Monsters & Strangerz (Dua Lipa's "Break My Heart," Justin Bieber's "Anyone"), this song finds the singer diving into a romantic relationship. "With 'Overdrive,' all I wanted to do was give people just a form of escapism," he said. "The song is about losing your inhibitions and just doing exactly what you want to do in a given moment, even if it's a little bit reckless."

Gray told Apple Music how the COVID pandemic drove him to come up with an upbeat song about living in the moment. "I wrote 'Overdrive' to escape reality," he said. "I've spent the entire past year moping around alone in my house. I wanted to make something to get me to dance, something to belt in the shower."