Connor (YawnYoutuberAward) Franta Part 4

[Guest]

Personally, over all I think Connor should take some solace in knowing that Troye is a passing fad. The moment that a cute open Twink singer that actually can sing and dance appears on the scene, he is going to be a has been pretty quickly. Just like Connor's YT career, although for a moment before he went fucking nuts he could have surpassed Tyler and actually gone mainstream. If only Connor had, had decent content or a personality.

Not to be mean, but I think you couldn’t be more off.

There ARE dozens more cute openly gay twink singers out there, but Troye has one advantage. He’s got a market and concrats to him for creating one.
The guy is fantastically clever and hard working: just watch his live streams from when he started in 2011 or so and how he tries to push his audience to make him appear in the feeds on YT and Twitter (it’s very embarrassing.) He didn’t have the collabs of The British Crew or O2L in Australia. He pushed to get noticed by Tyler Oakley and they milked the whole #Troyler for every last penny. He used Vidcon and that stuff to get the music thing going and look at his music video views: his collabs outperform his own stuff by far. Or how he pushed to get a song on Boy Erased. He knows how to play the game extremely well.

Woah there, let’s not exaggerate. We’re not talking about Steven Hawking. Troye made some smart moves and collaborations with the right people at the right time ... as did many many many other successful YouTubers. The next part I admit is much more unique - forging a career in the music industry that’s successful in its own right and shaking off the vlogger mantle entirely. He’s basically the only one who has done that. But that doesn’t mean he masterminded the entire thing and all these business decisions you mention came from his brilliant mind alone rather than a team that manufactures and represents him , like any successful pop star.
So while he definitely put in lots of work (many do that and still fail) and did pull off one pretty unique unmatched feat that most of the YouTuber community must be insanely jealous of, just like anyone successful there was also a lot of luck and other peoples hard work involved too. Also he’s not Madonna or the Beatles. His music won’t be remembered in 50 years

Last thing I write about Troye here — he as he own abandoned threat & we don’t need these posts to be flagged.

Describing someone as clever does not mean others are not. And I don’t want to blow smoke up his arse or laud him. Clever in this context is meant to mean “able to quickly adapt”. And to be able to adapt, you have to figure out how things work; a.k.a clever. (And I don't use intelligent (Hawkins), erudite (Joyce) or astute (Hitchens); clever is one of the most nondescript adjectives in English).

One could argue that he actually crafted his own YouTube career (Perth is 2700 km from Melbourne, 3400 km from Sydney — he’s basically an Australian hillbilly to any form of culture or entertainment) and somehow managed to get the record deal, but instead of spamming click bait he actually managed to produce a likeable persona. And remember he came out before the record deal was announced and expected it all to be over before it started — he worked towards it.

There might be an interesting contrast here:
I think Troye aimed for success on YouTube (in old vlog he mentioned mailing Marcus Butler and Alfie Deyes [whoever they are] asking for collabs or again shooting for Tyler Oakley) as a potential stepping stone, whereas people like Connor just seemed to have gotten there by random chance.

With your second point you are actually picking up what I replied above. There are a lot of people interested in his success now, because of monetary gain. That’s why I think he will not easily be replaced by the next big gay thing tomorrow.

Last point, further up I mentioned, that no-one will remember any of these YouTube guys in 10 years time. But again, Troye also knows that his career will be short lived and said time and time again he’ll be retired at 30. Will Connor host a self-help summer camp for depressed hipsters at 30?

Now let’s talk about Franta Claus again.
Or maybe after his next video,
in 4 months.
When’s the next big city marathon?

[ballamyblue]

Troye is a passing fad much like most artists that are known for their looks more than their music. We see it all the time, they eventually get replaced. We are still in the infant stages of having open LGBT singers and actors in the youth market. He has no competition as of right now. Sam Smith is a soul singer and not a Twink. I guess Ben Platt could be a "rival" to some degree but Ben can actually sing unlike Troye and also found his current fame (what made him a name) on Broadway and aside from Barbara and Bette no one has ever been able to cross over properly.

So, yes a Twink with talent or heck even a lack of talent can come along at any point. I'm not saying he will drop off the face of the earth. I'm just saying that his days of being on top of the market won't last forever.

This is one of the reasons why Connor needs to snap out of it. We can all suggest day and night that the (literal) idiot goes back to college. He isn't though and that money won't last forever. He will be 27 this year, he never has known how to dress himself, and he will either start to get vain as he starts to age and look terrible or he will naturally age. Either way the fans are going to start to lose interest. The O2L fangirls are starting to grow up and Connor has done absolutely nothing to stay relevant over the years. As much as I loath Shane Dawson, no one can say that he hasn't adapted for the audience. Connor not so much. If I were him, I'd be milking whatever money was left to take before he is useless to the entertainment industry.

[horatio]

Don’t play it down, you didn’t say “clever” you said “fantastically clever” which applies to rather less people and implies someone extraordinary - which he is not. Clever ? Sure

But I can’t be bothered with this either , that’s my only gripe. Why did Troyes thread get shut down? Because he’s not s YouTuber?

As for Connor, the London marathon was only this Sunday. Did he post anything? I’ve got to say having a healthy hobby like this is at least something, he’s not just wallowing in money and emptiness like some. I guess doing a marathon gives you a sense of real achievement , that he’s long lost from YouTube. Good for him.

[Kokopelli96]

wow, this thread hasn't been this active since 2016...

Connor's mental health:
While I do think Connor hasn't fully recovered from Tronnor, I believe that he is in a much better mental state of mind than what you guys think. He does have normal friends, just not youtube friends. Also, he's no longer interested in promoting the Connor-brand, so there's no need for him to broadcast his life. It doesn't mean that his life is empty, filled with sorrows, and in shambles.

Connor and Tyler Oakley:
They did hang out numerous times in 2016-2017 (with Raymond Braun also), and then completely stopped...but I don't think they had another fallen out. This is just my theory (no evidence). Raymond and Tyler are besties. Connor and Raymond dated (maybe Tyler set them up)...that didn't work out, apparently. Raymond got Tyler in the divorce.

Connor's love life since Troye:
I think he had at least 3 boyfriends since tronnor. In a video, Connor mentioned that most of the people that he had dated came from his circle of friends, and social spheres...iirc, he said something like 'they're already my friends...or I knew them before...'
Again, just my theory (no evidence)...he had dated Jon Cozart, Raymond Braun, and most recently Ian Rigby. Exact same patterns...numerous evidence of them hanging out together, multiple times, for months, interacting on social media, and then complete silence. It is as if the other person no longer exist.

Troye's music:
I love Troye and everything about him (like I do Connor). I think his music is amazing. His voice (though it's lacking in range) fits the songs perfectly. His lyrics are more matured and edgier than the elementary school, bubble gum shit that is being produced by the likes of Shawn Mendes (he's good looking and seems like a nice person, but his music sucks). I think being gay does have a negative impact on Troye's popularity and his music sales (that said, I'm not implying that Troye will top the charts...pun intended...and become the next Elvis or anything like that...but I'm rooting for him).

Of course, these are my opinions, and they're 100% subjective.

[Guest]

I really don’t get why you worry about his money. We literally have no information about his financial status. Sure, he could be destitute in a few weeks, but that is highly unlikely. With just one million cleverly(!) invested he could afford a decent life style. The median family income of L.A. is 62k. With an annual return on investment of just 4%, he hits that number with 1,5 mil.
And the guy has done better than most other YTbers, I guess: 2 bestsellers, AdSense on 420 mil views, sponsorship from Coke, his own brands (Glsen, Common Culture, Heard Well and whatever). If he wasn’t just looking at boys during his college time, I’d suppose he is able to keep a balanced budget.

As for why Troye might be cleverer than Connor:
Connor had no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit.
They are perhaps quite comparable with their remote, religious(!) upbringing in a tight big family.
But the one bloke milked social and traditional media to get where he is and the other dude probably had not much of a clue what’s going on and was horribly closeted to himself in every way.
#conler could have killed #troyler in 2013/14 if he wanted, I suppose.
One guy gets to be on Larry King, Drag Race, in a movie with Russell Crowe and Kidman, SNL, Ellen, Colbert
and the other guy asked Hillary Clinton an embarrassing question and got a very condescending reaction. Great way to make a total fool of yourself.

Sure Troye has management and PR agents and so on. But so does literally everyone else.

If you want to knock Troye then do it for the right reasons. Like, that he didn’t learn to play a musical instrument in the last years like every other musician, his callous and cynical attitude or that he’s fantastically short.


Last thing, that I mentioned above. Does anyone actually think that Connor will ever meet someone who compares favourably with (an idealised image of) Troye?

[stlkr]

I wonder if connor is too clingy in his relationships and that's why they always seem to go south (and why troye broke up with him). I remember in the tronnor days there was a big discourse about it, like people thought troye wasn't putting the same amount of effort in their relationship while connor would literally follow him everywhere all over the world.

[ballamyblue]

I wonder if connor is too clingy in his relationships and that's why they always seem to go south (and why troye broke up with him). I remember in the tronnor days there was a big discourse about it, like people thought troye wasn't putting the same amount of effort in their relationship while connor would literally follow him everywhere all over the world.

This might be the issue. Do we have any proof of him being like this in the supposed other relationships though? I mean he legit went EVERYWHERE with Troye and one or both of them did a really lousy job at hiding it. I want to suspect it was Troye who was sick of playing pretend with Connor based on how the relationship played out but who knows.

[Kafkaontheshore]

I still have such a soft spot for both Connor and Troye and actually want them both to do well. even though Connor's stuff bores me to death now (he barely does anything anyway...) and since I don't really like Pop music I only like a few of Troye's songs. That being said I think the biggest problem was Connor's non-existent personality. That guy is someone that simply copies others. Hobbies, interests, looks, personality everything is simply a copy of the people he hangs out with. It was obvious when he got close to Troye and fell in love with him. Since Troye was quite clear about his actual goal being music and not youtube all of a sudden youtube wasn't "good enough" for Connor either and also needed other goals. All of a sudden he was also so interested in music (all the musicians and music he liked he got from Troye), needed to write a book and became super artsy (lol)... And basically everything revolved around Troye. He wanted to be like Troye and wanted to be where Troye was and started to only hang out with Troye's people and the people he met through Troye. He was clearly depended on Troye and being the romantic person he is, he probably thought that a relationship like that would work out and last forever. As much as I feel bad for Connor for just not being able to "find himself", imagine being a 20 year old who just started his career he had always dreamed about and trying to find his way in the music business and having a boyfriend who depends on you like that. A boyfriend who made his whole life about you. A nightmare, literally a nightmare.

By now Troye has pretty much explained through his songs on bloom and in interviews what had happened. In "plum" he admits that he wanted to end the relationship for a while but had a hard time ending it and in interviews he admitted that songs on Blue neighborhood were already about the downfall of the relationship. Just listen to "lost boy" which actually already explains everything. Troye's mistake was clearly stringing Connor along for too long. He probably was not able to tell Connor to his face that he just wasn't the one for him and most likely told Connor some bullshit story when he broke up with him that he was just not able to have a relationship at the moment because of all the touring and bla bla bla. Troye was most likely not honest to Connor and Connor probably thought Troye would come back to him after Tour (which would explain all his sappy ass tweets and posts on SC like tweeting "any day, any time" and singing "I am waiting for you darling, I am waiting for your word" on SC and all that shit. And there was a lot...). I don't want to be too hard on a 20 year old for not breaking up with someone the "right way" but yeah that was shitty of Troye.

And then Jacob happened. I know it's not fair to compare 2 people, but I mean the fact that Troye started a relationship so soon after the break up with someone who is totally different to Connor and that relationship actually working out, is kind of telling. All of a sudden Troye had no problem settling down and committing to Jacob. He had no problem packing all his things up and moving to LA and moving in with Jacob and getting a dog with him. no longer a "lost boy not ready to be found". No hiding the relationship either, no problem saying Jacob's name in interviews and talking about his love for him. (Also no problem saying that he has never loved anyone as much as he loves Jacob and that he has never experienced being crazy in love until with Jacob and that he only bottoms for Jacob and and and....). And Jacob and Connor could not be more different. Jacob seems to be such a confident guy who just loves living his life. Sure he also goes on Tour with Troye but he clearly has his own life with his own friends and it never seems like his happiness depends on Troye. And he also didn't change to accommodate to Troye. He still hangs with his own friends from before he met Troye, still loves his abstract art stuff and reading lots of books (unlike Troye) and all that stuff he already did before Troye. He didn't try to become Troye unlike Connor. And it seems like that's actually what Troye wanted, someone like that. Someone who shows HIM new stuff and introduces HIM to new people.

Connor's lack of personality is just so obvious. Look at his house for example. That whole interior looks like he just took it straight out of a home depot catalog. No sign of any personality or what his interests are or anything that seems like "oh that's so typical for Connor". Nothing. And then Connor's "art".... Let's be real he just likes "pretty" things. Not that that is bad or not art or anything, but everyone with a good camera or good phone can take pretty pictures, literally everyone. That's nothing special or outstanding and also doesn't really make you an artsy guy. He is just like every other tumblr user. It's embarrassing when he tries to make a big deal out of how much he loves art when in reality he probably doesn't even know the names of a lot of artists in the real art scene, he probably has no idea what to make of anything that is more abstract and not just "pretty to look at". He probably doesn't even know a lot about art outside of pretty instagram and tumblr pics. And how he now tries to be "woke". I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He clearly just sees stuff on twitter and stuff other people talk about and picks it up and all of a sudden thinks he is an expert in it. Every few months it's something different. Right now it seems to be sustainability. But nothing ever comes across as sincere, just something he picked up on twitter. And what was even the point of his latest youtube video??? How many times is he going to say the same boring stuff over and over again?? Yes Connor we have all noticed that you still haven't found yourself and you still have no idea what you are doing and you are still lost. We can tell without you making every single video about it.

And lastly yeah I do think that Connor is still not over Troye. And sadly I think if Troye and Jacob would ever break up, Connor would try to get back into Troye's life immediately. When Troye's album came out I thought he was cruel for making "the good side" and "plum", but over time I changed my mind. Up until the release of the album Connor regularly tweeted sappy shit which was clearly towards Troye, but when the album came out it stopped. I have no doubt that Connor listened to every single song and looked up all the lyrics to see if there were any hidden messages from Troye where he miraculously would express his deep regrets for losing Connor and missing him and declaring his undying love for Connor (just like Connor did in Note to self: "I hope you know I still admire you, I hope you know I still desire you" and many more terribly embarrassing poems clearly meant for Troye). Instead he found 2 songs about him were Troye admits to wanting to end the relationship for a long time and "apologizing" for having it so much better than him. And the rest of the album was about his undying love for Jacob. Ouch but I now think that this is exactly what Connor needed to hear. Maybe Troye tried to make up for his lack of honesty during the relationship and break up with Connor...

Phew that was a lot lmao.

[horatio]

I mean, it sucks getting over your first love anyway, factor in that also coinciding with coming out oh and then your first love becomes a successful pop star and seems to go from strenght to strength. That sucks!

[Guest]

I still have such a soft spot for both Connor and Troye and actually want them both to do well. even though Connor's stuff bores me to death now (he barely does anything anyway...) and since I don't really like Pop music I only like a few of Troye's songs. That being said I think the biggest problem was Connor's non-existent personality. That guy is someone that simply copies others. Hobbies, interests, looks, personality everything is simply a copy of the people he hangs out with. It was obvious when he got close to Troye and fell in love with him. Since Troye was quite clear about his actual goal being music and not youtube all of a sudden youtube wasn't "good enough" for Connor either and also needed other goals. All of a sudden he was also so interested in music (all the musicians and music he liked he got from Troye), needed to write a book and became super artsy (lol)... And basically everything revolved around Troye. He wanted to be like Troye and wanted to be where Troye was and started to only hang out with Troye's people and the people he met through Troye. He was clearly depended on Troye and being the romantic person he is, he probably thought that a relationship like that would work out and last forever. As much as I feel bad for Connor for just not being able to "find himself", imagine being a 20 year old who just started his career he had always dreamed about and trying to find his way in the music business and having a boyfriend who depends on you like that. A boyfriend who made his whole life about you. A nightmare, literally a nightmare.

By now Troye has pretty much explained through his songs on bloom and in interviews what had happened. In "plum" he admits that he wanted to end the relationship for a while but had a hard time ending it and in interviews he admitted that songs on Blue neighborhood were already about the downfall of the relationship. Just listen to "lost boy" which actually already explains everything. Troye's mistake was clearly stringing Connor along for too long. He probably was not able to tell Connor to his face that he just wasn't the one for him and most likely told Connor some bullshit story when he broke up with him that he was just not able to have a relationship at the moment because of all the touring and bla bla bla. Troye was most likely not honest to Connor and Connor probably thought Troye would come back to him after Tour (which would explain all his sappy ass tweets and posts on SC like tweeting "any day, any time" and singing "I am waiting for you darling, I am waiting for your word" on SC and all that shit. And there was a lot...). I don't want to be too hard on a 20 year old for not breaking up with someone the "right way" but yeah that was shitty of Troye.

And then Jacob happened. I know it's not fair to compare 2 people, but I mean the fact that Troye started a relationship so soon after the break up with someone who is totally different to Connor and that relationship actually working out, is kind of telling. All of a sudden Troye had no problem settling down and committing to Jacob. He had no problem packing all his things up and moving to LA and moving in with Jacob and getting a dog with him. no longer a "lost boy not ready to be found". No hiding the relationship either, no problem saying Jacob's name in interviews and talking about his love for him. (Also no problem saying that he has never loved anyone as much as he loves Jacob and that he has never experienced being crazy in love until with Jacob and that he only bottoms for Jacob and and and....). And Jacob and Connor could not be more different. Jacob seems to be such a confident guy who just loves living his life. Sure he also goes on Tour with Troye but he clearly has his own life with his own friends and it never seems like his happiness depends on Troye. And he also didn't change to accommodate to Troye. He still hangs with his own friends from before he met Troye, still loves his abstract art stuff and reading lots of books (unlike Troye) and all that stuff he already did before Troye. He didn't try to become Troye unlike Connor. And it seems like that's actually what Troye wanted, someone like that. Someone who shows HIM new stuff and introduces HIM to new people.

Connor's lack of personality is just so obvious. Look at his house for example. That whole interior looks like he just took it straight out of a home depot catalog. No sign of any personality or what his interests are or anything that seems like "oh that's so typical for Connor". Nothing. And then Connor's "art".... Let's be real he just likes "pretty" things. Not that that is bad or not art or anything, but everyone with a good camera or good phone can take pretty pictures, literally everyone. That's nothing special or outstanding and also doesn't really make you an artsy guy. He is just like every other tumblr user. It's embarrassing when he tries to make a big deal out of how much he loves art when in reality he probably doesn't even know the names of a lot of artists in the real art scene, he probably has no idea what to make of anything that is more abstract and not just "pretty to look at". He probably doesn't even know a lot about art outside of pretty instagram and tumblr pics. And how he now tries to be "woke". I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He clearly just sees stuff on twitter and stuff other people talk about and picks it up and all of a sudden thinks he is an expert in it. Every few months it's something different. Right now it seems to be sustainability. But nothing ever comes across as sincere, just something he picked up on twitter. And what was even the point of his latest youtube video??? How many times is he going to say the same boring stuff over and over again?? Yes Connor we have all noticed that you still haven't found yourself and you still have no idea what you are doing and you are still lost. We can tell without you making every single video about it.

And lastly yeah I do think that Connor is still not over Troye. And sadly I think if Troye and Jacob would ever break up, Connor would try to get back into Troye's life immediately. When Troye's album came out I thought he was cruel for making "the good side" and "plum", but over time I changed my mind. Up until the release of the album Connor regularly tweeted sappy shit which was clearly towards Troye, but when the album came out it stopped. I have no doubt that Connor listened to every single song and looked up all the lyrics to see if there were any hidden messages from Troye where he miraculously would express his deep regrets for losing Connor and missing him and declaring his undying love for Connor (just like Connor did in Note to self: "I hope you know I still admire you, I hope you know I still desire you" and many more terribly embarrassing poems clearly meant for Troye). Instead he found 2 songs about him were Troye admits to wanting to end the relationship for a long time and "apologizing" for having it so much better than him. And the rest of the album was about his undying love for Jacob. Ouch but I now think that this is exactly what Connor needed to hear. Maybe Troye tried to make up for his lack of honesty during the relationship and break up with Connor...

Phew that was a lot lmao.

Thank you! Finally someone who actually tries to figure stuff out based on observations and what we have to consider as facts.

But for those who can't read: Here is everything said in an artsy CFpic:

[Kokopelli96]

...

As for why Troye might be cleverer than Connor:
Connor had no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit.
They are perhaps quite comparable with their remote, religious(!) upbringing in a tight big family.
But the one bloke milked social and traditional media to get where he is and the other dude probably had not much of a clue what’s going on and was horribly closeted to himself in every way.
#conler could have killed #troyler in 2013/14 if he wanted, I suppose.
One guy gets to be on Larry King, Drag Race, in a movie with Russell Crowe and Kidman, SNL, Ellen, Colbert
and the other guy asked Hillary Clinton an embarrassing question and got a very condescending reaction. Great way to make a total fool of yourself.

...

I like your post and agreed with you for the most part, except I don't think you gave Connor enough credit for his hustling and planning. IMHO, Connor definitely wasn't clueless.

If anything, I thought that between the two of them, Connor was the better planner, bigger risk taker, more entrepreneurial and a harder hustler than Troye (Troye was amazing too)
1) Before O2L, Connor started a couple collab channels. None of them exploded, obviously (though one of the channels included Caspar Lee). This shows that he was actively building his influence...he wasn't just sitting around, not having a clue, and getting lucky.
2) He knows that he doesn't have the musical talent and the acting chops (like Troye)
3) He admitted publicly that he doesn't have the humor and the comic timing (like Shane)
4) Connor, the youtuber, understood early on that he was just a friendly guy with a cute face, an upbeat personality and good communication skills. In other words, he knows that he's just a "personality" (like most other popular youtubers) - people like to be him, be with him (romantically), or be his friends.

Because of this keenly self-awareness, Connor probably knew from the get go that his "career" (solely based on a likeable personality) won't last as long as those of Troye's and Shane's. This explained in some of the drastic actions that he took to capitalize on this short-lived opportunity:
1) Quit college at 20, moved 2000 miles from tiny town (La Cresent - population 5000) to LA.
Youtube was a lot different in 2013 (people were not making millions, and doing youtube wasn't a "carreer" opportunity then). If put in the same situation (same time, same age, with no benefit of hindsight), how many of us here can or willing to do this? Be honest (I couldn't do what he did).
2) Just like Troye, he networked his way in with the LA crowd, British crew, etc., and grew his channel exponentially. In 2013, did a bunch of collabs with bigger youtubers (Joey Graceffa, Sawyer Hartman, Tyler Oakley, the British crew, etc). And along the way, briefly became youtube's "It" boy, and got way more subscribers than all the other O2L guys (and Troye...before music).
3) If you recall, from 2012-2015, he did so much online sponsorships and sold all sort of products (way more than Troye). Remember the monthly $24 for 12 oz (not even a pound) of coffee subscription? He was basically an advertising agency (but didn't get much backlash because he was cute and personable).
4) knowing that the "Connor Franta Brand" will be short lived because he doesn't have Troye's talents to maintain longevity, he created companies that didn't rely on his name, his image, and his popularity to sell products - common culture, heard well, etc.

I guess what I tried to say was that Connor was hustling big time and he had a strategic plan. He started more businesses and did more sponsorship deals than Troye (the youtuber) ever did. His business ventures, companies failed for didn't live up to expectations because it's very difficult to build a successful business. It certainly wasn't for the lack of hustling (or for having "no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit") from Connor and his team.

[Kokopelli96]

...
Last thing, that I mentioned above. Does anyone actually think that Connor will ever meet someone who compares favourably with (an idealised image of) Troye?

Nope

In the future, will there be another cute, super twinky, twenty-something...younger and taller, lol, version of Troye? Absolutely. Will Connor meet someone like this? Most unlikely...not because Connor's not worthy, but because I don't think he's actively putting himself in the right place to meet this guy or actively going after a guy of this caliber (I'm guessing here, as I don't know Connor's daily activities).

That said, I hope that Connor will find someone loving and compatible.

As for Troye, he is a rare double-talent and very hard to match. Music and acting skills are subjective...whether you like him or don't like him, Troye is critically acclaimed on both fronts, and he has proven time and times again that he can do both with ease.

[Guest]

I guess what I tried to say was that Connor was hustling big time and he had a strategic plan. He started more businesses and did more sponsorship deals than Troye (the youtuber) ever did. His business ventures, companies failed for didn't live up to expectations because it's very difficult to build a successful business. It certainly wasn't for the lack of hustling (or for having "no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit") from Connor and his team.

I really like your post ! I currently still enjoy Connor's videos even if they are quite boring, and it's precisely because he is such a relatable "normal" guy. He is just the type of person I could meet in my day to day life and befriend. That's always been is brand and his forte. Today, it's probably not what is gonna bring the money on Youtube but I also think that it has not been his objective in quite some time. He made the money during his golden youtube years and throughout his experimentations, brand deals, books and merch. I'm pretty sure he is settled for life and won't have to work a day in his life. He is obviously smart enough to have made intelligent investment.

I'm truly not worried for him. I don't get why some of you see Connor as some sort of loser who is still moping about Troye years after the breakup. It might probably be because I can't stand Troye and never could from the moment all that Troyler ordeal went down lol, and I'm thus quite biased because I have a soft spot for Connor. But he seems to me like he matured a bit since then and is actively trying to find himself and do stuff that interest him. He has the means and the time, he is not even 30, so why not. He obviously had relationships after Troye and even if they didn't work out, I don't think there're a lot of 26 years old in our day and age in settled long relationships. Especially when you're someone like Connor, are still finding yourself, came out in your early twenties, dealt with early short-lived celebrity and suffer from mental illness.

Also, maybe I missed something, but he never looked famed-hungry or super ambitious to me (in opposition to Troye or Tyler who were always super driven and ambitious). It seems like he is just the kind of person content to do whatever he enjoys doing and live his life in quasi-anonymity. Also, why do you all think the guy has no friends ? lol He obviously distanced himself from Youtubers and keeps his friendships private, but there's no reason to believe he is just a sad moppy guy running marathons to try to run away from his past and Troye Sivan.

He has the means to go back to school when he wants, and the contacts to work in the industry he wants to work in once he decides what he wants to do. He also has an upbeat, nice and social personality -- or at least he gives that impression. Why not travel, run marathons, film some boring videos, spend time with friends and family while you're young. He is fine.

[Kafkaontheshore]

...

As for why Troye might be cleverer than Connor:
Connor had no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit.
They are perhaps quite comparable with their remote, religious(!) upbringing in a tight big family.
But the one bloke milked social and traditional media to get where he is and the other dude probably had not much of a clue what’s going on and was horribly closeted to himself in every way.
#conler could have killed #troyler in 2013/14 if he wanted, I suppose.
One guy gets to be on Larry King, Drag Race, in a movie with Russell Crowe and Kidman, SNL, Ellen, Colbert
and the other guy asked Hillary Clinton an embarrassing question and got a very condescending reaction. Great way to make a total fool of yourself.

...

I like your post and agreed with you for the most part, except I don't think you gave Connor enough credit for his hustling and planning. IMHO, Connor definitely wasn't clueless.

If anything, I thought that between the two of them, Connor was the better planner, bigger risk taker, more entrepreneurial and a harder hustler than Troye (Troye was amazing too)
1) Before O2L, Connor started a couple collab channels. None of them exploded, obviously (though one of the channels included Caspar Lee). This shows that he was actively building his influence...he wasn't just sitting around, not having a clue, and getting lucky.
2) He knows that he doesn't have the musical talent and the acting chops (like Troye)
3) He admitted publicly that he doesn't have the humor and the comic timing (like Shane)
4) Connor, the youtuber, understood early on that he was just a friendly guy with a cute face, an upbeat personality and good communication skills. In other words, he knows that he's just a "personality" (like most other popular youtubers) - people like to be him, be with him (romantically), or be his friends.

Because of this keenly self-awareness, Connor probably knew from the get go that his "career" (solely based on a likeable personality) won't last as long as those of Troye's and Shane's. This explained in some of the drastic actions that he took to capitalize on this short-lived opportunity:
1) Quit college at 20, moved 2000 miles from tiny town (La Cresent - population 5000) to LA.
Youtube was a lot different in 2013 (people were not making millions, and doing youtube wasn't a "carreer" opportunity then). If put in the same situation (same time, same age, with no benefit of hindsight), how many of us here can or willing to do this? Be honest (I couldn't do what he did).
2) Just like Troye, he networked his way in with the LA crowd, British crew, etc., and grew his channel exponentially. In 2013, did a bunch of collabs with bigger youtubers (Joey Graceffa, Sawyer Hartman, Tyler Oakley, the British crew, etc). And along the way, briefly became youtube's "It" boy, and got way more subscribers than all the other O2L guys (and Troye...before music).
3) If you recall, from 2012-2015, he did so much online sponsorships and sold all sort of products (way more than Troye). Remember the monthly $24 for 12 oz (not even a pound) of coffee subscription? He was basically an advertising agency (but didn't get much backlash because he was cute and personable).
4) knowing that the "Connor Franta Brand" will be short lived because he doesn't have Troye's talents to maintain longevity, he created companies that didn't rely on his name, his image, and his popularity to sell products - common culture, heard well, etc.

I guess what I tried to say was that Connor was hustling big time and he had a strategic plan. He started more businesses and did more sponsorship deals than Troye (the youtuber) ever did. His business ventures, companies failed for didn't live up to expectations because it's very difficult to build a successful business. It certainly wasn't for the lack of hustling (or for having "no idea what he was getting himself into with the whole media shit") from Connor and his team.

Yeah I do agree that Connor definitely did a lot of hustling. I think in the end his lack of having his own personality was his downfall. The funny Connor during O2 was just him trying to be like the other guys (which is especially sad when you consider that he admitted later that he was basically suicidal and constantly depressed during that time), then with the collabs with the bigger youtubers he had it easy because he could just react to their funny, easy going, relatable personalities and try to match them (which ultimately worked well and made him huge and the "it" youtuber that everyone got along with and liked doing collabs with). But then he fell for Troye and did what he always did: he tried to copy him and become like him. The funny youtube stuff and collabs were suddenly not good enough for him anymore and wanted to be something better than just a youtuber. Like Troye. He wanted to be like Troye. So he started his Common Culture stuff and Heardwell and the art stuff and was oh sooooo passionate about all that stuff. Fast forward to Troye breaking up with him and Connor basically slowly falling apart. What happened to his Common Culture clothes when it was "literally a dream come true to have his clothes at Urban outfitters"? All of a sudden those clothes are not his passion anymore I guess? The compilation CD's he did and the music stuff with Heardwell? I thought he loved music soooo much? Now he barely even talks about music anymore. All of those passions he picked up during his relationship with Troye are all of a sudden gone, because Troye is gone. So what actually is his passion now? What's his personality? Connor lacks authenticity and now that he is 26 and barely does anything anymore, it's painfully obvious. Honestly even if he finally found someone new, he would probably just make the same mistakes again and try to copy the new guy.

[Perriesmithie]

I still have such a soft spot for both Connor and Troye and actually want them both to do well. even though Connor's stuff bores me to death now (he barely does anything anyway...) and since I don't really like Pop music I only like a few of Troye's songs. That being said I think the biggest problem was Connor's non-existent personality. That guy is someone that simply copies others. Hobbies, interests, looks, personality everything is simply a copy of the people he hangs out with. It was obvious when he got close to Troye and fell in love with him. Since Troye was quite clear about his actual goal being music and not youtube all of a sudden youtube wasn't "good enough" for Connor either and also needed other goals. All of a sudden he was also so interested in music (all the musicians and music he liked he got from Troye), needed to write a book and became super artsy (lol)... And basically everything revolved around Troye. He wanted to be like Troye and wanted to be where Troye was and started to only hang out with Troye's people and the people he met through Troye. He was clearly depended on Troye and being the romantic person he is, he probably thought that a relationship like that would work out and last forever. As much as I feel bad for Connor for just not being able to "find himself", imagine being a 20 year old who just started his career he had always dreamed about and trying to find his way in the music business and having a boyfriend who depends on you like that. A boyfriend who made his whole life about you. A nightmare, literally a nightmare.

By now Troye has pretty much explained through his songs on bloom and in interviews what had happened. In "plum" he admits that he wanted to end the relationship for a while but had a hard time ending it and in interviews he admitted that songs on Blue neighborhood were already about the downfall of the relationship. Just listen to "lost boy" which actually already explains everything. Troye's mistake was clearly stringing Connor along for too long. He probably was not able to tell Connor to his face that he just wasn't the one for him and most likely told Connor some bullshit story when he broke up with him that he was just not able to have a relationship at the moment because of all the touring and bla bla bla. Troye was most likely not honest to Connor and Connor probably thought Troye would come back to him after Tour (which would explain all his sappy ass tweets and posts on SC like tweeting "any day, any time" and singing "I am waiting for you darling, I am waiting for your word" on SC and all that shit. And there was a lot...). I don't want to be too hard on a 20 year old for not breaking up with someone the "right way" but yeah that was shitty of Troye.

And then Jacob happened. I know it's not fair to compare 2 people, but I mean the fact that Troye started a relationship so soon after the break up with someone who is totally different to Connor and that relationship actually working out, is kind of telling. All of a sudden Troye had no problem settling down and committing to Jacob. He had no problem packing all his things up and moving to LA and moving in with Jacob and getting a dog with him. no longer a "lost boy not ready to be found". No hiding the relationship either, no problem saying Jacob's name in interviews and talking about his love for him. (Also no problem saying that he has never loved anyone as much as he loves Jacob and that he has never experienced being crazy in love until with Jacob and that he only bottoms for Jacob and and and....). And Jacob and Connor could not be more different. Jacob seems to be such a confident guy who just loves living his life. Sure he also goes on Tour with Troye but he clearly has his own life with his own friends and it never seems like his happiness depends on Troye. And he also didn't change to accommodate to Troye. He still hangs with his own friends from before he met Troye, still loves his abstract art stuff and reading lots of books (unlike Troye) and all that stuff he already did before Troye. He didn't try to become Troye unlike Connor. And it seems like that's actually what Troye wanted, someone like that. Someone who shows HIM new stuff and introduces HIM to new people.

Connor's lack of personality is just so obvious. Look at his house for example. That whole interior looks like he just took it straight out of a home depot catalog. No sign of any personality or what his interests are or anything that seems like "oh that's so typical for Connor". Nothing. And then Connor's "art".... Let's be real he just likes "pretty" things. Not that that is bad or not art or anything, but everyone with a good camera or good phone can take pretty pictures, literally everyone. That's nothing special or outstanding and also doesn't really make you an artsy guy. He is just like every other tumblr user. It's embarrassing when he tries to make a big deal out of how much he loves art when in reality he probably doesn't even know the names of a lot of artists in the real art scene, he probably has no idea what to make of anything that is more abstract and not just "pretty to look at". He probably doesn't even know a lot about art outside of pretty instagram and tumblr pics. And how he now tries to be "woke". I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He clearly just sees stuff on twitter and stuff other people talk about and picks it up and all of a sudden thinks he is an expert in it. Every few months it's something different. Right now it seems to be sustainability. But nothing ever comes across as sincere, just something he picked up on twitter. And what was even the point of his latest youtube video??? How many times is he going to say the same boring stuff over and over again?? Yes Connor we have all noticed that you still haven't found yourself and you still have no idea what you are doing and you are still lost. We can tell without you making every single video about it.

And lastly yeah I do think that Connor is still not over Troye. And sadly I think if Troye and Jacob would ever break up, Connor would try to get back into Troye's life immediately. When Troye's album came out I thought he was cruel for making "the good side" and "plum", but over time I changed my mind. Up until the release of the album Connor regularly tweeted sappy shit which was clearly towards Troye, but when the album came out it stopped. I have no doubt that Connor listened to every single song and looked up all the lyrics to see if there were any hidden messages from Troye where he miraculously would express his deep regrets for losing Connor and missing him and declaring his undying love for Connor (just like Connor did in Note to self: "I hope you know I still admire you, I hope you know I still desire you" and many more terribly embarrassing poems clearly meant for Troye). Instead he found 2 songs about him were Troye admits to wanting to end the relationship for a long time and "apologizing" for having it so much better than him. And the rest of the album was about his undying love for Jacob. Ouch but I now think that this is exactly what Connor needed to hear. Maybe Troye tried to make up for his lack of honesty during the relationship and break up with Connor...

Phew that was a lot lmao.

The thing you said about Troye wanting someone who shows him new stuff and introduces him to new people is so true, I mean I never thought I'd see the day where Troye would actually start reading books lol even his fans knew it was because of Jacob and even though he's literally a popstar Jacob still gets him into new music and new artists which you can tell Troye loves judging by the huge smile on his face when he was talking about it during an interview.
And he's actually hanging out with his boyfriend's friends now not his friends that his boyfriend turned into his own (and only) friends at first I didn't know how the relationship was going to work seeing as Jacob and the people he hangs out with are on a whole other level than Connor and his YouTube community friends but I realise now that this is the change Troye needed and wanted and they're really good for each other.

[Kafkaontheshore]

I still have such a soft spot for both Connor and Troye and actually want them both to do well. even though Connor's stuff bores me to death now (he barely does anything anyway...) and since I don't really like Pop music I only like a few of Troye's songs. That being said I think the biggest problem was Connor's non-existent personality. That guy is someone that simply copies others. Hobbies, interests, looks, personality everything is simply a copy of the people he hangs out with. It was obvious when he got close to Troye and fell in love with him. Since Troye was quite clear about his actual goal being music and not youtube all of a sudden youtube wasn't "good enough" for Connor either and also needed other goals. All of a sudden he was also so interested in music (all the musicians and music he liked he got from Troye), needed to write a book and became super artsy (lol)... And basically everything revolved around Troye. He wanted to be like Troye and wanted to be where Troye was and started to only hang out with Troye's people and the people he met through Troye. He was clearly depended on Troye and being the romantic person he is, he probably thought that a relationship like that would work out and last forever. As much as I feel bad for Connor for just not being able to "find himself", imagine being a 20 year old who just started his career he had always dreamed about and trying to find his way in the music business and having a boyfriend who depends on you like that. A boyfriend who made his whole life about you. A nightmare, literally a nightmare.

By now Troye has pretty much explained through his songs on bloom and in interviews what had happened. In "plum" he admits that he wanted to end the relationship for a while but had a hard time ending it and in interviews he admitted that songs on Blue neighborhood were already about the downfall of the relationship. Just listen to "lost boy" which actually already explains everything. Troye's mistake was clearly stringing Connor along for too long. He probably was not able to tell Connor to his face that he just wasn't the one for him and most likely told Connor some bullshit story when he broke up with him that he was just not able to have a relationship at the moment because of all the touring and bla bla bla. Troye was most likely not honest to Connor and Connor probably thought Troye would come back to him after Tour (which would explain all his sappy ass tweets and posts on SC like tweeting "any day, any time" and singing "I am waiting for you darling, I am waiting for your word" on SC and all that shit. And there was a lot...). I don't want to be too hard on a 20 year old for not breaking up with someone the "right way" but yeah that was shitty of Troye.

And then Jacob happened. I know it's not fair to compare 2 people, but I mean the fact that Troye started a relationship so soon after the break up with someone who is totally different to Connor and that relationship actually working out, is kind of telling. All of a sudden Troye had no problem settling down and committing to Jacob. He had no problem packing all his things up and moving to LA and moving in with Jacob and getting a dog with him. no longer a "lost boy not ready to be found". No hiding the relationship either, no problem saying Jacob's name in interviews and talking about his love for him. (Also no problem saying that he has never loved anyone as much as he loves Jacob and that he has never experienced being crazy in love until with Jacob and that he only bottoms for Jacob and and and....). And Jacob and Connor could not be more different. Jacob seems to be such a confident guy who just loves living his life. Sure he also goes on Tour with Troye but he clearly has his own life with his own friends and it never seems like his happiness depends on Troye. And he also didn't change to accommodate to Troye. He still hangs with his own friends from before he met Troye, still loves his abstract art stuff and reading lots of books (unlike Troye) and all that stuff he already did before Troye. He didn't try to become Troye unlike Connor. And it seems like that's actually what Troye wanted, someone like that. Someone who shows HIM new stuff and introduces HIM to new people.

Connor's lack of personality is just so obvious. Look at his house for example. That whole interior looks like he just took it straight out of a home depot catalog. No sign of any personality or what his interests are or anything that seems like "oh that's so typical for Connor". Nothing. And then Connor's "art".... Let's be real he just likes "pretty" things. Not that that is bad or not art or anything, but everyone with a good camera or good phone can take pretty pictures, literally everyone. That's nothing special or outstanding and also doesn't really make you an artsy guy. He is just like every other tumblr user. It's embarrassing when he tries to make a big deal out of how much he loves art when in reality he probably doesn't even know the names of a lot of artists in the real art scene, he probably has no idea what to make of anything that is more abstract and not just "pretty to look at". He probably doesn't even know a lot about art outside of pretty instagram and tumblr pics. And how he now tries to be "woke". I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He clearly just sees stuff on twitter and stuff other people talk about and picks it up and all of a sudden thinks he is an expert in it. Every few months it's something different. Right now it seems to be sustainability. But nothing ever comes across as sincere, just something he picked up on twitter. And what was even the point of his latest youtube video??? How many times is he going to say the same boring stuff over and over again?? Yes Connor we have all noticed that you still haven't found yourself and you still have no idea what you are doing and you are still lost. We can tell without you making every single video about it.

And lastly yeah I do think that Connor is still not over Troye. And sadly I think if Troye and Jacob would ever break up, Connor would try to get back into Troye's life immediately. When Troye's album came out I thought he was cruel for making "the good side" and "plum", but over time I changed my mind. Up until the release of the album Connor regularly tweeted sappy shit which was clearly towards Troye, but when the album came out it stopped. I have no doubt that Connor listened to every single song and looked up all the lyrics to see if there were any hidden messages from Troye where he miraculously would express his deep regrets for losing Connor and missing him and declaring his undying love for Connor (just like Connor did in Note to self: "I hope you know I still admire you, I hope you know I still desire you" and many more terribly embarrassing poems clearly meant for Troye). Instead he found 2 songs about him were Troye admits to wanting to end the relationship for a long time and "apologizing" for having it so much better than him. And the rest of the album was about his undying love for Jacob. Ouch but I now think that this is exactly what Connor needed to hear. Maybe Troye tried to make up for his lack of honesty during the relationship and break up with Connor...

Phew that was a lot lmao.

The thing you said about Troye wanting someone who shows him new stuff and introduces him to new people is so true, I mean I never thought I'd see the day where Troye would actually start reading books lol even his fans knew it was because of Jacob and even though he's literally a popstar Jacob still gets him into new music and new artists which you can tell Troye loves judging by the huge smile on his face when he was talking about it during an interview.
And he's actually hanging out with his boyfriend's friends now not his friends that his boyfriend turned into his own (and only) friends at first I didn't know how the relationship was going to work seeing as Jacob and the people he hangs out with are on a whole other level than Connor and his YouTube community friends but I realise now that this is the change Troye needed and wanted and they're really good for each other.

Yes I also think Troye had to learn a lot from Jacob. It's interesting to me now looking back on the tronnor relationship. While they were together I just thought it was cute and sweet and now I think they were not good for each other. I think Troye was Connor's first everything with a guy and he only came out publicly during their relationship. It was all new for him and was probably still scared and insecure about the whole situation. Troye has talked multiple times about his own inner homophobia and that probably caused him to be unsure about how to handle the relationship. i don't think it was the decision of just one of them to hide their relationship, I genuinely think it was both of them who didn't know how to handle their relationship. I think they both still struggled with being openly gay and accepting themselves. Then add them both being youtubers and having friends in the youtube community which basically caused them to live in a bubble distanced from the real world. I feel like they held each other back from evolving. They lived in this weird unrealistic bubble where they were both insecure, scared and not really growing up or growing at all. They didn't help each other to get confident or to find themselves or to grow but instead kept each other small, scared, insecure and hidden away. Connor with his dependent personality probably didn't even realize that Troye too needed someone to help him and guide him out of this bubble they were stuck in.

Jacob is just 1 year older than Troye but he was already much more experienced than Troye when they met. That guy had already been in a 4 year relationship before Troye. He started dating his ex-bf when he was just 17 and they broke up shortly before he met Troye when he was 21. They even lived together and his ex was also 4 years older than him. So Jacob already had all this experience being in a normal, mature, openly gay long term relationship. He was already clearly comfortable in who he was and was living his life openly. I have no doubt that this is what Troye needed to be able to get out of his own bubble and away from his own inner demons aka his inner homophobia and self hate. I remember during one interview (i think with billboard) when he was asked to describe his relationship with Jacob, he described it as a very loving and healthy relationship. That kind of struck me because I don't think 'healthy' would be one of the first words to describe a relationship if you hadn't experienced unhealthy relationships before. I think meeting Jacob was very important for Troye and I wish someone like that for Connor as well. Someone who will help him to grow and evolve and will help him to love himself.


On a different note. I saw that Connor was working on a new Youtube video. I wonder if he will eventually start doing collabs again. I would really like to see that and I would also like to see him being happy doing Youtube videos again because my god in all his latest videos he looked like it was just a task he had to do but hated doing. He already made a new intro, outro and a new set and I hope his content will also change again. Enough with the constant depressing shit. It's ok if it's once in a while but not constantly. Sorry but depression is not a personality trait Connor.

[rikonee]

I know Connor allegedly broke up with Ian, but does anyone know if he’s in a relationship again? I saw his insta stories on the day of the London Marathon and he’s there with a guy. And Connor doesn’t seem to hide him either (or maybe I’m overthinking this and he’s just a friend).

Also about the whole situation with Connor, I guess he’s doing pretty well. We don’t know that much about his financial situation, but he’s probably got it figured out. He would be stupid not to invest or something. I don’t know why everyone talks as if he’s doomed for life. It can be a bit tiring with him sometimes, but I think he’s actually a pretty decent guy in real life (and that’s already better than a lot of people on Youtube). He’s living his life, staying low key, and doing what he wants to do. Can’t blame him for that.

Yes, it may not be a life as a successful main stream pop star but for someone his age, Connor’s got it really good. I mean, how many 27 year olds can say they have the same situation as Connor?

(Also about the whole “connor, try new things and don’t just mope around!” comments, I think he’s thinking about it. He seems to read and replies to some comments on his newest video about going to uni, traveling, moving to another city, etc. He even called them “great advice, really recommended”. We don’t know if he’s gonna do it, but I guess it’s safe to say that he knows there are options.)

[carmelcub]

I know Connor allegedly broke up with Ian, but does anyone know if he’s in a relationship again? I saw his insta stories on the day of the London Marathon and he’s there with a guy. And Connor doesn’t seem to hide him either (or maybe I’m overthinking this and he’s just a friend).

I saw those pictures too and was wondering the same thing but it turns out the other guy is just his older brother Dustin.

[WildBoy]

I would speculate to describe Connor in one word: lost. Perhaps not entirely as he seems to be picking up professional photography gigs (e.g. Calvin Klein, Paper Magazine, V Magazine) for work and he recently has focused on running two marathons. And perhaps he is trying to figure out the next steps in his life as it’s natural for people to shift priorities and transition jobs.

That said, he bragged in one book about being CEO of three companies (his brand/YouTube, Common Culture, and Heard Well) at such a young age. And he was on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine in 2016. With his self-professed expertise in the digital arena and business, one is withering, another appears dead/on life support and the third appears to be doing alright with day-to-day operations managed by someone else.

Connor’s YouTube postings dropped significantly in 2018. In August 2018 interview with RAW magazine he was asked, “YouTube or Instagram?” and Connor replied, “Instagram. Ooh, God that felt like a knife.” His focus elsewhere shows.

CONNOR’S VIDEO RELEASE TOTALS
Past 12 months - 19
13-24 months ago - 30
25-36 months ago - 48 (counting 7 book teaser videos as 1)

2019 YTD - 1 ( released 23 April)
2018 - 27
2017 - 40 (counting 7 book teaser videos as 1)
2016 - 45
2015 - 57
2014 - 56
2013 - 51

Do you think he will release 15 videos in total this year?


If after all this time Connor is paralyzed about what to do with Common Culture then the easiest thing is to kill the brand - liquidate/donate remaining apparel and fold the music under the Heard Well label.

Common Culture last music release: 24 August 2018
Common Culture last apparel release: 19 February 2018
Common Culture last tweeted: 8 September 2018
Common Culture lady Instagram post: 8 September 2018

He’s obviously lost any passion and/or lacks consistent commitment to this creative endeavor. It’s like he disappeared in mile 3 of a marathon.


Jeremy Blake runs Heard Well operations. Connor launched a new weekly** talk show and barely promoted it (Twitter with a retweet and a few Instagram stories). One would think with his influence he would promote it more.

** According to press release the show would be weekly airing on streaming service Caffeine, then later uploaded to YouTube as well as the Heard Well podcast.

The first and only episode aired early April 2018 and has just 42,000 views on YouTube.

The episode has yet to be released as a podcast which would be ideal since it’s a long-form video product at 45 minutes.


Connor has much potential both personally and professionally. I wish him happiness. And that means finding a partner (not necessarily romantic) who can help guide and balance Connor as well as be someone to be collaborative with and provide support. Stepping outside his filter bubble of YouTube and start associating with people of many different backgrounds/ages (instead of hanging out with a select handful of 20-something white people doing the same thing) can help lead to diversity of thought and benefit Connor greatly. On the plus side, he does read - something a majority of people quit doing after school.

Connor teased in an Instagram comment with Billie Eilish that he’s interested in releasing a third book.

[Perriesmithie]

I still have such a soft spot for both Connor and Troye and actually want them both to do well. even though Connor's stuff bores me to death now (he barely does anything anyway...) and since I don't really like Pop music I only like a few of Troye's songs. That being said I think the biggest problem was Connor's non-existent personality. That guy is someone that simply copies others. Hobbies, interests, looks, personality everything is simply a copy of the people he hangs out with. It was obvious when he got close to Troye and fell in love with him. Since Troye was quite clear about his actual goal being music and not youtube all of a sudden youtube wasn't "good enough" for Connor either and also needed other goals. All of a sudden he was also so interested in music (all the musicians and music he liked he got from Troye), needed to write a book and became super artsy (lol)... And basically everything revolved around Troye. He wanted to be like Troye and wanted to be where Troye was and started to only hang out with Troye's people and the people he met through Troye. He was clearly depended on Troye and being the romantic person he is, he probably thought that a relationship like that would work out and last forever. As much as I feel bad for Connor for just not being able to "find himself", imagine being a 20 year old who just started his career he had always dreamed about and trying to find his way in the music business and having a boyfriend who depends on you like that. A boyfriend who made his whole life about you. A nightmare, literally a nightmare.

By now Troye has pretty much explained through his songs on bloom and in interviews what had happened. In "plum" he admits that he wanted to end the relationship for a while but had a hard time ending it and in interviews he admitted that songs on Blue neighborhood were already about the downfall of the relationship. Just listen to "lost boy" which actually already explains everything. Troye's mistake was clearly stringing Connor along for too long. He probably was not able to tell Connor to his face that he just wasn't the one for him and most likely told Connor some bullshit story when he broke up with him that he was just not able to have a relationship at the moment because of all the touring and bla bla bla. Troye was most likely not honest to Connor and Connor probably thought Troye would come back to him after Tour (which would explain all his sappy ass tweets and posts on SC like tweeting "any day, any time" and singing "I am waiting for you darling, I am waiting for your word" on SC and all that shit. And there was a lot...). I don't want to be too hard on a 20 year old for not breaking up with someone the "right way" but yeah that was shitty of Troye.

And then Jacob happened. I know it's not fair to compare 2 people, but I mean the fact that Troye started a relationship so soon after the break up with someone who is totally different to Connor and that relationship actually working out, is kind of telling. All of a sudden Troye had no problem settling down and committing to Jacob. He had no problem packing all his things up and moving to LA and moving in with Jacob and getting a dog with him. no longer a "lost boy not ready to be found". No hiding the relationship either, no problem saying Jacob's name in interviews and talking about his love for him. (Also no problem saying that he has never loved anyone as much as he loves Jacob and that he has never experienced being crazy in love until with Jacob and that he only bottoms for Jacob and and and....). And Jacob and Connor could not be more different. Jacob seems to be such a confident guy who just loves living his life. Sure he also goes on Tour with Troye but he clearly has his own life with his own friends and it never seems like his happiness depends on Troye. And he also didn't change to accommodate to Troye. He still hangs with his own friends from before he met Troye, still loves his abstract art stuff and reading lots of books (unlike Troye) and all that stuff he already did before Troye. He didn't try to become Troye unlike Connor. And it seems like that's actually what Troye wanted, someone like that. Someone who shows HIM new stuff and introduces HIM to new people.

Connor's lack of personality is just so obvious. Look at his house for example. That whole interior looks like he just took it straight out of a home depot catalog. No sign of any personality or what his interests are or anything that seems like "oh that's so typical for Connor". Nothing. And then Connor's "art".... Let's be real he just likes "pretty" things. Not that that is bad or not art or anything, but everyone with a good camera or good phone can take pretty pictures, literally everyone. That's nothing special or outstanding and also doesn't really make you an artsy guy. He is just like every other tumblr user. It's embarrassing when he tries to make a big deal out of how much he loves art when in reality he probably doesn't even know the names of a lot of artists in the real art scene, he probably has no idea what to make of anything that is more abstract and not just "pretty to look at". He probably doesn't even know a lot about art outside of pretty instagram and tumblr pics. And how he now tries to be "woke". I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He clearly just sees stuff on twitter and stuff other people talk about and picks it up and all of a sudden thinks he is an expert in it. Every few months it's something different. Right now it seems to be sustainability. But nothing ever comes across as sincere, just something he picked up on twitter. And what was even the point of his latest youtube video??? How many times is he going to say the same boring stuff over and over again?? Yes Connor we have all noticed that you still haven't found yourself and you still have no idea what you are doing and you are still lost. We can tell without you making every single video about it.

And lastly yeah I do think that Connor is still not over Troye. And sadly I think if Troye and Jacob would ever break up, Connor would try to get back into Troye's life immediately. When Troye's album came out I thought he was cruel for making "the good side" and "plum", but over time I changed my mind. Up until the release of the album Connor regularly tweeted sappy shit which was clearly towards Troye, but when the album came out it stopped. I have no doubt that Connor listened to every single song and looked up all the lyrics to see if there were any hidden messages from Troye where he miraculously would express his deep regrets for losing Connor and missing him and declaring his undying love for Connor (just like Connor did in Note to self: "I hope you know I still admire you, I hope you know I still desire you" and many more terribly embarrassing poems clearly meant for Troye). Instead he found 2 songs about him were Troye admits to wanting to end the relationship for a long time and "apologizing" for having it so much better than him. And the rest of the album was about his undying love for Jacob. Ouch but I now think that this is exactly what Connor needed to hear. Maybe Troye tried to make up for his lack of honesty during the relationship and break up with Connor...

Phew that was a lot lmao.

The thing you said about Troye wanting someone who shows him new stuff and introduces him to new people is so true, I mean I never thought I'd see the day where Troye would actually start reading books lol even his fans knew it was because of Jacob and even though he's literally a popstar Jacob still gets him into new music and new artists which you can tell Troye loves judging by the huge smile on his face when he was talking about it during an interview.
And he's actually hanging out with his boyfriend's friends now not his friends that his boyfriend turned into his own (and only) friends at first I didn't know how the relationship was going to work seeing as Jacob and the people he hangs out with are on a whole other level than Connor and his YouTube community friends but I realise now that this is the change Troye needed and wanted and they're really good for each other.

Yes I also think Troye had to learn a lot from Jacob. It's interesting to me now looking back on the tronnor relationship. While they were together I just thought it was cute and sweet and now I think they were not good for each other. I think Troye was Connor's first everything with a guy and he only came out publicly during their relationship. It was all new for him and was probably still scared and insecure about the whole situation. Troye has talked multiple times about his own inner homophobia and that probably caused him to be unsure about how to handle the relationship. i don't think it was the decision of just one of them to hide their relationship, I genuinely think it was both of them who didn't know how to handle their relationship. I think they both still struggled with being openly gay and accepting themselves. Then add them both being youtubers and having friends in the youtube community which basically caused them to live in a bubble distanced from the real world. I feel like they held each other back from evolving. They lived in this weird unrealistic bubble where they were both insecure, scared and not really growing up or growing at all. They didn't help each other to get confident or to find themselves or to grow but instead kept each other small, scared, insecure and hidden away. Connor with his dependent personality probably didn't even realize that Troye too needed someone to help him and guide him out of this bubble they were stuck in.

Jacob is just 1 year older than Troye but he was already much more experienced than Troye when they met. That guy had already been in a 4 year relationship before Troye. He started dating his ex-bf when he was just 17 and they broke up shortly before he met Troye when he was 21. They even lived together and his ex was also 4 years older than him. So Jacob already had all this experience being in a normal, mature, openly gay long term relationship. He was already clearly comfortable in who he was and was living his life openly. I have no doubt that this is what Troye needed to be able to get out of his own bubble and away from his own inner demons aka his inner homophobia and self hate. I remember during one interview (i think with billboard) when he was asked to describe his relationship with Jacob, he described it as a very loving and healthy relationship. That kind of struck me because I don't think 'healthy' would be one of the first words to describe a relationship if you hadn't experienced unhealthy relationships before. I think meeting Jacob was very important for Troye and I wish someone like that for Connor as well. Someone who will help him to grow and evolve and will help him to love himself.


On a different note. I saw that Connor was working on a new Youtube video. I wonder if he will eventually start doing collabs again. I would really like to see that and I would also like to see him being happy doing Youtube videos again because my god in all his latest videos he looked like it was just a task he had to do but hated doing. He already made a new intro, outro and a new set and I hope his content will also change again. Enough with the constant depressing shit. It's ok if it's once in a while but not constantly. Sorry but depression is not a personality trait Connor.

Can I just say that I love the way you write, the way you explain things in such detail (if that's the right phrasing for it) is so satisfying. Also do you happen to know who Jacobs ex boyfriend is, I've been trying to look him up for a while now out of curiosity, I didn't even know they were together for that long and lived together and seeing as Jacob was 17 when they started dating and the guy was 4 years older wouldn't that have been illegal?