Iris’ Song (Conan Gray x The Goo Goo Dolls)

Where do I even begin?

I consider this to be the end of another long, complicated butterfly effect that, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll say began when Taylor Swift began mashing up her songs live at the Eras Tour during the acoustic set. As I play around with chord progressions and key signatures on the piano, I sometimes can’t help but feel inspired by her to do the same.

“Iris” is a 90’s masterpiece that I’d hope everyone and their mother would know at this point. And just to set the record straight, I was in love with the song before the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, the film that resurged the song’s popularity in 2024. I can’t sing it in the original key, so when I figured out the chords on the piano, I played it a few semitones lower, which fit my voice somewhat better.

Last year, as some of you may know, I got hooked into the extravagantly awesome music of Conan Gray. His album Wishbone, which dropped last August, was announced months earlier along with the lead single, “This Song.” On first listen of the single, I enjoyed it, but it took me a while for it to grow on me. I can’t say the same about Wishbone‘s second single, “Vodka Cranberry.” I was instantly enamored by that one, and it ended up being my personal song of the year for 2025.

One day, I was playing piano in one of my college’s practice rooms (as I do whenever I am not in class or doing homework). I happened to have thought of several song mashups specifically for the piano as opposed to the ones I create for YouTube. I was practicing “Iris,” and after the first chorus, it hit me.

“You know that I love you…“

To this day, I still have a difficult time balancing this mashup, as the chords between both songs are different. I also transposed “This Song” to match the key I sing “Iris” in, which is a lot lower than its original key. It’s not my fault I can’t sing like either Conan Gray or John Rzeznik. But I loved mashing those two songs together, mainly because they are both love songs that express the same sense of yearning. It also helps that they share similar time signatures and are only 1 BPM apart.

I grappled with the idea of actually making a mashup I created strictly for piano. I wondered what key I’d have to put it in, what sections to work with, and if it would even work at all. “Iris” is in the key of D, while “This Song” is in the key of F. So, just like my other Conan Gray mashup, I met in the middle and transposed both songs to E. That’s why you’ll notice that Gray’s vocals sound deeper, and that Rzeznik sounds almost like a chipmunk.

It was just the other night (February 9th, 2026) that I finally tested the waters with this mashup. It took me over two hours, plus a little reworking the night after to fix some volume issues. Initially, Moises told me that both songs were 155 BPM, but the app must have been wrong with one of them, because I couldn’t get the Conan Gray acapella to line up with Iris’ instrumental. Even after adjusting the BPM, I had trouble, but I made sure it didn’t sound choppy. So, if the mashup feels a little disproportionate, I apologize.

I decided to upload it that same Friday of the week I made it, because it’s just in time for Valentine’s Day (a holiday I have yet to actually enjoy. Sigh). As I mentioned earlier, both songs exude the same energy of yearning for someone in a romantic sense. An undying desire to be seen by the person you want. Both songs even have belty choruses, so that makes things even better. Another thing I noticed were lyrical similarities. Both have an iconic line that mentions heaven – “You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be,” “Your eyes are like heaven, your voice is like spring.”

There’s a section in the piano version of this mashup where I go back and forth between the choruses, and they blend perfectly. For example, “When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know… that I wrote this song about you.” At the end, I repeat between the lines “You know that I love you” and “I just want you to know who I am.” I really shocked myself with this one. I don’t do that with this version, as I kept it mostly traditional to the way I make these mashups. But I think I’m pretty proud of myself for both this version and the piano version. Perhaps I’ll make a video of me performing the piano version and post it to my Instagram. 🙂

Please enjoy the first mashup I’ve ever remediated from piano to iMovie. Unfortunately, it will probably be the only one.