Nightly continues their steady stream of releases with two new tracks. The first, “about you” with Swedish electro duo NOTD and solo single “Hate My Favorite Band.” Despite great collaborations thus far, and having opened for some big names, being on the bill with NOTD is an impressive feat. The duo, who are best known for tracks like “I Wanna Know” with Bea Miller and “I Miss Myself” with Hrvy, know how to elevate great pop voices, and they do it here as well.
The personal track sees singer Jon Capeci revisiting old demons when he gets a call from an ex, one who still has quite the emotional grip on him. He freezes up, and, despite his best efforts to find new things to do to help him move on, just hearing from this person is staggering; “Missed a call and I freaked when I saw your name. Suddenly, unannounced, lightin’ up my screen.” In the chorus, he repeatedly proclaims, “I don’t want to think about you,” but begins reminiscing as soon as the second verse kicks in; “Stayin’ out way too late down on 80th street, where you laughed when I wiped lipstick off your teeth.”
Capeci’s voice lends itself incredibly well to this kind of production on its own, but NOTD adds so much depth and lushness to it. The synths and heavy drums reflect the desired defiance of it all, but, as we know from Nightly’s debut record, Capeci can go from bitter to repenting in an instant.
“Hate My Favorite Band” had gotten the Tik Tok promo treatment from the group, with multiple teasers posted to the platform prior to its release. They have also been playing it, in full, during their set while on tour with The Midnight. So, while not necessarily kept a secret, they channeled their inner Charlie Puth and gave their fans a detailed look at what they were getting.
The track belongs in some angsty teen movie where the hot girl breaks up with the tough guy football player who has an emotional side. I imagine him biking out of town, with his headphones on, of course, listening to the song, trying to get his whits about him.
Seriously though, “Hate My Favorite Band” is another uptempo, summery sad-boy banger from the band, continuing the trajectory of post-breakup anthems following their album, which had its fair share of ballads. Lyrically, the details bring you in closer to an uncomfortable situation than you’d normally want to be, as Jon Capeci sings about hating scary movies, even though he loved them when they were together, not wanting to think about Malibu, and, of course, the dreaded hatred of songs they listened to. They nail it on the second verse, as per usual, which includes the best line of the song; “I never thought the shade of purple you put in your hair would start to pop up, I swear, all over the place.”
The chorus is another relatable earworm that’ll have you thinking about the music you can’t listen to anymore because of the person who hurt you, but dancing while you do it; “I get pissed off, can’t stand songs we listened to that make me think of us just lying naked in your room. I hate my favorite band, all because of you.” Ouch.
Second only to “lover/loner” out of their post-album droplets, I think this song is a clear representation of what we’ll be getting from them going forward. Very loose, fun, music that is digestible for the online audience and fun for the live crowd to jump around to, while still heavy on the subject matter. There are still no signs of emotional resolution or vindication yet, just frustration, but this is clearly a therapeutic approach to healing, or, at the very least, a coping mechanism.
You can stream “about you” and “Hate My Favorite Band” below, and you can follow Nightly on social media here:
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