A Nostalgic, Escapist Dream: The Favors’ Debut Album

Written by Taylor Gabrovic

Graphic by Rebekah Witt

In an era of tumultuous political division, profound cultural differences, economic hardship, and more, there is an even greater need for escape from reality. Music is one of the best methods for achieving that escape. In the words of Berthold Auerbach, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” In their debut album, The Dream, The Favors prove Auerbach’s words more true than ever.

A true passion project, The Favors was formed in response to a need for a creative outlet during a traumatic and turbulent time. Ashlyn Rae Willson, known creatively as Ashe, best known for the 2019 track “Moral of the Story,” was the member of the band to first pitch its creation when she reached out to long-time collaborator and friend Finneas via text. 

Photo courtesy of Muriel Margaret

During this time, Ashe had taken a step away from music and moved to Nashville. In an interview with EUPHORIA, Ashe shared, “To be so real with you, my brother died in 2020, and that was the year my career completely took off, and I kept my head down. I missed my brother’s memorial because I got COVID while singing with Niall Horan in London. My priorities were skewed, and I was not dealing with stuff that was going on in my own life, which, you know, for better or for worse, we sometimes use our jobs or friendships or other things to distract us. It really caught up with me. I was in a really shitty, abusive marriage that I didn’t deal with. I was going a million miles an hour, and I really lost the plot.” When Ashe reached out to Finneas, she was attempting to heal her mental health and decide if music was still the correct path forward for herself. Of course, Finneas obliged Ashe’s request to form a band. 

However, Ashe was not the only member of the band who needed The Favors. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Finneas shared, “I really felt like I needed some new thing to rediscover how to do something… The things I was in the middle of at the time when Ashe sent me the text (about creating a band), I was in the middle of making Billie’s (Eilish) third record, and I was working on this TV show score. And I was sort of procrastinating making another solo record because it sounded lonely. And so I was like, ‘You know what, this is actually going to solve my problem,’ which is like I’m going to get to sing and write for myself, but in this super collaborative process.” 

Although Ashe and Finneas may be the two members featured on the album cover, the band includes two more long-time friends of Finneas: Ricky Gourmet (guitar) and David Marinelli (drums). Together, these four members comprise The Favors, a band that Ashe told EUPHORIA she wanted to feel “timeless and nostalgic.”  Although they had initially hoped to name the band “The Ballet,” that name was taken, and they eventually landed on The Favors. 

Throughout the twelve tracks on the record, the band tells many stories from different fictional perspectives (based on true stories), which was a test of their creativity as songwriters. Ashe told EUPHORIA,  “We really wanted to test the waters by treating it almost as a movie script…It was a test of our skills as writers, too. You can pull from your own experiences as a human, but also create this other thing. Not to sound overconfident, but I think I came out of this experience feeling like a better writer.” The album also transports audiences directly into the studio with its inclusion of several ad-libs and live recordings from the band’s recording sessions. 

Before the official release of the album on September 19, 2025, The Favors released three singles that attempted to introduce listeners to the band’s sound and The Dream’s themes. The first of which, “The Little Mess You Made,” immediately reminded listeners of Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel, “Daisy Jones and the Six,” with its heartbreaking yearning and scorned anger. During the bridge, both Finneas and Ashe passionately sing: “The little mess you made (the little mess you made)/Is filling up our room (is all over the news)/A little bit of rain (the littlest mistake)/Is filling up our shoes (can leave the darkest bruise)/Maybe second place (maybe I'm too late)/Is just the first to lose (maybe it's too soon)/You can have your cake (who gets all the blame?)/You can have mine too (I guess it's up to you).” 

The second single is much more haunting and filled with some of the best lyrics on the entire record. “The Hudson” is a perfect ballad about “the one that got away,” while also serving as a beautiful love letter to New York City. During the track, multiple lyrics invoke strong, detailed seasonal imagery: “The trees were bare naked, and so were we,” and “You took my coat to sit on the balcony/I’d catch a cold if it keeps you warm.”  

The third and last single to be released before The Dream’s release date was “Times Square Jesus,” which continued the theme of New York City throughout the album. In an interview with “The Broken Record Podcast,” Ashe shared that she genuinely believed that the album needed an acoustic guitar track and that track ended up being “Times Square Jesus.” Through the chorus, The Favors continue to share lyrics that hauntingly describe feelings of loss and heartbreak while also evoking strong imagery: “Everybody knows that you're my weakness/You're an open secret I'm afraid/Every time I walk by Times Square Jesus/He tells me to confess before my grave.” 

With the release of The Dream, The Favors also shared what would be the album’s fourth single. Ultimately, the band chose one of the most upbeat tracks on the record, one that feels like it should be played on a jukebox at a dive bar on a crowded Saturday night, “David’s Brother.” 

Except for those three pre-released singles, listeners are first introduced to the world of The Dream via the album’s brief, dreamlike, fifty-four-second opener, “Restless Little Heart.” Whether intentional or not, the album’s first word, “love,” is a perfect preview of what the rest of the album will center on. Whether it is romantic, platonic, or the love one has for their passions, love is all over The Dream. 

In addition to songs that reference New York City, The Dream has several tracks which reference Los Angeles, including its title track, which is a terrifyingly relevant track about an artist’s journey to finding success: “You live in your car, but you say you're in Hollywood/You sold your guitar just to pay for that video you sent to the studio/It's all about who you know.” The chorus is one of the catchiest on the record: “Hard not to feel pathetic/Maxing out your credit card/On someone's beverage/Someone you just met at the bar/She lives in Venice/Daddy was a tennis star/Now she's a menace.”

Another track referencing Los Angeles, “Someday I’ll Be Back In Hollywood,” features several verses sung solely by the band’s drummer, David Marinelli. Similar to the album’s title track, “Someday I’ll Be Back In  Hollywood,” references some of the hardships faced by musicians trying to “make it” and the questions that one finds themself contemplating in the dark of the night: “In Culver City, across from the courthouse/My mom lives with me, and I live with hеr for now/But sometimes I miss all of the bridgеs I burned to light the way home/Fuck the meaning of life, what's the meaning of death?/Why do I feel so alive having meaningless sex?/And, when I kill the lights, why do I feel like you know me?/Just one look in your eyes and you know that I'm lonely, baby.”

There is also a track named after “Lake George” in New York state’s Adirondack Mountains. The track opens with a soulful piano solo and then goes on to explore the correlation between physical places, in memories, and the emotions that looking back on them can evoke: “Boathouse on the shore/On stilts, nothing more/The thought of you selling it to get by/Seasick in the wake/Ashes in the lake/Am I gonna think about you 'til I die?” One should also be sure to listen out for actual sounds or Lake George’s flowing waters in the background of the track. 

The Dream’s closing track, “Home Sweet Home,” references both New York and Los Angeles and is one of the most danceable songs on the record (in fact, many fans have already created a dance for it on TikTok). It also has one of the catchiest refrains on the record: “And it all comes back, it all comes back/It all comes back to you/Oh, it all comes back, it all comes back/It all comes back to you.” 

Although it was not chosen as a single (yet), Ashe and Finneas have one song that they both consider to be a favorite from the record. In their interview with EUPHORIA, Ashe shared about the track “Moonshine,” “I feel I get to really scratch my ‘I’m a musician’ itch because I came up with those initial chords, and I got to play keys on that record. It is fun and trippy in a way that I typically don’t write, and I don’t think Finneas does either.” 

“Ordinary People” immediately evokes the winter holiday season due to its similarity in production style to the holiday classic “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” In fact, Ashe posted on TikTok a video set to the song “Ordinary People” that showed Christmas decorations with the words “If this song doesn’t do this to you, we’re bad songwriters.”

There is a track that is just as strong as “The Hudson” in terms of lyricism, vocals, and production, and it is “Necessary Evils.” Throughout the track, one ponders the “necessary evil” of being in love with someone, eventually losing them: “Knowing one day you're not gonna wake up/Could avoid all the pain if we ripped the Band-Aid and break up.” The track ends with a draw-dropping, soulful electric guitar solo. 

Through this twelve-track album, The Favors cultivate a fictional world for escape; an escape for listeners that was simultaneously an escape for those who created it. By utilizing 1970s-style production and influences, the band also fosters an escape to an era that many listeners have romanticized. This romanticized escapism is a trend seen in other musicians such as Sabrina Carpenter (whose most recent album, Man’s Best Friend, throws listeners back to the heydays of ABBA, Dolly Parton, and disco). 

Whether you are in the mood to “escape” or not, you can find The Favors' stunning debut record anywhere you stream music!