Third Times a Charm: Review of Nightly’s latest album songs to drive to
BY ELLA BIANCHI
Alternative pop band Nightly released their highly anticipated third album, songs to drive to, on March 7, 2025.
Cousins Jonathan Capeci (Lead Vocalist) and Joey Beretta (Lead Guitarist/Producer) performed in several bands together throughout their childhood and teenage years. Eventually, the duo dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to pursue their project titled Dinner And A Suit, which ended up dissolving. Shortly afterward, Capeci and Beretta regrouped with their friends Stephen Cunsolo (Keyboardist) and Nicholas Sainato (Drummer) to form Nightly.
The opening track, “tv shows,” feels reminiscent of a montage in a coming-of-age film in which the two main characters have reciprocal feelings for each other but are oblivious to the other’s pining. “Where do we go from here” captures a similar vibe, that of a Netflix original series soundtrack, perfectly.
“STOP” shifts towards a melancholic, low-fi sound by saying it would be “too much for them to take” if their partner ever stopped loving them, going as far as to say they would die within this hyperbole. They are aware this may be intense, but they do not care because it’s true.
The next song, “MESS,” was released on Valentine’s Day as the final single before the album’s release. “MESS” tells the story of someone who feels as though they are being hypnotized by another person, seduced into having romantic feelings for them—and it works, no matter how many times they try to sever the ties between them. With a pulsing hi-hat beat, “MESS” is sure to be a hit at any party.
The energy relaxes with “gas station cowboy hats.” Begging for the clocks to stop so they can experience a night of love without worrying about time’s insistent continuum, “gas station cowboy hats” captures the feeling of wanting the rest of the world to fall away. It embodies a desire to devote yourself to the person you love without regard for anything else.
"time flies when you’re having fun” takes us into the future, describing how we look back on our relationships with people we miss and still deeply care about because of the deep connection we once shared; conversely, “Don’t even think about it” expresses some of the irrational ways we act when we can no longer handle the reckless thoughts succeeding the end of a relationship.
“TALK” explores the perspective of a person at a bar enamored with a stranger. Problem? She’s only interested in a physical connection and does not want to engage in obligatory small talk before their one-night stands. “me and my misses” takes us through a similar bar interaction that ends with a girl rejecting a guy for his advances instead. They meet later in the same location, but the girl continues to ignore him despite the guy’s effort. Told through a sports metaphor, the lyrics “Shooters take shots / And I struck out swinging / So night I’m going home just me and my misses” explain how he was “Aiming for the fence / But she put [him] on the bench”.
“every part” expresses how when you love someone, you want every part of them. It does not matter what trauma they still carry with them or what hardships they are still working through because it made them into the person they are today, someone for whom you feel unconditional affection. If anything, you can work to move forward together.
The album concludes with “i didn’t know i needed you”. This song reflects on how breakups do not always have to be some tragic thing. You can walk away from a relationship in a healthy way, realizing that the other person changed you for the better even though you are no longer together.
songs to drive to puts to music the most relatable parts of loving someone. From awkward meetings to budding feelings to breakups of all kinds – the good, the bad, and the ugly – Nightly’s latest album will make you feel seen no matter what stage of a relationship you are in because at the end of the day, love is a universal thing.
