nightly releases their 3rd album ‘songs to drive to’
Photo by Zach Pigg
Article by Yising Kao
nightly is back with their third album, songs to drive to! The Nashville-based band consists of Jonathan Capeci, Joey Beretta, and Nicholas Sainato. I had the opportunity to listen to the album early and I’m already in love with every song. The album title is perfect because I’ve always loved listening to nightly on long sunset and night drives. Their music is beautifully cinematic, and I couldn’t be more excited about this release!
The album kicks off with tv shows, which is now one of my all-time favorite nightly songs. This song is ethereal with a dreamy aura and addictive melody. Some of the lyrics that I love are: “Is it alright if I call you?/Drive over to your place when you're free” nightly shows that lyrics don’t have to be complicated to make an impact on their listeners. Their lyrics are so relatable and evoke emotions in a powerful way. This song is about just wanting to spend time with someone you love and how you don’t need anything else to feel happy – you can do anything with them, like watching tv shows you’ve both seen, and it would be enough for you.
Photo by Zach Pigg
Another one of my favorite songs is “every part” which was released as a single in September of 2024. This is more of a ballad type of song about wanting to learn about every part of someone, the good and the bad. It’s such a euphonious song with vulnerable and beautiful lyrics.
“gas station cowboy hats” is one of nightly’s singles they released before the album came out. This song makes me feel so nostalgic and I admire how the lyrics are personal memories that make me think of my own similar memories. The outro is amazing and emphasizes the feeling of never wanting to let someone go.
“Me And My Misses” has a unique groovy vibe that I’m obsessed with. It gives me a huge serotonin boost and it’s such a fun and upbeat song to dance to. nightly is always surprising me with new sounds they experiment with!
One thing I love about nightly’s music is how descriptive their lyrics are. When I listened to “time flies when you’re having fun,” the lyrics immediately painted a visual picture in my mind. I really love the lyric “They say time flies when you’re having fun but what happens, babe, when you miss someone?” It’s such a flawless way to bring up the opposing emotion of when you’re missing someone and feeling like time stops while the rest of the world moves on. They also add little details to their songs, like the repetitive echoes after the chorus of this song, “When you miss someone” – These details allow listeners to absorb specific lyrics and moments during each song.
There’s a scene from The Perks of Being A Wallflower where Charlie is standing up in the car and says, "And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.” That’s how I feel when I listen to nightly’s music. I love listening to their songs and escaping into another world, and feeling like I’m in a movie.
I encourage everyone to listen to songs to drive to for the first time without any distractions. Personally, that’s how I love listening to albums for the first time, but if you do this for any new album, this would be the one! Listen to it while not doing anything else so you can truly focus on how each song makes you feel. I’ve been supporting nightly ever since 2016 when I heard their song “no vacancy” and I’m so proud of how much they’ve accomplished. With every project, they outdo themselves and they always keep the core of their dreamy sound, while also expressing something new and surprising. Listen to songs to drive to out now, the perfect album to jam out to in the car!
Listen to songs to drive to here:
https://stem.ffm.to/songstodriveto
Get tickets for nightly’s upcoming tour here:
