In 2020, when I was 12 years old and had absolutely no taste, there were only three songs that I listened to consistently: “Wondering” from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, the theme song from The Pirates of the Caribbean, and “Till Forever Falls Apart” by Ashe and FINNEAS. Obviously, I was not the most musically cultured seventh grader in the world.
While I never purposefully listened to those songs post-lockdown, “Till Forever Falls Apart” would sporadically appear on my playlist from time to time in the following years. Each time it did—fighting lockdown nostalgia—I would be reminded of why it was on repeat in the first place. For this reason, when I heard that Ashe and FINNEAS were reuniting their music careers to form a band, The Favors, and release an album together, I was enticed.
As I have never followed either of their solo careers very closely, I wasn’t overly emotional about the collab. Still, following my experience with their other collaborative music, I should’ve anticipated the strength of the reaction that was coming once I heard the album. On Sep. 19, The Favors released their first album, The Dream. In 12 songs and 38 minutes of music, Ashe and FINNEAS convey a level of vocal chemistry and musical understanding that is extremely rare to encounter.
The opening track, “Restless Little Heart,” just under a minute long, is a heartfelt love song that features each artist’s individual voice leading into a soft harmony between the two. Although brief, I believe this song is essential for introducing both artists individually and for establishing the chemistry between them, along with simply being an extremely pretty song.
In the next song, the beat picks up, changing the tone that the leading song established to an invigorating cadence. The title track, “The Dream,” easily stands as my favorite song on the album. It’s hard for me to describe songs that I love with accuracy, as I easily get caught up in my own emotions, and this song is especially difficult for me to portray. Ashe and FINNEAS’ voices blend in a rising crescendo, carrying the listeners’ emotions with it, and building up to the powerful chorus. The dynamic tempo and harmonies create an intricate blend of exhilaratingly strong emotions, from hope to despair, that perfectly express the experience of dream-chasing. Anyone who has ever struggled with their desire to achieve their dreams or hidden one away in the back of their mind—saving it for a rainy day—will feel this song in their bones.
One of my favorite things about The Favors is their willingness to experiment with each other’s pitch and vocal range. They excel at this in many songs, but it is best showcased in “The Little Mess You Made.” This is the most popular song on the album, going relatively viral on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and while the snippet of the song that plays in those 15-second videos is spectacular in its own right, it is nothing compared to the song as a whole. As the chorus repeats and the volume rises, Ashe and FINNEAS continuously switch roles in the song. One will sing the dramatic, belting lyrics, while the other covers the background vocals; then they switch parts on the next verse. Additionally, in a reversal of traditional gender roles in music, FINNEAS often sings the high part, with Ashe taking the low notes, one of my favorite artistic choices. Aside from simply making the song more interesting and engaging to listen to, the vocal choices they make perfectly reflect the song’s meaning: when two people hurt each other, there is always much nuance as to who is truly at fault. This theme is also emphasized by the emotional lyricism of the song, found in the words, “Maybe I’m too late / Maybe it’s too soon / Who gets all the blame? / I guess it’s up to you.”
“Times Square Jesus” is another track that stands out to me from the album. I was initially drawn to this song due to my affinity for any reference to New York City, and the actual content of the song proved to me that it was worth the excitement. The melody is calmer than “The Dream” and “The Little Mess You Made,” and while I do love the soft, melancholic tone, what truly calls to me about this song is the lyrics, which are arguably the most artistic on the album. One of my favorite examples of this is Ashe singing, “You’re (I’m) too much your (my) father’s son,” near the beginning of the track, and FINNEAS responding, “Using me to talk about yourself,” near the end, a small but poetically important detail. Another of my favorite lines is the repeating, “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 / But I don’t wanna be saved.” While the lyricism of most songs from The Favors is highly poetic, this song deserves to be recognized as the most intricate and beautiful of them.
For a no-skip album with 13 songs, it is nearly impossible to choose just four to rave about, and it feels like a crime not to go into detail about tracks like “Necessary Evils” and “Someday I’ll be back in Hollywood,” which are both full of gut-wrenching emotion and spectacular displays of musicality. My dilemma is an evident portrayal of how good the album is. In my opinion, Ashe and FINNEAS should never make solo music again. Their voices blend together in a display of musical and personal chemistry that pulls the listener in and engulfs them in an immense sea of great pain, enthralling joy, aching guilt, and all-consuming hope.
