Soda Blonde’s Faye O’Rourke and Adam O’Regan talk about the band’s searing Valentine’s single “Folks Pleaser,” a hovering, emotionally charged anthem reckoning with love, validation, and the cycles of self-destruction we battle to interrupt.
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Stream: “Folks Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
‘Folks Pleaser’ is an anthem for individuals who love too simply, lose themselves too typically, and mistake validation for love. It’s concerning the cycle of in search of connection at any price – even when it hurts.
Tright here’s a uncooked, aching fact embedded in “Folks Pleaser,” the most recent single from Dublin’s Soda Blonde.
Launched on Valentine’s Day, the track turns notions of affection and longing inside out, exposing the delicate, compulsive want for connection that so typically masquerades as romance. Fueled by hovering vocals, radiant melodies, and a wall-of-sound manufacturing, “Folks Pleaser” is each confession and confrontation – a monitor that doesn’t simply acknowledge self-destructive tendencies, however wrestles with them in actual time. With frontwoman Faye O’Rourke delivering a few of her most unguarded lyrics but, and bassist Adam O’Regan making his debut as a lead vocalist, the track appears like a turning level, not only for the band, however for anybody who’s ever misplaced themselves in pursuit of another person.
It isn’t actually okay
Don’t you recognize your phrases they get me
Violent and stuff and I’m pushing
It’s tough and I encourage
that I would like to remain out late
Speaking it out with my associates
Who enable me to say
a number of issues
Have occurred to me
Once I was youthful
However you by no means thought to marvel
Too many for me to quantity
As Soda Blonde’s first track of the 12 months – following final 12 months’s acclaimed singles “Bully” and “The Saddest Factor” (which featured in our 106th Editor’s Picks) – “Folks Pleaser” units the stage for what guarantees to be a daring new chapter within the indie pop group’s journey. Self-produced by the band, the monitor is steeped in emotional depth, pairing pressing percussion with sweeping synths and a stressed, pulsing bass line. At its core, it’s an anthem for many who love too simply and lose themselves too typically – a track that doesn’t shrink back from the injury accomplished, however as an alternative meets it with unflinching self-awareness. The choice to launch it on Valentine’s Day feels deliberate: A subversive counterpoint to the vacation’s ordinary narratives, one which acknowledges love’s messier, extra sophisticated facet.
“Valentine’s Day brings up plenty of totally different feelings for folks – it’s not all romance and flowers,” O’Rourke tells Atwood Journal.
“There’s longing, heartbreak, self-reflection. ‘Folks Pleaser’ is about love, however it’s additionally about self-worth, and I believe that makes it a becoming counterpoint to the same old Valentine’s sentiment. It’s a little bit of a phony day anyway, so it was cool to discover a approach to convey some which means into it – for us.”
Based in 2019 out of the ashes of indie folks band Little Inexperienced Vehicles, Soda Blonde have rapidly grow to be a private favourite and a common on Atwood Journal‘s pages because of their stunningly seductive mix of sound, model, and substance. Comprised of Faye O’Rourke (vocals), Adam O’Regan (bass, manufacturing, vocals), Donagh Seaver-O’Leary (drums), and Dylan Lynch (guitar), the Dublin-based quartet wasted no time in carving out their very own identification, debuting with the Horrible Fingers and Isolation • Content material EPs earlier than releasing their critically acclaimed first album, Small Speak, in 2021. Their sophomore report, Dream Massive, adopted in 2023, solidifying their repute as considered one of Eire’s most fun and sonically bold bands. Effortlessly mixing shimmering synth-pop, brooding indie rock, and a fearless strategy to storytelling, Soda Blonde craft music that’s as thought-provoking as it’s intoxicating – an ethos that shines by way of in “Folks Pleaser.”
Soda Blonde rise to a fever pitch as they hit the track’s refrain, a second of unfiltered catharsis the place desperation meets defiance.
The band channel their signature charisma and uncooked power right into a chorus that feels as euphoric as it’s devastating. O’Rourke’s voice cuts by way of the sonic swell with piercing urgency, every line a confession wrapped in anthemic grandeur: “‘Trigger I folks please, it’s a form of illness, I instructed you that I’m actually not alright,” she sings scorching on the mic, each line emphasised for the emotion it entails. Her phrases really feel nearly breathless, unraveling in real-time as pulsing drums and cascading synths push the monitor towards its breaking level. The road “I’m going to like whoever’s proper in entrance of me” lands with a tragic weight – directly a reckless give up and a plea for one thing actual. As the ultimate, echoing query lingers – “Is it actually that unhealthy?” – Soda Blonde go away the reply hanging within the air, forcing us to take a seat with the uncertainty, the ache, and the plain pull of the cycle they so vividly convey to life.
Am I actually gonna take one other experience with him
Or along with her or with them ‘til I’m gone
‘Trigger I folks please
It’s a form of illness
I instructed you that I’m actually not alright
Break it down
I’m not sticking round
I’m going to like whoever’s
proper in entrance of me
Is it actually that unhealthy?
Is it actually that unhealthy?
Of particular observe is the monitor’s introduction of Adam O’Regan as co-lead vocalist; already a harmonizing presence on many a Soda Blonde monitor, he steps into highlight in a brand new means on “Folks Pleaser,” singing the second verse in its entirety and bringing a brand new depth, and heat, to the band’s already beautiful artistry.
“It’s positively a brand new dynamic for us,” O’Regan says with a smile. “We didn’t initially got down to make it a duet, however because the track developed, it grew to become clear that having two voices – two views – added one thing actually highly effective. Thematically, the track is about dropping your self in different folks, so splitting the vocal makes it really feel much more like a dialog or a shared expertise. It additionally introduces a delicate shift in tone – nearly like two sides of the identical battle.”
I by no means actually spoken
Out about what will get me down
I’m telling you what I believe that it’s
That you really want me to say
The track is about dropping your self in different folks, so splitting the vocal makes it really feel much more like a dialog or a shared expertise.
As “Folks Pleaser” plunges into its breakdown, Soda Blonde strip away the shimmering manufacturing, leaving Faye O’Rourke’s voice entrance and middle – uncooked, shut, and unguarded, as if she’s singing straight into our ears, a confession whispered in the dead of night. The instrumentation dims, making area for an unflinching second of self-reflection: “Right here I’m at 32, thought I’d be saying one thing new, however I’m not rising, I’m not rising.” There’s no metaphor to melt the blow, no poetic distance – simply the stark, aching realization of stagnation, of repeating the identical patterns lengthy after you thought you’d outgrown them. It’s the form of honesty that stings, the sort that turns reminiscence into one thing tangible, like a weight urgent down.
And but, even in its vulnerability, the second is electrifying. There’s one thing highly effective in naming the wound, in dealing with it head-on, and in that quiet, intimate area, O’Rourke doesn’t simply naked her soul; she dares us to do the identical.
By the storage close to your own home
We went out to get some smokes
I didn’t let anybody know
The place I used to be going
Then that different time on the town
We sat across the studio
And I stated I believe you’re just a little previous for me
Didn’t you recognize
Then you definately requested me what I needed
I simply needed to be needed
Needed to be grown up
Right here I’m at 32
Thought I’d be saying one thing new
However I’m not rising
I’m not rising
I’m not rising ’explanation for you
Is it actually that unhealthy?
At its coronary heart, “Folks Pleaser” is a track about self-awareness – a realization laid naked in its most weak moments.
O’Rourke has known as it “an anthem for individuals who love too simply, lose themselves too typically, and mistake validation for love,” and it resonates as precisely that: A confessional unraveling, crammed with the burden of hard-earned recognition.
But, as a lot because the track dwells within the ache of self-destruction, it additionally finds energy in naming the sample. As O’Rourke displays, “Folks Pleaser” doesn’t supply simple resolutions, however it does present catharsis. “The largest takeaway is the ability of self-awareness,” she says. “I hope listeners hear themselves in it, whether or not that’s as a rallying cry or a second of recognition.”
O’Regan echoes the sentiment, emphasizing the track’s skill to attach on a deeply human stage. “It units the tone for what’s coming subsequent – songs that dig deep, that really feel private however common on the identical time. I hope folks really feel seen after they hear it.”
In that means, “Folks Pleaser” turns into greater than a track; it’s a mirror for anybody who’s ever given an excessive amount of away seeking love, an area the place longing and reckoning collide in a surprising, heartrending launch.
Learn our full dialog with Soda Blonde’s Faye O’Rourke and Adam O’Regan beneath, and take heed to “Folks Pleaser” and the band’s newest single, “The Queen of Mercy,” wherever you stream music!
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Stream: “Folks Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
A CONVERSATION WITH SODA BLONDE
Atwood Journal: Faye, you have talked about “Folks Pleaser” being an “anthem for individuals who love too simply.” Are you able to share extra concerning the inspiration behind this track – the place it got here from, and what it means to you?
Faye O’Rourke: “Folks Pleaser” got here from a spot of self-examination, as most of our songs do. It’s concerning the tendency to hunt validation from strangers, generally on the expense of the actual, significant love that already exists in your life. I typically use songwriting as a approach to higher perceive myself, and with this track, I used to be in a position to articulate one thing I’ve felt for a very long time. It means lots to me as a result of it captures that second of self-realization— the center 8 provides a really literal vignette into a few of my most regrettable moments. I’m normally a bit extra cryptic with my writing, in order that felt like crossing the Rubicon for me.
“I folks please, it’s a form of illness,” you sing within the refrain. There’s a deep, acquainted ache embedded in your voice, and in that line. It turns these phrases right into a rallying cry for many who have, deliberately or in any other case, harm themselves by getting near these we shouldn’t have. Is that this track an anthem for breaking the cycle, do you assume, or being caught in it nonetheless?
Faye: That’s an awesome query, and I believe the reply depends upon the place the listener is in their very own journey. The track is certainly self-aware – there’s a recognition of the injury being accomplished – however whether or not it’s about breaking free or being trapped within the sample is open to interpretation. In some methods, it appears like an acknowledgment of the cycle moderately than a clear break from it. Generally naming a factor is step one towards shifting previous it.
Who’s that singing the second verse – is it you, Adam? Congrats in your first “solo” with Soda Blonde! How did this track grow to be a duet, and the way do you are feeling the presence of two voices over one enhances the monitor?
Adam O’Regan: Yeah, that’s me on the second verse! That is the primary time I’ve taken a lead vocal in a Soda Blonde track, so it’s positively a brand new dynamic for us. We didn’t initially got down to make it a duet, however because the track developed, it grew to become clear that having two voices – two views – added one thing actually highly effective. Thematically, the track is about dropping your self in different folks, so splitting the vocal makes it really feel much more like a dialog or a shared expertise. It additionally introduces a delicate shift in tone – nearly like two sides of the identical battle.
I can’t assist however acknowledge this track got here out on Valentine’s Day. What, if any, is the importance of this resolution?
Faye: It felt like the proper day to place this track into the world. Valentine’s Day brings up plenty of totally different feelings for folks – it’s not all romance and flowers. There’s longing, heartbreak, self-reflection. “Folks Pleaser” is about love, however it’s additionally about self-worth, and I believe that makes it a becoming counterpoint to the same old Valentine’s sentiment. It’s a little bit of a phony day anyway so it was cool to discover a approach to convey some which means into it – for us.
What are your final takeaways from “Folks Pleaser,” and what do you hope listeners take away from this track as Soda Blonde’s first single of 2025?
Faye: For me, the most important takeaway is the ability of self-awareness. The track doesn’t supply simple solutions, however it lays issues naked in a means that’s cathartic. I hope listeners hear themselves in it, whether or not that’s as a rallying cry or a second of recognition.
Adam: Yeah, I believe it’s about connection. It’s the primary track of 2025 for us, and it units the tone for what’s coming subsequent – songs that dig deep, that really feel private however common on the identical time. I hope folks really feel seen after they hear it.
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Stream: “Folks Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
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