Soda Blonde’s Faye O’Rourke and Adam O’Regan focus on the band’s searing Valentine’s single “Individuals 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: “Individuals Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
‘Individuals Pleaser’ is an anthem for individuals who love too simply, lose themselves too usually, 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 “Individuals Pleaser,” the newest single from Dublin’s Soda Blonde.
Launched on Valentine’s Day, the music turns notions of affection and longing inside out, exposing the delicate, compulsive want for connection that so usually masquerades as romance. Fueled by hovering vocals, radiant melodies, and a wall-of-sound manufacturing, “Individuals Pleaser” is each confession and confrontation – a observe 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 music looks 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 already know your phrases they get me
Violent and stuff and I’m pushing
It’s tough and I urge
You already know that I want to remain out late
Speaking it out with my pals
Who permit me to say
You already know a number of issues
Have occurred to me
Once I was youthful
However you by no means thought to surprise
Too many for me to quantity
As Soda Blonde’s first music of the 12 months – following final 12 months’s acclaimed singles “Bully” and “The Saddest Factor” (which featured in our 106th Editor’s Picks) – “Individuals 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 observe 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 usually – a music that doesn’t draw back from the harm achieved, 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 normal narratives, one which acknowledges love’s messier, extra sophisticated aspect.
“Valentine’s Day brings up a number of completely different feelings for folks – it’s not all romance and flowers,” O’Rourke tells Atwood Journal.
“There’s longing, heartbreak, self-reflection. ‘Individuals Pleaser’ is about love, nevertheless it’s additionally about self-worth, and I feel that makes it a becoming counterpoint to the standard Valentine’s sentiment. It’s a little bit of a phony day anyway, so it was cool to discover a strategy to convey some that means into it – for us.”
Based in 2019 out of the ashes of indie people band Little Inexperienced Vehicles, Soda Blonde have shortly turn into 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 id, debuting with the Horrible Fingers and Isolation • Content material EPs earlier than releasing their critically acclaimed first album, Small Discuss, in 2021. Their sophomore report, Dream Large, adopted in 2023, solidifying their fame as certainly one of Eire’s most enjoyable 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 means of in “Individuals Pleaser.”
Soda Blonde rise to a fever pitch as they hit the music’s refrain, a second of unfiltered catharsis the place desperation meets defiance.
The band channel their signature charisma and uncooked vitality right into a chorus that feels as euphoric as it’s devastating. O’Rourke’s voice cuts by means 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 virtually breathless, unraveling in real-time as pulsing drums and cascading synths push the observe towards its breaking level. The road “I’m going to like whoever’s proper in entrance of me” lands with a tragic weight – without delay a reckless give up and a plea for one thing actual. As the ultimate, echoing query lingers – “Is it actually that dangerous?” – Soda Blonde go away the reply hanging within the air, forcing us to take a seat with the uncertainty, the ache, and the simple 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 dangerous?
Is it actually that dangerous?
Of particular word is the observe’s introduction of Adam O’Regan as co-lead vocalist; already a harmonizing presence on many a Soda Blonde observe, he steps into highlight in a brand new approach on “Individuals 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 undoubtedly 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 music developed, it turned clear that having two voices – two views – added one thing actually highly effective. Thematically, the music is about shedding 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 – virtually 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 feel that it’s
That you really want me to say
The music is about shedding your self in different folks, so splitting the vocal makes it really feel much more like a dialog or a shared expertise.
As “Individuals 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 at midnight. The instrumentation dims, making house 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 type 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 house, 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 mentioned I feel you’re a little bit previous for me
Didn’t you already know
You then requested me what I needed
I simply needed to be needed
Wished 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 ’reason behind you
Is it actually that dangerous?
At its coronary heart, “Individuals Pleaser” is a music about self-awareness – a realization laid naked in its most susceptible moments.
O’Rourke has known as it “an anthem for individuals who love too simply, lose themselves too usually, and mistake validation for love,” and it resonates as precisely that: A confessional unraveling, stuffed with the load of hard-earned recognition.
But, as a lot because the music dwells within the ache of self-destruction, it additionally finds energy in naming the sample. As O’Rourke displays, “Individuals Pleaser” doesn’t supply straightforward resolutions, nevertheless it does present catharsis. “The most important takeaway is the facility 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 music’s means to attach on a deeply human degree. “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 once they hear it.”
In that approach, “Individuals Pleaser” turns into greater than a music; 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 shocking, heartrending launch.
Learn our full dialog with Soda Blonde’s Faye O’Rourke and Adam O’Regan beneath, and take heed to “Individuals Pleaser” and the band’s newest single, “The Queen of Mercy,” wherever you stream music!
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Stream: “Individuals Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
A CONVERSATION WITH SODA BLONDE
Atwood Journal: Faye, you’ve got talked about “Individuals Pleaser” being an “anthem for individuals who love too simply.” Are you able to share extra concerning the inspiration behind this music – the place it got here from, and what it means to you?
Faye O’Rourke: “Individuals 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, typically on the expense of the true, significant love that already exists in your life. I usually use songwriting as a strategy to higher perceive myself, and with this music, I used to be capable of articulate one thing I’ve felt for a very long time. It means loads to me as a result of it captures that second of self-realization— the center 8 gives 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 music an anthem for breaking the cycle, do you assume, or being caught in it nonetheless?
Faye: That’s an amazing query, and I feel the reply is determined by the place the listener is in their very own journey. The music is certainly self-aware – there’s a recognition of the harm being achieved – however whether or not it’s about breaking free or being trapped within the sample is open to interpretation. In some methods, it looks like an acknowledgment of the cycle somewhat than a clear break from it. Typically naming a factor is step one towards transferring previous it.
Who’s that singing the second verse – is it you, Adam? Congrats in your first “solo” with Soda Blonde! How did this music turn into a duet, and the way do you’re feeling the presence of two voices over one enhances the observe?
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 music, so it’s undoubtedly a brand new dynamic for us. We didn’t initially got down to make it a duet, however because the music developed, it turned clear that having two voices – two views – added one thing actually highly effective. Thematically, the music is about shedding 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 – virtually like two sides of the identical battle.
I can’t assist however acknowledge this music got here out on Valentine’s Day. What, if any, is the importance of this choice?
Faye: It felt like the proper day to place this music into the world. Valentine’s Day brings up a number of completely different feelings for folks – it’s not all romance and flowers. There’s longing, heartbreak, self-reflection. “Individuals Pleaser” is about love, nevertheless it’s additionally about self-worth, and I feel that makes it a becoming counterpoint to the standard Valentine’s sentiment. It’s a little bit of a phony day anyway so it was cool to discover a strategy to convey some that means into it – for us.
What are your final takeaways from “Individuals Pleaser,” and what do you hope listeners take away from this music as Soda Blonde’s first single of 2025?
Faye: For me, the largest takeaway is the facility of self-awareness. The music doesn’t supply straightforward solutions, nevertheless it lays issues naked in a approach 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 feel it’s about connection. It’s the primary music 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 once they hear it.
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Stream: “Individuals Pleaser” – Soda Blonde
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