In “The Hudson,” Finneas and Ashe offer a quiet kind of grandeur—the kind you don’t notice right away until it’s filled the entire room. The new single from their collaborative project, The Favors, trades spectacle for intimacy, slipping into the listener’s mind like the fading memory of a summer long gone. It’s not just a song, but a scene: two characters in a small New York apartment, maybe mid-argument, maybe mid-reconciliation, singing through their ache with the kind of grace pop rarely allows.
Finneas has long proven his talent for atmosphere, often wrapping Billie Eilish’s whispered vocals in shadowy electronic textures or leading his solo work with a diaristic hush. But “The Hudson” leans into something more theatrical, even vintage. There’s a clarity to the songwriting here that feels deliberate and tender. It’s not shy about its own melodrama—in fact, it embraces it. The harmonies are measured and warm, like dialogue in a Sondheim musical, only this one was pressed to vinyl.
Ashe, always a strong narrator in her own right, sounds right at home here. Her voice bends with emotion but never buckles, giving “The Hudson” its necessary tension. Together, they sing not to the listener, but to each other. That’s where the magic happens. There’s no attempt to universalize the story, which somehow makes it all the more relatable. You’re invited to eavesdrop on something beautifully unresolved.
The song serves as a second glimpse into The Dream, the upcoming debut album from The Favors, due out September 19 on Darkroom Records. If “The Little Mess You Made” felt like a prologue, “The Hudson” plays like the film’s pivotal middle act. It’s the moment where the characters realize just how much they’ve already lost, even as they’re still in the same room.
Finneas described the project as leaning into a “musical theater design,” a rarity in today’s pop landscape. That’s more than a gimmick—it’s a structural choice that gives The Dream its own world-building. And it’s refreshing to hear artists not just collaborating, but cohabiting within the same emotional architecture.
Ashe added that recording the album felt “romantic and fun,” a sentiment that runs through the bones of this track. You can feel the joy they took in crafting something unhurried. There’s no rush to the chorus, no formula pulling the melody forward. It lingers, like light on water.
If this is what The Favors are offering, The Dream might just be the full-length love letter pop music forgot it needed.