Nightly’s Lyrical Guide to Quitting a Toxic Relationship

If you want to follow a band that has dark, brooding and stylish vibes with two pretty good-looking dudes, then Nightly has you covered.

These guys take their name from the infamous text signoff “ night ly” — meaning, “good night, love you.” And everything from their album art to their Instagram is full of mysterious text shorthand and relationship imagery that will bring up all the feels inside you.

“It’s more about being personal. Everything about this [project] is just personal experience. Like a text message is personal. ‘Night, love you’ is so personal,” lead singer Jonathan Capeci says.

Having toured with another infamously dark and lyrically-honest artist last year, Kflay, the guys are about to head out on another group of tours this year — and you should def try to go check them out because their live show — which includes a pretty intricate lighting display — is pretty sick.

Though at first glance their debut EP, “Honest,” seemingly has a running theme of breaking up with people — it turns out, lead singer Jonathan is actually the one that gets dumped more often than not. However, his lyrics have an honesty to them that will hit home with both sides whether you’ve been dumped or are a repeat heartbreaker.

READ ALSO: I Ditched My Boring Office Clothes and Got More Respect Than Ever

One thing that Jonathan and guitarist Joey Berreta know for sure is that being in a toxic relationship is super not fun — and that’s really the theme of the EP that they were going for. Their brand new video for their single, “XO,” shows us the good parts and the bad parts of a relationship that will likely cause you to have flash backs of your ex.

We sat down with Jonathan and Joey, and asked them to give us a lyrical guide to saying bye to that toxic relationship. Take a look at the video for “XO,” and peep the guide below.




“I want to call you back, I don’t know what to say. I’m scared to open up why do I act this way?” How many times have you had to say “Love you but I gotta let go, BYE” to a girl? What are your thoughts on being the “dumper” vs. the “dumpee”?

Jonathan: I’ve been the dumpee more than I’ve been the dumper…

Joey: [It’s] way worse to be the dumper. To break up with someone feels way worse. I think we’ve both been in relationships where we have hoped that the other person would break up with us.

What about ghosting, ever done it?

Jonathan: No, actually we just wrote a song about this yesterday, because it happened to me. I was crazy about this girl but she ended up hooking up with another guy and I didn’t know about it until one of her friends told me. She just ghosted me, so there were three weeks where I was confused. We don’t actually say the word “ghosting” in [the song] but that’s the concept.

Joey: I think I ghosted a girl in the third grade. Pretty sure.

Jonathan: Joey got so many girls in grade school.

Joey: I peaked in grade school.

“Love you but I gotta let go, XO” — The video shows us the timeline of all the moments that lead up to deciding that breaking up with someone is best — how did you decide on the concept of the video, is it based on a real girl who did something effed up?

Jonathan: It’s about a lot of girls, honestly. It’s never about one. We really wanted to just display that toxic aspect. You just get so consumed when you’re in a relationship that you sort of rationalize the fact that you were acting in ways that you wouldn’t normally. It’s something everyone can relate to because it’s something we’ve all been through.

Tell us a bit about the mysterious trailer for the XO video — which features just sexy Voice Over — on your Instagram? What inspired the non-musical take on it?

Jonathan: I wrote the [voice over] words and recorded the audio. I hadn’t seen anybody really do a trailer for a music video like that. I just thought it was an interesting idea. It’s art, so it’s not limited to just three minutes in a song. That’s why you make music videos in the first place.

“It’s A little too much for me, Too much too soon…” Have you ever dated someone where things moved super fast and seemed awesome, and then had to break up because the person revealed themselves to be a bit crazy?

Jonathan: I was in a couple of meaningful relationships that both ended the same way, with the other person cheating. And I think I just had a lot of emotional baggage from that. I just kept myself guarded, so the following relationships were affected by that. And you start to feel those feelings again of losing yourself. That’s what [the song] “No Vacancy” is about, kind of more a result of things in the past. Which isn’t fair to those people, but it’s just truthful.

“Are you happy now baby? With your eyelashes on? Is it a new revelation? Who you tryna cover up for?” What are your thoughts on girls who don’t act like their true selves in front of guys? Do you think this inevitably leads to bad relationships?

Jonathan: It’s actually about seeing somebody that you love acting different. When they’re with a new guy and they all the sudden are into all this other stuff that you know they hated before. It’s like, “I know you’re doing stuff that you don’t like, because you and I used to both see in color versus black and white.” Now, your life’s kind of black and white, this is what you do and it might be more safe, but don’t you remember all those crazy colors we saw?”

“At Least We Were Honest,” “Love you but I gotta let go, XO,” “Inside of me, there’s a sign that reads No Vacancy” Would you say there’s a theme of, “Dark ways of saying goodbye” or maybe just, “ways of saying goodbye” to someone you love on this EP?

Jonathan: This is just one period of time that I’m going through. That’s why it hopefully all feels the same because it’s supposed to communicate devotion.

Do you think it would be easier if people actually did have signs that said “No Vacancy” if they aren’t ready or wanting to be in a relationship?

Joey: I think that people just need to be honest about where they’re at. What’s the point of pretending? Just be yourself and be honest about it and people will either want to do that or not do that. At least you know, so you’re not in limbo all the time. It’s not about being nice, it’s just about being a person. No one gains anything from pretending.

Jonathan: If you’re always taking a hard stance on, “Oh, I’m emotionally unavailable,” then you’re probably going to end up alone.

Joey: People always make time for what they find important, right?

You guys were on tour with Kflay, and you are about to go on tour again for the “No Vacancy” leg. Since you guys have pretty cool lighting that ties in with your music, What can fans expect will be different or the same from the last time we saw you?

Jonathan: We’re going to try some new songs out. That’s one fun thing about where we are right now. We only have four songs out, but we have 20 songs that we love, so we’re kind of testing some out live, and I think each night it’ll be a little bit different. It’s a good way to gauge what the crowd.

What is your best advice for keeping “Honest” and not ending up having to say “XO”?

Joey: I think that people just need to embrace who they are, and be confident about who they are.

Jonathan: …But that takes time and maturity. A lot of people aren’t confident in who they are. Especially when you’re younger.  I think it’s the same with songwriting. It’s coming from a real place from me, and a lot of people try and write these giant, universal songs with these corny statements, but in actuality, what’s universal is the real.

For More on Nightly:

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See Nightly On Tour:

http://www.nightloveyou.com/tour

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