Los Angeles-based trio Night Talks — Soraya Sebghati (vocals), Jacob Butler (guitar, synth, vocals) and Josh Arteaga (bass, synth, vocals) — features three lifelong friends, who wanted to start a band. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the three Angelenos are also filmmakers and film lovers, because Los Angeles, after all. Their music is sparkly alt-rock/indie rock that’s inspired as much by the films they’ve created and consumed, as much by LCD Soundsystem and Queens of the Stone Age. Fittingly, their work is centered around cinematic stories, dance floor friendly grooves and intricate layers of sound, meant to transport you to a dance floor anywhere you’re listening to their music.

The trio’s 2022 effort Same Time Tomorrow featured “On and On” KROQ’s #1 Locals Only song of the year. Written and produced during the pandemic, the band was able to create an entire visual world of music videos for each track of the album. As a result of both the album and its music videos, the Los Angeles-based trio received rapturous praise and coverage from GrimyGoods, Buzzbands LA and more, as well as airplay from KROQ’s Locals Only. Their songs have been featured on playlist like Fresh Finds, All New Rock and All New Alternative.

Building upon a growing profile, the band has opened for the likes of Couch, Circa Waves, Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner and Kississippi. Last year, the band returned to the studio with a fresh pop-forward approach to their songwriting for a new album. Those recording sessions resulted in the release of two singles, “Shadows On The Run” and “Targets” feat Grammy Award-nominated, genre-defying songwriter, producer and guitarist Cory Wong. The collaboration can trace its origins back to 2024, when Night Talks’ Soaya Segbhati appeared as a surprise guest at several shows on Wong’s 2024 tour.

This year, they did a Jam In The Van session and with a renewed energy and big plans ahead, they’re gearing up for a big year. The Los Angeles trio’s latest single, the Eric Palmquist co-written and produced “People Pleaser”features a disco and pop-leaning groove, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses and Segbhati’s soulful, powerhouse delivery. The song is a defiant celebration of a woman finally putting herself first, instead of bending over backwards to people people who aren’t remotely worth her time.

“‘People Pleaser’ is a celebratory song about overcoming your tendencies to put everyone else first, and not wasting time with a person who makes you bend for them constantly,” Night Talks’ Sebghati explains, “Lyrically, we wanted it to be vague whether it’s about a friend or a partner, since this kind of dynamic can apply to any relationship.”The band’s Jacob Butler adds, “We tried to create something more sparse than songs we’ve done before, with fewer layers that each serve to either be either funky or percussive; even the acoustic guitars feel more like shakers in the track.”

Directed by Logan Sage, the accompanying video for “People Pleaser” is a slick, feverish yet textured daydream that features the band’s Sebghati singing, dancing and vamping it up in a studio and various locations in and around Los Angeles. Shot at the band’s Night Talks HQ, Butler says, “We shot on three different cameras, one regular, one with an old TV zoom lens, and a VHS, so that gave the video a bit of a multimedia effect that added to the daydreaming angle.”