Calling up punchy guitar stabs, a four-on-the-floor drive, ripping solos, and dirty staccato organs, Pink Popcorn finds Sleepless Nights drawing heavily on a pop-rock template curated by The Cars. And much like their previous single, Kids On Drugs, the retro throwback influence blends seamlessly with contemporary themes.

Beneath the fun-loving riffs and pop-forward melodies, Sleepless Nights take pot shots at the hypermasculinity of yore, particularly in classic rock.

“The songs we love and are huge parts of pop culture are insanely misogynistic, but that gets subverted by nostalgia,” says Sleepless Nights frontperson A.A. Wallace. “Now that the world is getting more and more woke how to do we listen to the lyrics of Axel Rose or even Mick Jagger? How can a song like ‘Rocket Queen’ or ‘Brown Sugar’ be played on the radio? Driving around with classic rock radio for most people is not an academic exercise. The rules mentioned in ‘Pink Popcorn’ are songwriting conventions and clichés that really we should be done with. Oh yeah, baby.”