On The Dream, FINNEAS and Ashe’s first album together as The Favors, the duo tries their hand at one of the most difficult formats to replicate: the male-female power duo. Think Sonny & Cher, Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra, Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks. The album, which was produced by FINNEAS, features the duo harmonizing over lush orchestral pop and folk arrangements, infusing their signature styles with disco, slow-burning balladry, and country music. Though the collection marks their first time working together on an entire album, they collaborated on Ashe’s 2021 track “Till Forever Falls Apart.” Their relationship dates back even further. In an interview with Zane Lowe, the duo revealed that they met about nine years ago and quickly struck up a friendship. That chemistry works its way through the entire album, from the ELO-inspired electropop of the title track to the lounge jazz of “Ordinary People,” which calls to mind another all-time male-female duo: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga. The exciting restlessness of the album’s genre explorations comes from the way their relationship began to build. “I think that our friendship really has a lot to do with a kind of mutual curiosity,” FINNEAS says. “I think that, over the years, I’ve looked at why I feel super affectionately towards somebody. And obviously, people’s talent or energy is important, but I think people’s curiosity is this big, underrepresented societal thing.”