‘The Goldbergs’ Star Hayley Orrantia Talks New Song ‘Nights and Weekends,’ Reveals Her Dream Collaboration

Hayley Orrantia wants fans to stand up and dance to her newest single. The Goldbergs released new single “Nights and Weekends” Friday, Sept. 6, giving fans of her music a party tune that ventures away from the emotional songs she unveiled earlier this summer on her EP, The Way Out.

The singer and actress opened up about the release of her new song in a conversation with PopCulture.com, revealing she recorded the new track before writing her emotional EP, and it felt like the best way to wrap up summer.

“It’s just a country-pop song about looking forward to the nights and weekends and whether that’s like, hanging out at home or going out with your friends downtown,” Orrantia told PopCulture.com in a phone interview Wednesday, Sept. 4. “It’s just one of those fun songs that hopefully you can put on in your car and jam to.”

After the release of The Way Out, Orrantia said she felt a “fun and upbeat” song would be the best way to follow up the emotional breakup project. However, she said she has a clear preference when it comes to her songwriting.

“One of my favorite things to write is a ballad,” she said. “It’s like, what I automatically go to when I’ll sit down in front of the piano. And so, I feel like I’ve put out over the course of, I don’t know, the last four or five years, a series of mid-tempo or slower songs just because that’s what feels good to me most of the time.”

“I’ve been going out on the road a lot and performing on stage,” she continued. “It’s nice to break up all those slow songs with some fun ones that feel good.”

“Nights and Weekends” also marks Orrantia’s return to the set of The Goldbergs, where she will reprise her role of Erica for Season 7. But that doesn’t mean the singer’s music career will be slowing down any time soon. She revealed she worked on some more new material that will be released in the coming months.

“The goal is to put out a new song every three months. Because while I’m filming The Goldbergs, it can be really difficult to juggle. Flying out and trying to write the next song, and sometimes record it and everything that goes behind the release of music,” she revealed.

“…And then keep that momentum going just because, you know, even though I’m filming The Goldbergs and I love the show, and I hope that it goes for years and years, I also love music and [want to] remind people that this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Orrantia continued. “Just because I’m filming The Goldbergs doesn’t mean I’m gonna take time to stop doing that.”

As her music career gains traction, Orrantia also shared her dream collaboration at the moment. With her hope to create music that empowers young women, she revealed working with singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles would be a dream come true.

“Even though it’s a little outside of my genre, an artist in general that I would love to just write a song with because she’s always been my idol, is Sara Bareilles. She’s just such a talented songwriter,” Orrantia said.

“She just does an amazing job of using these songs to hide little hidden secrets of her story in it,” she added. “And that’s just like the fun challenge of songwriting to me. And not to mention, I think she’s just an incredible vocalist. If I got into a writer’s room with her, I would definitely freak out.”

“Nights and Weekends” and Orrantia’s EP, The Way Out, are available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify and others. The Goldbergs returns Wednesday, Sept. 25 on ABC.