Remember those late night, deep talks with a group of friends at sleepovers that seemed to last hours? When you left the next morning feeling more safe and bonded than ever? This is the best way to encapsulate what the Australian group PEPTALK leaves listeners with — the nostalgic, best-friend feel that we’ve been missing in music, layered with the coolest, catchiest production and hard work that anyone can hear through the speakers.
With their latest single “Bad People,” out now, the band is making itself known as not only a must-hear group in Australia but around the entire globe.
PEPTALK, made up of longtime friends and housemates Phoebe Sinclair (lead vocals), Jay-Lee Kwan (keys) and Lara Frew (bass), has been releasing music as a group for a few years now, between the 2023 EP “Dumb Teen Heartache” and their 2025 collaborative mixtape ““Better With Friends Vol.1.” All three members write and produce their own music, and showcase these musical skills across videos on their social media that now only portray their knack for cool sounds, but their close bond as friends and collaborators.
The last 12 months have been monumental for the band, who went on their very first headline tour around Australia last fall, and are now slated to open for Bella Habib at her upcoming Sydney show. Before “Bad People”, PEPTALK dropped another catchy single, “Scared To Lose,” which was played on popular Australian radio triple j.
“You probably say its my fault, I asked for it / I could barely walk, you made a pass at me / Should’ve known, knowing your past / Still working on owning my part”
“Bad People” starts out calm, with pulsating synths ringing the listener in before Sinclair’s vocals begin painting the start of the three-and-a-half minute story. Singing about a past toxic and abusive relationship, Sinclair taps into breathy, vulnerable vocals, intensified by the palpable regret and self-blame in her tone, unsure how to cope with what had unfolded with this person.
Drums build up to the chorus, which explodes with synths left and right, creating a song that was built for a windows-down, high-speed car ride. PEPTALK excels at fostering environments within their music that feel like rants, — or even pep talks, if you will — between friends, getting those intrinsic, deep thoughts off your chest and into a safe place.
In the chorus of “Bad People,” Sinclair toggles with the concept of being a bad person, saying she knows bad people don’t exist, but it’s more so our own “bad calls” one has to watch out for. She views this relationship as something she should’ve predicted the outcome of, acknowledging that while it may not be completely her fault, she should’ve known.
“It don’t mean I’m at fault, no / I just I know I knew better”
The phrase “I know I knew better” rings in the chorus, which sums up the mental rabbit hole Sinclar goes down throughout the track’s entirety. It feels easy and natural to think of what you should or shouldn’t have done at the culmination of a relationship, which is why this song, to me, feels like a rant to friends; one that would result in a 3 a.m. advice-giving session with a large bowl of popcorn on the side.
(L) Photo by Olive Rush; (R) “Bad People” artwork
By the time we reach the bridge, the production stays ramped up with the drums furthering along Sinclair’s catchy vocal patterns as she stills fights with herself about what to do. This powerful bridge smoothly transitions into one last booming chorus, this time with the strongest vocal moments as Sinclair beautifully drags out words to emphasize her back-and-forth pain.
Light, angelic vocals swirl around in the song’s final seconds, with one final “I should have known better” sandwiched in between to bring the message home, a realistic ending that shows how complex these feelings can be.
“I’m stuck in a loop and don’t know what to do / I only regret whenever I think of you / I have to remind myself I did all that I could do”
PEPTALK is a band built to last, with their tender, uplifting and intensely real lyrics encased in a catchy pop-perfect glaze. Sinclair, Kwan and Frew are just a group of talented friends with a message to share and a beat to dance to, and everyone should be around to listen.
Crave was able to catch up with PEPTALK before the release of “Bad People” to discuss the new single, social media and their collaboration process.
CRAVE: I love the vibe of your band; it feels very much like a safe, happy and nostalgic girlhood, and PEPTALK is the perfect name for it. When did you guys learn that you clicked creatively?
PEPTALK: We met through other music projects almost a decade ago, and honestly our quick and easy friendship was the biggest indicator that we would click creatively! You need a lot of trust to be vulnerable and open with your experiences, especially when you’re putting them into lyrics, so having that down already gave us a head start. We would all write for other projects and always loved coming back to each other for a second opinion. We went to the Kangaroo Point cliffs (in Brisbane, where we used to live), and Lara pitched doing the band together and even drew up a little diagram to convince us why it’d be great. She was absolutely right!
CRAVE: The lyrics of “Bad People” really hit deep, something that too many can relate to. What was the songwriting process like for this one?
PEPTALK: Every song we write has a slightly different process honestly. Because this one was about such a personal experience, Jay had started it herself and then shared it with Lara and I. I think we are genuinely each other’s biggest supporters and we were so honoured that Jay was happy for us to flesh out the rest of the song together. It changed a little over time to encompass shared experiences, because like you say, sadly it’s about something that too many can relate to.
CRAVE: I know all three of you carry strong producing skills, so what does that collaboration process look like? Do lyrics tend to come first, or production? Or both?
PEPTALK: We find that using personal experiences really grounds our songwriting. Often we’ll start with a concept or story we want to dive into, then the lyrics, melody and production grow together from there. The advantage of us all being producers is that if the lyrics are demanding more of someone’s headspace, someone else can facilitate the production and evolve the song in new directions that it might not if it were a totally insular process.
CRAVE: I read that you wrote and produced some songs on a road trip around the U.S. What differences do you find in your creative headspaces from being in North America vs Australia?
PEPTALK: Being outside of your usual spot is always interesting on the creative muscles, we find it often gives us different perspectives to draw on in our writing. While we were in the US we had dedicated time to focus on creating music, with far less distractions from day to day life, and a mass of excitement around new collaborators, experiences and sights. All this to say, we love creating in Australia too, it’s home, it’s safe & it’s where ‘Bad People’ was created. For a project this vulnerable, writing at home felt like the right place to be.
CRAVE: I love your social media presence and how real it is, such as your funny behind-the-scenes or breaking down production videos, and even remixing your own songs in unique ways. Do you take any sort of inspiration from anyone when approaching the social media side of the band? How do you navigate social media as an independent band?
PEPTALK: Social media is such a blessing and a chore haha! It’s incredible that we’re able to share our music with the world through our phones, but it’s a task and a half to be visible at all times! Our rule when it comes to content is, “Would I want to watch this myself?” Ultimately, we all like to make each other laugh and we figure if we can share a bit about our process and ourselves along the way, that’s what we’ll do! We’re grateful we can lean on each other’s skills when it comes to social media; Jay is a social butterfly, keeping us connected, Lara edits with great comic timing, and Phoebs looks at the data to see what’s working and when.
CRAVE: What did touring around Australia last year teach you guys? What are some memories that stand out?
PEPTALK: Honestly it just reminded us that touring Australia is a mammoth undertaking and we should support artists as best we can when they come on tour! It’s physically demanding, financially draining and truly has to be for the love of it. A couple lessons that stood out to us personally were: to book Ubers ahead of time, don’t pretend you’ll be able to nap in the car and being exhausted and still wanting to be around each other is a sign you’re doing it with the right people!
CRAVE: With “Scared To Lose” and now “Bad People,” we are heading toward a great new era of PEPTALK. Is there anything to share about what’s to come?
PEPTALK: Coming up, there is more vulnerable music that we’re equal parts excited and terrified to share! We’ll be announcing some live shows, and maybe in a few different cities too… And finally, we will have our merch available online through our Bandcamp!
Keep up with PEPTALK:
Website / Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube
