Every summer I end up returning to playlists compiled years ago that make me feel like I’m a part of a coming-of-age movie with terrible acting but a killer soundtrack that can never escape from my mind. 

“Romance is Boring,” off of the Los Campesinos! album sharing the same name, was released in 2010 and describes a couple utterly unhappy with the relationship they have created for themselves.

The couple is in a standstill relationship because they did not know what they were getting into. 

One character is upset because they were expecting more; they want romance, and they want to be excited.

The other character is the narrator who does not think romance is worth the effort, so they refuse to put in any work to make their partner happy. 

This is even further described in the music video for this track. While time appears to be looping, the first character grows more distressed and begins to cry, while their partner is uninterested in and growing irritated at their cries.

“You’re pouting in your sleep, I’m waking, still yawning /

We’re proving to each other that romance is boring /

Sure, there are things I could do if I was half-prepared to /

Prove to each other that romance is boring.”

The dynamic of the characters in this song, although incredibly unhealthy, allows the singers of Los Campesinos! to throw lyrics back and forth at eachother like an argument to further the immersion into the storyline they have created.

The bridge goes on to reference “The Theologian’s Tale,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to describe how their meeting was just by chance and how the two of them should never have started a relationship with very different goals in mind.

“We are two ships that pass in the night /

You and I, we are nothing alike /

I am a pleasure cruise, you are gone out to trawl /

Return nets empty, nothing at all.”

This throwback is the perfect song to blare in the car and shamelessly play both characters and figure out your stance on romance and if it truly is all that boring.