If you’ve ever found yourself crushing over a guy that toyed with your emotions and you never knew what you guys were to each other, “Pretty Boys” by Caroline Romano is for you. The song dives into the complexities of situation-ships and how it can lead to heartbreak instead of love.
The beginning of the song transports us to a Halloween party where Caroline saw the guy she likes kiss another girl right in front of her. As the song progresses and the more she explains his actions and personality, it’s almost like he kissed that other girl in front of her on purpose. Caroline says that she’s typed out a list of obscenities and things to get off her chest, but deletes them before she can send it. She does this because she reminisces on happy memories and can’t imagine hurting him the way he hurt her. Drafting out a text with all the things you want to say can be therapeutic but then deleting the message leaves your true feelings in a vault where they will never come to the surface.
“When you say we’re just friends you mean it” is the realization that there’s no moving out of the friend zone even if deep down you believed there was a chance. There will always be something more between them but he will never admit it. The “Pretty boy blues” that she sings about describe his playboy mentality. He is stringing her along but somehow he is the one she cares more about.“Lying to your one real truth/ That’s what pretty pretty boys do” is a powerful lyric. It’s saying that he won’t face the truth and admit his real feelings, instead he will continue to go around a mess with other people so he’s not the one hurt in the end.
The rest of the song goes through more of his actions where she says “you had the nerve to act surprised” that he got caught but then contrasts it with “I hate how you make me forget” which shows that his charm can trick her into forgetting all the bad things he put her through. “I never got the castle, just the ruins” sums up their relationship because he led her on for ten months and while she thought they would be in a relationship (which is symbolized by the castle), it just ended up in ruins.
The song opens up sounding like a record scratch which gives me the illusion of a story beginning. The song flows nicely because it paints us a picture of what’s going on to make us feel like we are right there with Caroline. Produced by Taylor Dubray, “Pretty Boys” by Caroline Romano is the perfect song to describe liking someone so much it hurts. This song fits perfectly in the alt-pop genre. There were stylistic choices in the production that elevated the song, like hearing background noise at a party where people are talking which made me feel like I was at the party too. The reverb and instrumentation also drove the song forward. Caroline’s tone was a combination of angst and hurt which perfectly portrayed the rollercoaster of emotions these situations bring.
Caroline Romano is a singer and songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. She has over 41,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Her collaboration on Lost Star’s “I’d Rather Die (feat. Caroline Romano) amassed 512,682 streams on the platform. Romano released her debut album “Oddities & Prodigies” in 2022 and has been releasing music since 2017. Romano is the self-proclaimed “loudest sort of introvert” and has been releasing music that is relatable for this generation. She uses her voice to express her takes on romanticism, hope, modern love and all the complexities that come with it. She’s definitely a rising star. Check out “Pretty Boys” and give it a listen!
Written By Alexa LaMalfa
FOLLOW CAROLINE ROMANO:
Comments