I’ve gone on enough dates with men who practically arrive wearing their red flags like cologne to know when I’m looking at trouble, and somehow that knowledge has never guaranteed I lose interest. Sometimes he smiles at me the right way and every warning sign starts looking negotiable. I’ve kissed men I already knew would annoy my friends and still gone home smiling because, fuck it, the chemistry was worth tomorrow’s group-chat abuse. Allegra’s ‘Romantic’ understands that particular kind of romantic recklessness. She knows the guy comes with damage and still wants to believe this one could turn into something gorgeous. That’s the part I like. She walks toward the risk with her eyes open because sometimes hope is hotter than common sense.
The production stays chill around Allegra’s vocal, giving all that hopeless-romantic vulnerability somewhere soft to fall. Scott Stoddart produced the track and gives the whole damn thing enough softness to let Allegra sound exposed without turning the mood into a pity party. There’s still flirt in it. The melody feels easy while the confession underneath keeps getting more revealing, like lying on somebody’s chest and casually admitting you may have chosen another beautiful problem.
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Allegra knows her intelligence has one spectacular blind spot, and she names it immediately. “Oh yeah, I’m smart, Oh yeah, I’m smart / But I’m dumb when it comes to love / I feel way too hard, Feel way too hard / Once I’m falling, don’t want to stop.” Well, there goes the plausible deniability. Her brain works perfectly fine until attraction gets involved. Then comes “But I love the rush, I love the rush / Of the first time you’re on my skin / It’s my medicine, Even when it stings.” That last admission tells me why all the self-awareness in the world has failed to change her behavior. She likes the high enough to accept the occasional bruise, and fuck, that is considerably more interesting than pretending she keeps ending up here by accident.
Heartbreak has apparently taught Allegra plenty without making her any less interested in trying again. “Every color of broken heart, you know I’ve had it / Think I’ve finally found out that there ain’t no Santa / But there’s something ’bout broken boys that makes me feel magic, oh.” She has enough evidence to prosecute love in several jurisdictions and still wants another case. The Santa line is cute as hell because adulthood already taught her one magical story was fake, yet she refuses to let that ruin the fun of believing in another one. And those broken boys keep getting through security. She knows the type. She knows what tends to happen. Somehow the possibility of being surprised remains sexy enough to keep the door unlocked.
Things get hornier in the second verse because Allegra stops talking about the idea of romance and starts telling us what this man does to her body. “If I’m rushing in, I’m rushing in / ‘Cause I’m greedy for all you got / It give me the spins, give me the spins / When you pick me up in your arms.” Good judgment starts losing bargaining power the second he touches her, and this is how smart girls end up dickmatized. By the time she gets to “Call me old-fashioned, It’s madness, It’s tragic / But the way you feel so lavish, like cashmere / Let me at it, oh,” the bad decision has texture. Cashmere is such a spoiled little metaphor for questionable judgment and I fucking love it. Of course the dangerous choice feels luxurious. If bad decisions arrived itchy and smelled weird, dating would be significantly easier.
That little “Let me at it” might be my favorite piece of attitude in the song because Allegra has moved past explaining herself. She knows people can call the whole thing madness. She has already heard the case against him and would apparently like everyone to move aside so she can get on with making her own mistake. There’s hot-girl confidence in wanting something without demanding that desire qualify as sensible first. She isn’t trying to win an argument about whether this man deserves her. She wants him, and for tonight that answer carries enough weight.
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The bridge strips the whole situation down to “I should run for cover / But you’re everything I wanna run to now.” That’s the contradiction in two lines. She has identified the danger and desire still wins. By the time the refrain comes back with “Oh well, Oh well / I guess I’ll die a romantic,” the shrug feels earned. Allegra treats her tendency to fall hard as part of the package and seems completely uninterested in sanding it down for safety. Cynicism would probably save her some trouble. It would also bore the fuck out of her.
Allegra is 24 and London-based, with a career that started when she signed at 14. A decade later she says she knows herself much better creatively and has become comfortable voicing what she wants. Her dance-pop run has already put her alongside Tiësto on ‘Round & Round’ and Alok on ‘Love You Right Back’, while ‘Romantic’ arrived August 21 as the lead single from her Unreleased EP. Scott Stoddart produced it and co-wrote the song with Allegra and Benjamin Samama. That growing confidence makes the track deliciously ironic because professional Allegra appears to know where she is going while romantic Allegra still reserves a little room for questionable men.
I still spot the red flag before the first drink arrives. Sometimes I leave. Sometimes he smiles and the evidence suddenly feels much less urgent, which is probably why my friends deserve hazard pay. Allegra understands that romance can survive experience without becoming innocence again. You can learn how the trick works and still want to feel the magic. I’m keeping my pattern recognition. I’m also keeping the possibility that some gorgeous idiot might make me ignore it for an evening. Let me enjoy the fucking show.
