Love Story

**Love Story** is the tenth track from American singer and songwriter Taloura Butera’s debut studio album, *Breathe,* as the lead single, released on May 7th, 2022, through Candy Land Labels.

## Background

Butera said of the song:

*“This is a song I wrote when I was dating a guy who wasn't exactly the popular choice. His situation was a little complicated, but I didn’t care. I started this song with the line, 'This love is difficult, but it's real.' When I wrote the ending to this song, I felt like it was the ending every girl wants to go with her love story. It's the ending that I want. You want a guy who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, what anyone says. He just says, 'Marry me, Juliet, I love you, and that's all I really know.' It's sort of told in a character kind of thing, where it's Romeo and Juliet, and it's not me saying that I'm getting married or anything... but I think it's fun to write about it.”*

## Composition

“Love Story" was first released as the debut single off Butera's debut album, *Breathe*, in 2022.

The song is a mid-tempo, backed by banjo and guitar. In the lyrics, the narrator alludes to *Romeo and Juliet* and *The Scarlet Letter* to describe a lover whom her father will not let her see. In the end, however, the father reconciles and the lover proposes to the female narrator. The proposal is accompanied by a modulation in key up a tone, from D to E. Butera has repeatedly mentioned in interviews that the song was written around the lyrics, "This love is difficult, but it's real."

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**
We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes and the flashback starts

I'm standing there

On a balcony in summer air

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns

See you make your way through the crowd

And say, "Hello", little did I know

**[Pre-Chorus 1]**
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles

And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you, "Please, don't go"

And I said

**[Chorus]**
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

It's a love story, baby, just say, 'Yes'"

**[Verse 2]**
So, I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew

So, close your eyes

Escape this town for a little while

Oh, oh

**[Pre-Chorus 2]**
'Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter

And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"

But you were everything to me

I was begging you, "Please, don't go"

And I said

**[Chorus]**
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

It's a love story, baby, just say, 'Yes'"

"Romeo, save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel

This love is difficult, but it's real

Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess

It's a love story, baby, just say 'Yes'"

Oh, oh

**[Bridge]**
I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around

My faith in you was fading

When I met you on the outskirts of town

And I said

**[Chorus]**
"Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone

I keep waiting for you, but you never come

Is this in my head? I don't know what to think"

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said

"Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.

I love you, and that's all I really know.

I talked to your dad - go pick out a white dress

It's a love story, baby, just say... 'Yes'"

**[Outro]**
Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh

'Cause we were both young when I first saw you