With the new year and new semester in full swing, I know I am not the only one who feels like the cultural mood is far more uplifted, dare I say, more romantic this time around. Maybe it is the age-old ‘new year, new me’ of it all, firing up a half-hopeful, half-delusional sense of ambition in us. But at the stroke of midnight across the world, the internet was abuzz with the promise of popular culture greatness, akin to that of 2016. 

But before we step into full-blown nostalgia for ten years ago, let us not think too far ahead. Or too far behind. Let’s not act like we have shed the weight of 2025, when, across the board, we are approaching this next era precisely in its shadow.

2025 was a huge year for romance television

Heated Rivalry Season One and The Summer I Turned Pretty Season Three were staples in pop culture viewing, competing and arguably overriding the typical spotlight on reality TV and dating shows. From bodies colliding on and off Canadian ice to summers between boyfriends and brothers, 2025 was a huge year for romance television. Fictional storytelling is back, and these great romantic narratives may serve as potent evidence for the state of romance in our modern culture. 

Both shows saw connections across time and the significance of lived experiences, proximity, and unshakeable intimacy. These are a far cry from a culture of convenience and efficiency – whether it be through the ubiquitous use of AI or days bleeding into each other with endless doomscrolling. But these dynamics were far from perfect. From Conrad, ‘don’t marry him,’ Fisher confessing his love on the beach, the night before Belly marries his brother, or Shane Hollander running away from Ilya to be in a relationship with the hottest actress in Hollywood. These relationships were dysfunctional, uncertain, and sometimes insufferable, and yet we came back every week, even if we knew they would end up together. The episodic viewing experience unfolded the effect of these narratives across time, just as the connections themselves would have, albeit not over multiple years. 

we came back every week, even if we knew they would end up together.

The summer and winter holiday season saw watch parties turn into full-blown events in bars and outdoor venues. People crowded together to see how the sagas developed and take part in these cultural moments. Internet obsession has moved into real locations, turning usernames and comments into real conversations. This isn’t anything groundbreaking, as fandom culture sustains most, if not all, of what pop culture is. But there is certainly something to remark about this approach to romantic storytelling, which has previously been more common with reality TV like Love Island. There is something about romance, showing up, ready to swoon or cringe, and returning with a song from the previous episode ringing across the crowd, drawn in enough to want to hear it being played on the speakers. 

There is something about romance, showing up, ready to swoon or cringe

Third spaces and an optimism toward romance are more coveted than ever. This is not easily created, as we see with the repeated rejection of AI, especially AI art, which fails to engage audiences over time. Just like in new sports seasons, where the scoreboard resets but crashes, injuries, and wins from the past still shape the new year’s mindset, cultural engagement also accumulates over time. We’re mapping value on growth, with communities and connections forming not just online but in the real world.

feeling the same emotions under the romantic glow of the TV light.

If it is not too broad a statement, growing alongside people and places, making mistakes, facing hardships, achieving greatness, and choosing to be present is not an arc suspended in the narratives of the past year. Rather, it is something we actively work toward in the present. We do not have to live in the shadow of who we used to be. We can meet each other again and again, letting the narratives of our lives accumulate. We can honor our history, try something new, and speculate on who we might become thanks to what has changed- or cling to the feelings we cannot shake.

We will come together again, watching a new pair of strangers fall in and out of love, experiencing it alongside other strangers, feeling the same emotions under the romantic glow of the TV light. Perhaps the real romance lies in how these stories brought us together, shaping, changing, and growing with us over time. We miss these characters as if they were personal friends, yet we are left with the shared memories of those who experienced these loves alongside us.