With Romeo, Dove Cameron shows she’s ready to step away from the safer corners of pop.
Released on June 27, 2025, the single doubles down on the darker, more experimental sound she’s been leaning into since Too Much and French Girls.
She co-wrote this one with Madison Love, Gracey, Jason Evigan, and Lionel Crasta, who also produced the track .
She calls it a love story that feels fated, heavy, and a bit unsettling. The kind that pulls you into its orbit whether you want it or not.
Romeo lives in its own strange corner of pop. It cares more about obsession and self-mythology than landing on every radio playlist.
Dove finally sounds like she’s owning a version of herself that used to hide behind all the glossy visuals.
From Child Star to Dark Pop Provocateur
Cameron’s evolution from Disney starlet to experimental artist has been methodical and deliberate.
Following her 2022 breakout hit Boyfriend and this year’s vengeful anthem Too Much, Romeo completes what she calls her “experimental era in music.”
The song was partly inspired by Cameron’s relationship with Italian singer Damiano David, Måneskin’s charismatic frontman, whom she’s been dating since fall 2023.
The timing is crucial. Cameron has credited David with helping her overcome her fear that her “real, true voice was ugly”—a complex she developed from childhood criticism.
This newfound vocal confidence permeates Romeo, where she alternates between vulnerable whispers and commanding belts with the assurance of someone who’s finally found their sound.
Romeo Lyrics under the Microscope
Got my Calvins in my Celine, and my leather pants slung low
The fashion details (“Calvins in my Celine”) create an intimate portrait of wealth and sensuality, while “leather pants slung low” adds a rock-and-roll edge that feels distinctly influenced by David’s aesthetic.
Prada sunnies, I look so mean while I’m leaving Carbone
I’m glitching like a machine, can’t wait to get you alone
There’s a surreal energy in how Dove flips everyday luxury into something cinematic.
Carbone, the high-end Italian restaurant in New York, anchors the song in a specific elite milieu while nodding to her relationship’s Italian connections.
The “gli-glitching like a machine” line is particularly clever—it suggests both digital malfunction and desperate anticipation, painting love as a system override.
This isn’t the swooning romance of traditional pop; it’s mechanical, urgent, slightly unhinged.
She sings them with an innocent, almost child-like voice that sounds like it could break at any moment.
Sometimes I think I might start a new religion
Older than time, you and I, making bad decisions
She frames this twisted romance as something bigger than herself.
It’s mythic, but she delivers it with a calm and melodic cadence, so casual it almost feels more threatening than if she belted it out.
The juxtaposition of “older than time” with “bad decisions” suggests that this mythic love is inherently destructive, even as it feels predestined.
“Give you that love you’d kill yourself for / I bleed red, so Valentino / No, I don’t speak italiano / But I like the way you put it down slow”
When the chorus hits, the song’s Italian inspiration becomes explicit and the innocent edge vanishes.
She turns into a full-fledged femme fatale with a tone that cuts through the production.
That contrast is what makes Romeo stand out — the push and pull between child-like verses and a chorus that hits like a threat in perfume.
You can’t get enough of that kind of dark pop when it’s done right.
“Study me like enemy, like I’m your plan of attack / Lay your life out on the line and then never take it back / I must confess, I manifested this, baby, I found a hack / The night you put your kiss on me, you signed a binding contract”
Cameron transforms love into warfare and witchcraft simultaneously.
The “manifested this” line taps into Gen Z’s obsession with manifestation culture, but the “hack” terminology suggests she’s gamed the system of love itself.
Most striking is the “binding contract” metaphor, suggesting their first kiss wasn’t just romantic, it was legally binding in some cosmic court.
Singing your name all day from the alleyway below
With a duffel bag in toe, Romeo
I bleed red, so Valentino
No, I don’t speak Italiano
The bridge turns her Romeo into something ghostly. The Valentino line adds a dash of old-world glamour, but it’s got a roughness that feels deliberate.
And yes, her whispered “Damiano” tucked between Romeo lines hints at a real-life muse, but it never steals the mystery.
Production: Poker Face Shadows and Judas Grit
The sonic landscape of Romeo is deliberately unsettling. Built around what Cameron describes as “dark undulating production,” the track employs glitchy beats and atmospheric swells.
If you’ve been paying attention, Dove’s recent singles feel like they draw a little spirit from old Gaga.
There’s some Poker Face chill and Judas grit hiding in the bones of this track. The glitchy layers and glossy darkness are addictive.
The Video: Somewhere Between Dream and Nightmare
Directed by Curry Sicong Tian, the music video premiered simultaneously with the song’s release, marking the first official music video from her album.
Dove moves from dim rooms surrounded by shards of glass to wide desert shots that look endless and empty.
For her Romeo music video, the artist leaned into her dark feminine energy, incorporating what one fashion outlet called an iconic ’emo’ makeup staple from the early 2000s.
The visual choices, from scarlet lips and dramatic fur coats to shards of flying glass, create a fever dream of luxury and danger that perfectly complements the song’s themes.
The visuals don’t try to smooth over the song’s contradictions, they amplify them.
Beyond the Binary: Romeo as Feminist Reclamation
What makes Romeo particularly compelling is how it subverts traditional romantic power dynamics.
While referencing Shakespeare’s doomed lover, Cameron’s Romeo is the one in control—she’s the one bleeding designer red, signing cosmic contracts, and dictating the terms of devotion.
This feminist reclamation extends to the song’s exploration of worthiness and self-value.
Romeo is about taking up space, knowing your worth, and surrendering to love, a trio of ideas that treats romantic surrender not as weakness but as an act of supreme confidence.
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Dove Cameron Romeo Lyrics
Intro
Romeo
Verse 1
Got my Calvins in my Celine, and my leather pants slung low
Spit last night’s gum in a magazine dripping in your cologne
Prada sunnies, I look so mean while I’m leaving Carbone
I’m gli-glitching like a machine, can’t wait to get you alone
Pre-Chorus
Sometimes I think I might start a new religion
Older than time, you and I, making bad decisions
Singing your name all day from the alleyway below
With a duffel bag in toe, Romeo
Chorus
Give you that love you’d kill yourself for
I bleed red, so Valentino
No, I don’t speak italiano
But I like the way you put it down slow
Breath so hot, so Indio Road
So ice cold like thirty below
If Hеaven won’t take you, then I won’t go
Romеo
Verse 2
Study me like enemy, like I’m your plan of attack
Lay your life out on the line and then never take it back
I must confess, I manifested this, baby, I found a hack
The night you put your kiss on me, you signed a binding contract
Pre-Chorus
Sometimes I think I might start a new religion
Older than time, you and I, making bad decisions
Singing your name all day from the alleyway below
With a duffel bag in toe, Romeo
Chorus
Give you that love you’d kill yourself for
I bleed red, so Valentino
No, I don’t speak italiano
But I like the way you put it down slow
Breath so hot, so Indio Road
So ice cold like thirty below
If Heaven won’t take you, then I won’t go
Romeo
Post-Chorus
Romeo
I’m like
Romeo
Bridge
His daddy won’t leave me alone
We can make a movie, Tarantino
If Heaven won’t take you then I won’t go
Woah, woah
Woah, Romeo
Chorus
Give you that love you’d kill yourself for
I bleed red, so Valentino
No, I don’t speak italiano
But I like the way you put it down slow
Breath so hot, so Indio Road
So ice cold like thirty below
If Heaven won’t take you, then I won’t go
Romeo
