Yahoo Autos This British Alt-Rock Band's New Single Is a Subaru WRX Love Song
Having a dream car that you fantasize about while in boring meetings or gridlocked commutes is a core part of being a car enthusiast. Of course, that also comes with crafting a narrative around the ownership of that car: if only you had that car, you’d finally be happy. Right? Sure. British alt-rock band Sports Team gets it. "I'm in Love (Subaru)," their first single off of the upcoming 2025 album Boys These Days, is all about the idealization of cars as a ticket to a better way of life.
“In the Subaru Impreza I’m the king of the road,” croons lead vocalist Alex Rice over jaunty, disco-inspired instrumentals. In the accompanying music video, Rice and bandmates perform their song in the glorious light of the titular car’s headlights, lounging across its distinctive hood scoop, perching on top of it, and using its rear wing as a keyboard stand. We vastly prefer actually driving the car, but to each their own.
Since their start as a college band at the University of Cambridge, Sports Team has resisted the traditional path for British alt-rock groups, defining themselves against the flowery poetry and moody lyrics of fellow indie bands like The Strokes, HMLTD, and Shame. They’re not afraid of leaning into their middle-class British roots, centering their songs around idiosyncratic, mundane symbols. "(Subaru)" isn't even their first car-centric song; their song "M5," named for the English motorway, features lyrics like "What a cheek/Undertaking anyone at 70" and "Sunlight/splashes off the bonnet on the M5/It's a wide open motorway."
“It doesn’t have to be a wilted rose to have some great significance—it could be a Motorola,” the band’s songwriter Rob Knaggs told the Guardian in 2019. “That could be your memento mori, that incredible poetic image.”
Now, the poetic image is the glorious Subaru Impreza WRX, the rally legend that’s as capable of anchoring this idealistic love song as it was winning three World Rally Championship constructor’s titles and three driver’s championships. The dreamy retro aesthetic of the music video and instrumentals paired with Rice's wistful, occasionally ironic delivery of the lyrics bring the childhood fantasy to the messy realities of life, like a glossy poster tacked over hairline cracks in the wall. The image is further romanticized in the song's cover art, an original painting of a rally-ready Impreza by Knaggs.
“A Subaru Impreza WRX wasn’t just a car. It was a cheat-code into a bright new future of boot-cut jeans and possibility,” wrote the band in a newsletter announcing the song’s release on Thursday. They say the affection for the car arose from childhood days spent playing Colin McRae Rally, the video game named for the Scottish rally legend who won the 1995 WRC driver’s championship in—what else?—a Subaru Impreza. With that legacy (Subaru pun not intended), it’s easy to see how Sports Team developed stars (Subaru pun also not intended) in their eyes for the car.
“‘I’m in Love (Subaru), the song, is about that feeling,” wrote the band. “Knowing that everything going wrong in your life would be easily solved if you could just manifest that apple-red, 2.4-litre, horizontally opposed four-cylinder, turbo-intercooled petrol engine Subaru WRX.”
Now that's a love song we can vibe with.
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