Reading

Do you remember when Reading released a pop song?

Music and football go together like bread and butter. The music leading up to a match is very important, something made clear in this The Office-like clip from Sunderland Till I Die, and we have had several classic songs about football itself.

The best one is, of course, Three Lions, though John Barnes rap in World in Motion is something special. So when Reading decided they were going to release their own song themed around the team, they were hoping to make something special like those two songs.

Instead, they made this.

For those unable to watch this video, the song, named We Are the Royals, is a europop song that feels more at home at Eurovision than in a football stadium. It is annoyingly catchy, you will catch yourself singing the chorus more than once for a few days after watching it, but despite being overwhelmingly Readingy, it is definitely not the type of song you’ll find on the typical football fans playlist.

The song, released back in 2015, was written by Lady Sasima, the then co-chairwoman of Reading. As she was a composer, she wanted to give this song as a present to the football club. But instead of being like a Nintendo Switch under the Christmas Tree, it was more like the humourous tie your aunt got you as she thought it was funny and all your workmates would think it’s great and oh no it’s in the fire now.

When it was released, the song was widely mocked. Mostly because it was a europop song trying to be about football. I’ll try not to make any assumptions here but the typical football does not listen to much europop. Heck, most people in this country don’t, hence why we do not listen to foreign radio when we go on holiday. I suspect most people in Europe don’t like it either, hence why when I was in Austria last month the local radio station was playing the Jonas Brothers. So when football fans who typically get a mixture of club bangers and rock songs before the match get something more like Estonia’s entry for Eurovision, there is going to be a lot of laughter. To make matters worse for Reading, the song premiered during their match against Leeds United, who laughed openly in the stadium at it.

Now, the song is mostly forgotten, only brought out as a weird curio from time to time. To my knowledge, it is not played during the matchday at Reading and Get Reading did not include it in a recent playlist they made themed around the club. But in all honesty, the song is not that bad. It’s catchy, it’s got a key change which is the key to make any song amazing and it’s lively enough. But when you present that sort of song as your team’s new theme, it will become one of the most bizarre EFL moments of all time.

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