‘The Less I Know the Better,’ a song released in 2015 by the Australian band Tame Impala in July 2015 on their album ‘Currents’, follows a young hero/heroine and their sad but relatable journey through love and pride.

Tame Impala is categorized as a psychedelic rock band, and was started by Kevin Parker in 2007. The band now consists of five members including Parker, guitarist/synthesist Dominic Simper, bass guitarist/vocalist Cam Avery, guitarist/synthesist/vocalist Jay Watson and drummer/vocalist Julien Barbagallo. However, Parker remains the frontman of the band and their main songwriter. The interesting thing about the album ‘Currents,’ an album filled with raw emotions about love, is that it is all autobiographical stories from Parker. Seeing such an rich album with feelings all over the spectrum, whether it is hallucinations to love to realizations, Parker does a great job telling stories through synthesizers and rock solid guitar parts all throughout his album.

A listener like me might presume it to be high school love, highlighted by the pounding 80’s reminiscent beats and guitar in the back, as the song follows the story of our narrator who sees their romantic interest with someone named Trevor leaving a party together.

Throughout the whole song, our main character begs his interest to see them together, and forget about Trevor. Unfortunately, it seems like our narrator’s interest has somehow convinced their crush, but not fully. “She said, ‘It’s not now or never, wait ten years, we’ll be together.’” Our narrator pleads for her to not make him wait forever, but at the end of the song realizes that Trevor is truly who his love wants. “Is this what you want, is this who you are?”

The name of our protagonist’s enemy, Trevor, has been so wildly popularized through Tame Impala’s song, that the members of the band have created merchandise like shirts cursing Trevor.

Listen to ‘The Less I Know the Better’ when you’re looking for simplicity and the beauty of a good story, whether or not you’re in a happy relationship with anybody, looking for tales of rejection and heartbreak to soothe your soul, or anywhere in between or outside of the spectrum.

Have a joyful day, unless you are Trevor,

Gina Liu