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Ștefan Bănică Jr. is a Romanian pop-rock singer who first became famous as an actor. He starred in a few successful Romanian movies and TV series, such as Liceenii (The High Schoolers), and also appeared in the American musical Chicago. His career has been very prolific, as proved by his extensive album collection, and his originality has earned him throngs of fans, especially amongst women. His songs mainly revolve around love and women, themes to which he adds a humorous twists.

"While, on the one hand, the story we listened to might or might not be real, on the other hand, it could also be anyone’s story."

The song “Poveste de Mai” (May Story) introduces us to an idyllic world, recounting in third-person narrative an ideal love story between two teenagers. They see each other for the first time on a “seara de Mai” (May evening) and fall in love at first sight. Unbeknownst to them, they had been attending the same high school and had been travelling on the same “troleu” (bus) for quite a while, but never got the chance to meet. Their relationship becomes stronger and stronger, and shortly thereafter the two “si-au dat mana si s-au logodit” (get engaged) despite the fact that “nu aveau nimic” (they don’t have a penny to their name). Since they are young, money does not matter to them, but what really counts is that “erau doar el si ea/ intr-o poveste cum nu a mai fost” (it’s just the two of them/ the protagonists of a love story that nobody ever experienced before).

A few decades later, we meet the teenagers again. But this time, “anii nu i-ai iertat” (time hasn’t spared them). We find them sitting next to their children, and in spite of having gotten older, they are still “senini ca-n prima zi” (as serene as they were the first time they met). However, the chorus of the song – “Se intampla oare sa ajungi sa iti gasesti/ o jumatate cu care toata viata sa traiesti” (Could it be possible to find that other half/ with whom to spend the rest of one’s life?) – keeps our emotions in check and implies that not everything is what it seems. While, on the one hand, the story we listened to might or might not be real, on the other hand, it could also be anyone’s story. The real question posed by the song is whether this scenario is still feasible within our present-day social milieu, given the fast- paced and ever changing society we live in. Of course, the answers to that question are as multiple as they are diverse.