If you plan on spending your Wednesday evening in a pit of sad girl despair, we suggest you do so along to the sounds of San Fermin’s “Tired of Loving You”. A soft-sounding pop tune that ushers in melodic verses and a tortured romance-centric narrative, the pop band have served you with the ultimate heartbreak anthem today, and it is an anthem that you won’t be able to take off of repeat.

“I set out to write a love song actually, which I rarely do,” explains the collective. “It was called ‘Won’t Get Tired Of Loving You’. But I showed it to Allen and he didn’t buy it. We ended up getting rid of the ‘won’ts’ and it became much rawer and more heartfelt. It’s about falling out of love with someone and not knowing why, which is one of those deeply sad things you can never really explain. There’s a lyric towards the end that kind of summed it up, ‘just because I’m empty, doesn’t mean that I have room’.”

Upon the release of the new track, the band took some time to chat to Wonderland about the core of “Tired of Loving You” and New York’s influence. Head below to enjoy our chat with San Fermin…

What is the inspiration behind “Tired of Loving You”, What do you want your fans to take away from this single? What does it mean to you personally?
I set out to write a love song actually, which I rarely do. It was called “Won’t Get Tired Of Loving You.” But I showed it to Allen and he didn’t buy it. We ended up getting rid of the “won’t”s and it became much rawer and more heartfelt. It’s about falling out of love with someone and not knowing why, which is one of those deeply sad things you can never really explain. There’s a lyric towards the end that kind of summed it up, “just because I’m empty, doesn’t mean that I have room.”

How does it differ from your previous work?
These are the first San Fermin songs that Allen is producing, as well as singing, so he really shaped the sound. When we started talking about these new songs, he challenged me to write more directly, to rely less on the arrangement and focus more on the bones of the song, just saying the thing you want to say. I think he actually made me sit at a piano and write them, which, normally I write at my computer with a bunch of software instruments and stuff. But this is a new direction, more classic songs, a bit more austere.

Can you share a bit about your songwriting process? And what do you think makes a good song?
I think good music comes from conflict. There’s that thing, “you sing it when you can’t say it,” which is cliché but I think it’s kind of true… for me the impulse to write always comes from being pulled strongly in two different directions about something. I write the music because it’s the only way to actually work that conflict out.

How has NYC influenced the music you make?
Even though I’ve lived in New York for ten years now, I’m just now finally starting to feel like this is really my home. We were on tour for so long; the city sometimes felt like more of a home base between trips. But during the pandemic, I’ve really settled into the neighbourhood and the rhythm of living here. Obviously, it’s amazing to live in a place with such a rich creative community. It keeps you from settling into a rut— there’s always someone doing something new and exciting that sparks your own creative impulse.

How have you been spending your pandemic time?
Allen and I built a recording studio together in Fort Greene, which has been amazing. It’s the home base for our record label, Better Company, which we also started during the pandemic. I did a lot of writing, both for the band and for some other projects. But hopefully, at this point,
we can start thinking about life beyond pandemic time? I’m starting to feel the itch to tour again, which is a good sign, I think.