'I can't stop watching this new teen drama. Then I learned about its backstory.'

If there's one thing you need to know about me, I am a sucker for a teen drama. The Summer I Turned Pretty? Devoured. Heartstopper? Sign me up.

So when my TikTok was suddenly filled with people talking about Prime Video's new series, The Runarounds, I knew I had to see what the fuss was about.

It's a little bit cringe, but so full of heart it's impossible not to love. Oh, and the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

Then I learned the real story behind the show, and that's when I went from liking it to being deep-in-the-TikTok-rabbit-hole-level obsessed.

Watch the trailer for The Runarounds. Post continues below.

Let me set the scene.

From the mastermind behind Outer Banks, The Runarounds follows 18-year-old North Carolina high school graduate Charlie Cooper (William Lipton), who's dreamed of being a rockstar since he was in nappies.

For the past year, he's been playing in a band called Futhermucker (classy, I know) with his best friends, singer and guitar player Neil "Buddha" Crosby (Axel Ellis) and guitarist Topher Park (Jeremy Yun).

Their drummer Pete Antuna (Maximo Salas) kind sucks. Scratch that, he really sucks.

So, they pick up the cocky yet incredibly talented new drummer Bez Willis (Zendé Murdock) and his anxious best friend, songwriter and bassist Wyatt Wysong (Jesse Golliher). Just like that, The Runarounds are born.

With the pressure of the future looming, Charlie decides they have one summer to make their music dream stick and defy the odds to become rock gods. All while he tries to win the attention of his longtime crush, star student Sophia Kinney (Lilah Pate).

Charlie (Will Lipton) decides he has one summer to make the band work. Image: Prime Video.

Now, before you happily press play, a warning: this show definitely has some flaws.

There are a few heavy side plots (think addiction struggles and money troubles) that feel like they're just there to add some classic "teen TV show" drama and don't get the depth they deserve.

And Charlie's long-term crush, Sophia? She's basically a character plucked straight from a Wattpad fanfiction — pretty, likeable, valedictorian, aspiring doctor, and with a tragic backstory involving a dead mum and an alcoholic dad. His pursuit of her is also… questionable at times.

There are plenty of moments of cringe, and it's definitely not reinventing the teen drama genre. But honestly, who am I to ruin the simple joy of a fun, wholesome show with a banging soundtrack by over-analysing it?

I was hooked from the very first episode.

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For me, there's no greater joy than when you can listen to a fictional band's music (AURORA from Daisy Jones & the Six is still in my rotation). So you can imagine my happiness when I discovered the band at the centre of The Runarounds isn't just a band for the show, they're actually a real-life group that's been playing together for years.

And the way they came together is even better than the show's storyline.

It all started with a simple casting call for Outer Banks.

Creator Jonas Pate needed a band to appear in the mystery show, but for years, he'd also had the idea for a new show centred on a teenage rock band. Instead of casting actors and teaching them to play, he wanted real musicians and used the hype of Outer Banks to bring his passion project to life.

Charlie (Lipton) and Sophia (Pate). Image: Prime Video.

The band recently broke down the timeline on the Zach Sang Show.

Back in 2020, childhood friends Lipton and Yun auditioned together — that's where they met Ellis, Golliher and Murdock. Pate chose the five of them out of some 5,000 submissions.

They got together for their first jam session in October that year but didn't know if the show would ever actually get made. As Ellis explained, "We just decided to try and continue to be a band… we just kept practising and writing music and bugging our director Jonas like, 'Hey, here's another song. Maybe this could work in that show thing we were talking about a couple years ago.'"

And it absolutely paid off.

The soundtrack is So. Good. Image: Prime Video.

They shot a pilot for The Runarounds in 2022, and the following year, they appeared in Outer Banks. But the bulk of the show wouldn't shoot until 2024. In the meantime, the boys kept playing at local venues and wrote all the songs that would eventually appear on the show.

As Pate told Metro Philadelphia

You can feel that authenticity when you watch the show. Sure, the boys aren't Hollywood-level actors, but given its most of their first roles, props to them.

They're endearing and charismatic and you can genuinely feel how much fun they had making this project. The soundtrack is full of indie-rock hits that have already made their way into my "on repeat" playlist.

And that's why, despite its flaws, The Runarounds is my latest must-watch recommendation. It's a show with a huge heart and a banging soundtrack you can tap along to around the house.

I'm already hoping for season two.

RELATED: If you love The Summer I Turned Pretty, here are 12 shows to watch next.

Feature image: Prime Video.