Yeah, you need a love interest, just like all the other MCU movies have had and will have. There's no amount of punching or talking to Aunt May that can show you that emotionally vulnerable side of the character plus attends to the romantic notion of the entire audience, and no narrative device that shows these things as quickly.
Keeping it fresh/new is actually kind of easy, just look to the rest of the MCU:
1) Use a love interest that eveyrone's not familiar with, so they aren't sure what to expect. In the comics Spidey has had Liz Allan, Debra Whitman, Betty Brant, Felicia Hardy even Carlie Cooper, Michelle Gonzales, heck, Sophia Sanduval, Silver Sable, Firestar or a character from the comics he hasn't had a relationship with before: Gloria Grant, Silk, Sha Shan, Janine Godbe, Aracely, Dusk, Jessica Drew, Anya Corazon, Dagger... Options aplenty. No need to fear/hone in on Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy.
2) Don't use the 'can they be together' story beat, and you instantly aren't repeating the love interest story from the last five Spidey films. They can be together. Why would she even want to, though? Cuz he's Spider-Man? So Spidey is dating a girl who likes him just because he has powers? Does he want that? There are others: Cap had a girl he just didn't have the guts to ask, IM had a girl he just didn't appreciate, Thor had a girl but he was busy, Hulk had a girl but his powers were a direct threat to her, Starlord had girl that didn't trust his Pelvic Sorcery. Keep going: Scott Pilgrim had a girl but had to fight her evil Ex-Boyfriends, Mr. Smith had a girl, but she was working for a rival spy group, Emmet had a girl, but she was in love with Batman.
3) By not intentionally subverting this tired Spider-Man trope you're missing an opportunity. You can make a great Spidey film without a love interest, but if you include a love interest who intentionally lampshades how dumb the trope is, your movie is that much better. So why make a worse movie? Fear of the future? Past pain? Love is not the motivation in such cases.