Hana Vu announces her new album, Romanticism, out May 3 via Ghostly International, and releases its lead single and video, ‘Care.’
The follow-up to her 2021 debut album Public Storage, Romanticism aches with depth and intimacy, expanding on Vu’s contemplative, coming-of-age indie-pop that mourns the impermanence of youth. Vu and Jackson Phillips reunite here, co-producing songs both lush and loud, reminiscent of guitar-heavy late-aughts indie rock, and expansively futuristic with layered synth bass. They pulse with meaning and jolt with playfulness, anchored by Vu’s powerful, sonorous voice. “I’m just trying to convey my perspective as boldly as possible. To succinctly crystallize how it feels to be young, but also to be deeply sad.”
Of ‘Care,’ Vu comments, “I wrote this song while staring out the window wondering if everyone considered things as much or more or less than I do. Also ruminating on whether or not it mattered. Thoughts and feelings might be an eternally individual experience.”
The song’s video, directed by Maegan Houang, expands upon the album’s Romantic era-inspired visuals, nodding to Artemisia Gentileschi paintings “Judith Beheading Holofernes” and “Judith, Her Maid and Holofernes Head.” The video follows the story of Vu’s murder, moving backward in time from the moment the cops discover her discarded head to the moment right before her death. The camera always stays focused on Hana as she performs, never seeing the killer beyond his hands or his shadow. This video isn’t about the killer, but about the meaning of care: Did he care so much to murder her or did he never care for her at all?
Romanticism:
- Look Alive
- Hammer
- Alone
- 22
- Care
- How it Goes
- Dreams
- Find Me Under Wilted Trees
- Airplane
- Play
- I Draw a Heart
- Love
