Following the lead single ‘Care,’ ‘Hammer’ is a muscular, soaring anthem, which layers clipped guitar and mandolin strums with an ascending, floor-coating bass. “And I called the doctor and he said / There’s nothing wrong / And I called the pastor / And he said that love is strong,” Vu chants. While Hana isn’t religious, she is spiritual, and music and songwriting are a place where she goes to connect with her spirituality. “There is no answer / but I want one anyway,” she continues to probe, illustrating the great sense of seeking that pervades Romanticism. “I do plead with the world, or the universe, in writing,” Vu says of her writing process. “My writing of songs is where I feel inclined to ask questions and look for answers within myself. ‘Hammer’ is one of the first songs I wrote for this record. It’s one of those songs you write to yourself amidst existential crisis. Maybe that’s what all songs are.”

The song’s accompanying video, directed by Henry Kaplan, sees Vu moving through a series of seemingly infinite loops. The moments build to a crisis and ultimately: release. With camera direction partially inspired by a scene from the 1974 film The Conversation, the video doesn’t just repeat the same shot, but rather plays around with different start and end times, creating a feeling of jumping around within this repeated reality. Kaplan explains, “‘Hammer’ does the thing that I love most about Hana’s music: it expresses something primal, almost indescribable, about what it’s like to be alive. I wanted the video to somehow tap into that anxious, existential energy. I thought about what it’s like when you’re going through something, when every moment seems to loop endlessly in your brain until you manage to somehow find release. This innocent ‘thought’ led to Hana doing 50+ takes of herself running up to her jilted Scorpio ex’s door.”

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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:

1. Look Alive
2. Hammer
3. Alone
4. 22
5. Care
6. How it Goes
7. Dreams
8. Find Me Under Wilted Trees
9. Airplane
10. Play
11. I Draw a Heart
12. Love

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