Romanticism

Hannah Wu

Romanticism

Ghostly International

06 May 2024
Web Exclusive

By Caleb Campbell

There is a certain rose-colored magic imparted to adolescence by those who left it behind. The days of your youth are meant to be the best of your life, the days you'll look back on and treasure long after they've faded into the background. As the old saying goes, “youth is wasted on the young”. Yet all these platitudes seem to result in a weight hanging over your head, a reminder that you could be doing more, seeing more, making more, all while you don't have the time, money or energy to do any of the above.

Seemingly, such concerns should not apply to Hannah Wu. If there's anyone who's made the most of her youth, it's her. She toured Los Angeles at 14, released her debut EP in 2018, and released her debut album, Public storage, in 2021, turning heads with a fuzzy and fractured collection of indie rock. Almost three years later, she returns with her new second album, Romanticismand wonders what she has made of herself. Romanticism represents a searching and existential turn for Vu, however, it is not a quiet or isolated listen. As he describes it, the record seeks to “concisely crystallize what it feels like to be young, but also deeply sad.”

Unsurprisingly, Romanticism is about big questions and bigger emotions, following Hana Vu as she unravels the intertwined themes of aging, purpose, and heartbreak. When you're young, love and loss can feel like the sum total of everything that matters in your world. Instead of playing down those feelings, Vu amplifies them, extracting the melodrama from her lyrics and impassioned vocal performances. The opener, 'Look Alive', brings this dramatic thrust to the fore from the record's opening moments. Vu sings, backed by a great wave of strings, chords and keyboards: “There's no song in my heart / Like I thought there was / When I was young and I fell apart / There's no air in my lungs / 'Cause my breath's changed / And now I am a ghost of what I was.'

On more than one occasion, Vu refers to her youth in the past tense. There's an almost playful element to these moments, as Vu is no doubt self-aware enough to realize the humor in the “I'm just getting old / I'm only 22” confession. But as silly as the idea of ​​growing old at 22 may seem, it does reflect a very real sentiment, especially for someone coming of age in the age of COVID, global turmoil and climate collapse. There is little opportunity to be young and naive as you watch your future being stolen in front of you.

Much of the record is about Vu navigating these emotions, searching for meaning in the shifting maze of young adulthood. One of the most moving lyrics comes as Vu asks on “Airplane,” “Do you remember getting old? / Can you tell me what this is about? / And at the end of the endless summer / I have no plans to hang out / Change the song I think I've heard it before / And I don't feel the same as when it's over.” During the disc, Vu is in a transient, liminal state. The people around her change, romances fade and the things that once brought joy no longer light up her life in the same way. All these emotions coalesce into very human portraits of sadness, worry and heartbreak, punctuated with a bare confessional edge: “And I'm so afraid of ending up / Alone / Again / And I don't know how to make you be / But I don't want to be alone ».

However, while most of the album comes steeped in uncertain thoughts, it rarely feels bad. In fact, more than any of her previous releases, Romanticism is full of hooks and lively energy, finding Vu evolving into a sleek, carbon-fueled and propulsive style of indie rock, touching on grunge, folk and synth pop along the way. The resulting record is laced with intense and anthemic moments – the shimmering synth tones of 'Play', the soaring layered vocals of 'Dreams' and the muscular, crushing instrumentals of 'Find Me Under Wilted Trees'. Vocally, Vu sounds assured and confident even as she explores feelings of overwhelming uncertainty, confessing that “I'll hold onto a love until it's dust” on “How It Goes.”

What Romanticism The best is to gather all the emotions of Hana Vu into a dizzying rush of excitement, beauty and tragedy. The results play with the traditional definition of the word. such as the 19th century art movement, Romanticism primarily driven by intuition, passion and emotion, now filtered through a distinct Gen-Z experience. Even if the record's themes or lyrics play a touch dramatic, Vu eases into the melodrama of every soaring harmony and pounding guitar chord, seizing the time when each swirl of emotion felt new and powerful. ()

Author Rating: 7.5/10