Q&A: Caroline Romano Shares Her Next Chapter of Life in Her Upcoming EP ‘A Brief Epic’
AT 21, LIFE FEELS MOMENTARY FOR — Caroline Romano. Her upcoming EP, A Brief Epic, being released on July 28, tells the tale of woe of past summer’s lovers. This is the kind of EP you listen to on repeat — the sooner you learn the lyrics, the sooner you can scream it with your friends. A Brief Epic is cathartic, not only for those who have loved and lost or gained romantic partners, but those who have experienced the same with friendships, memories, and dreams.
With light sounds and dark lyrics, Romano transports listeners through a hazy and idyllic string of memories, questioning whether love is a dream or a nightmare. Beginning with “Heartbreak You Can Hear,” Romano reminds us how all-consuming our first loves are. Wrapping up with “Then I Woke Up,” she details how it feels to do just that: waking up after a period of time that felt like a dream, however tragic and beautiful. It’s truly a cohesive EP from top to bottom.
Luna got the chance to chat with Romano, as we discussed what material we were currently consuming. Read below to learn more about Romano’s A Brief Epic, how Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles inspired the album, and what song she’s most excited for listeners to hear.
LUNA: Congrats on your new single, “This House,” and upcoming release of your first EP, A Brief Epic. Can you walk me through the process of choosing singles? How many, which ones, and in what order?
ROMANO: I am very much a linear story person, and I kind of like to set everything up in the best way for the specific storyline. So this EP I’m putting out is six songs, so I knew I couldn’t do more than three singles but [that] I'd like to do at least three. I’m bad at picking commercial music. I’m too attached to my songs and those I like the most or feel the strongest about. But I started with the one that was the least critical to the storyline, “Guts,” which was the most fast-paced pop song off the record. It was a good soft launch of the overall vibe. The second single was the other extreme, the slowest song on the record. More summery.
“This House” … I don’t think you can hear the rest of the EP without hearing this song first. I also just really love it and wanted to put it out — it was just time. I asked my friends, “Would you listen to this by choice?” They liked this one the best too.
LUNA: I really liked the second single, too, “Mississippi Air.” It's a ballad in the car with a windows-down vibe. I feel like this EP as a whole is versatile in terms of environment — it will become a staple go-to of mine this summer, for sure.
ROMANO: You might be in a consistent state of never being happy but it'll make you feel something.
LUNA: How does it feel to almost have your EP out?
ROMANO: I am very ready to have it out because I wrote the majority of these songs a whole summer ago. I am ready to show myself that I have moved on a little bit, even though the project is the antithesis of that. I am ready to have something out that feels a little more like me currently.
This is the most current and mature project of mine, whereas before I had songs from different stages of my life. A Brief Epic features songs all stemming from the same experience.
LUNA: How does this EP feel compared to the last album?
ROMANO: I view each project as a chapter. This is chapter two. Chapter one is a collection of songs from ages 16–19. That was a coming-of-age chapter. These are much more specific stories. And momentary — but that's how life has felt for me at 21, everything is very momentary. I am equally as excited.
LUNA: The last time you spoke with Luna you mentioned that this EP would be “a bit lighter, prettier, and more tragic.” How were you able to find a perfect blend of the three?
ROMANO: Sonically, it's a much lighter collection. It’s a “pretty listen.” But lyrically it’s heavier for the most part and just tragic — that's the word I know for it.
LUNA: I’m a firm believer in listening to EPs and albums in order. How did you choose your tracklist order?
ROMANO: I didn't write it in order, but listening back to the last song I wrote, “Then I Woke Up,” I was like, “Wait, I know this story — there is an order to this.” I went back to six of my favorite songs I had written during this time and realized that I had written the inverse story of meeting someone and how it all happened.
LUNA: How did you come up with the title, A Brief Epic?
ROMANO: I came up with the title because of Greek mythology and its prevalent influence. The sole experience of last year’s summer relationship was very important to me in comparison to other experiences and memories. And he gave me a book the first week we hung out … The Song of Achilles (the book mentioned in the voice memo at the beginning of track four, “St. George”). I really started to view him in the light of a demi-god, and I felt like just a person next to him. So playing off the Greek mythology themes of that time, it was such a grand and beautiful experience, but it was something over the span of four months. It felt like nothing. I was talking to my producer one day and said, “It just feels like this brief epic thing…” and he was like, “That’s cool!” and I said, “Yeah, it is kinda cool — guess that’s it.”
LUNA: Were there any other forms of media that influenced the EP?
ROMANO: The movies and TV shows we watched together, like Call Me By Your Name and Normal People… There was this accidental foreshadowing. I wanted the EP to feel cinematic, and even with EP art and marketing I wanted the content to feel and look cinematic like I was on a set somewhere.
I also have The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo — he left that here, too. Which is referenced in another song, “This House”: “So sad and pretty, like an actress from the ’50s, she will die if you’re not here.”
LUNA: What movies would you pair your EP with?
ROMANO: Call Me By Your Name, The Song of Sway Lake. Any heartbroken summer love movie, pretty much.
LUNA: This EP was intentionally heavier lyrically than the last. How has your songwriting changed, and what has caused it?
ROMANO: A bit of everything: growing up and trying to mature. I write music every day so it becomes a matter of wanting to beat your own intelligence. I'm a fan of songwriters like Noah Kahan and Sufjan Stevens, where things feel very witty but also easily said. There is a simplicity to it that is somewhat harder to achieve. I wasn’t able to do that with my first album because I was younger and wrote lyrics by word-vomiting. Thiis EP was much more intentionally simple.
LUNA: Who are some newer influences you’ve picked up recently?
ROMANO: I’ve been really into Charlotte Sands — I think she’s a dope artist. I find Twenty-One Pilots to be witty and cool, Sara Bareilles, and MUNA.
LUNA: These songs all feel like diary entries — I found it cathartic to listen to. Is that how you found the writing process?
ROMANO: Cathartic is the only … term to describe it. I tried not to write about this situation every single time, but until I got it all out that's what I had to keep writing about. The first song I wrote was “St. George,” shortly after this thing had ended and I went in with my producer and wrote line by line with no words. Because when you are that deep into something, you just have to get it all out.
LUNA: What was the hardest song to write?
ROMANO: The hardest to write was “Guts” because it was a deviation from the rest of the EP. It needed to sound not clinically depressed. And “Then I Woke Up,” because this experience was hard to summarize … It was trying to move on from everything but truly [and] completely.
LUNA: One of the most standout lyrics for me was “You look like Achilles in his prime, how dare I try to be your heel?” Do you have a favorite lyric or line from the EP?
ROMANO: The same: “You look like Achilles” — that's how it felt, and I really like innocence being a demise with age-gap issues and someone having the upper hand. The line goes, “I’m a good girl, that’s what you say,” which sounds so stupid to say. I hated that term for so long after I was told that.
And then in “St. George,” I like “You said you’re sorry I said don't ever say that again” because I did say that to him.
LUNA: What song are you most excited for everyone to hear?
ROMANO: I’m most excited for people to hear “St. George,” but I know full and well it's gonna be the one that people are underwhelmed by. It's just one that has felt like a long time coming to be released. It was a 30-minute songwriting session. It feels the most purely authentic to what I was feeling at the moment. I shaped it the least in terms of making it into a song.
LUNA: It made the list, though, so it must be good enough for that! What song are you most excited to play live?
ROMANO: “Then I Woke Up,” because I have played it live and I loved it. But also “This House” because it starts simple and builds and it’s so sick live.
LUNA: When can people see you next?
ROMANO: July! In Nashville. The goal is to get outside of Nashville this year. It's been a fun time getting the live show together so I’m ready to take it around town.
A Brief Epic is available everywhere on July 28.
Listen to “This House” out now!
Tickets to Caroline’s show at The East Room July 10th!
CONNECT WITH caroline romano
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