“I was thinking that New Years Eve is kind of everybody’s birthday you’re reflecting on your life and you have hopes for the future, but you’re ultimately sad every time the year passes and you aren’t who you wanted to be. Take the menacing ‘Everybody’s Birthday’: with striking vocals and subtly stubborn melodies that evoke Lorde and Lana Del Rey, she pulls you into a dimly-lit New Years Eve party that’s more depression than debauchery. But on her debut album ‘Public Storage’, Vu captures that disillusionment so vividly and viscerally that it’s brand new all over again. It’s an age-old feeling – superstars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish have encapsulated it on a mainstream level in recent years – and one that stings even harder after key years and moments have been lost to the pandemic. “Now I feel like I’m finally as old as I ever thought I would be, and I wanna be younger again.” “I really was trying to grow up all the time throughout my teenhood,” says the LA singer-songwriter, just out of bed and chatting via Zoom from her sunny home.

Now, at 21, she’s had to find that adulthood isn’t quite as freeing as it sounds. The way the intensity was built up really brought to home the fact that Hana Vu is hopefully on the verge of what is to be a long and artistic career and is as genuine as they come.Hana Vu always wanted to be older. “World’s Worst” and “Keeper” were also fantastic to hear live, especially after listening to them so long as the recorded album versions. For example, the way “My House” begins with a mood like a lullaby only to knock you over the head with the powerful guitar rifts as she sings about the end of the world. There’s still a great deal of strength in the way the songs evolve into fruition both live and on album. Though there are pedal effects to emphasize the presence of some chord progressions, one gets a slightly more stripped down sense of the power she has when she belts out her lyrics. the smoothed over luscious vocals found on the album. Live, the main difference within her 45 minute set was that the songs came off a little more raw and edgy with the vocals vs. Even when she laughed and, when prompted by the audience, said she guessed her favorite food was soup, you really felt you were in the presence of someone special and deserving of all the accolades. Though Vu performs with a drummer, guitarist and bassist (while she herself plays mainly guitar and occasionally bass without missing a beat), it is hard to deny that her presence alone is what makes the magic. She thanked the audience several times for their gushing applause and talked about how much it meant to her to have such a warn showing of adoration on the first night of her tour. Hana Vu was also quite grateful for her packed audience at Schubas Tavern after her original tour date was moved because of the pandemic. Hana Vu is the real deal when it comes to someone who can be commanding yet also creative and it was a real treat to see these stellar songs performed live. Not only the album rich in lyrics and sound but the songs also manage to sound fresh, which is a rarity in this day and age. Out of all the musicians who put out albums last year, Hana Vu’s Public Storage showed the most promise.

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