Bringing a new perspective to modernity, romance, and young adulthood, Caroline Romano, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, is following her 2023 EP, A Brief Epic, with a new single titled “girl in a china shop”. A first hand look into Romano’s experiences of broken friendships, relationships, and hearts, this release is a delicate balancing act between explosive choruses and stripped-back verses. 

On “girl in a china shop”, Romano shares,“I often feel like I break everything I touch. I’ve come to view myself as one major juxtaposition. One thing I’ve learned is that as life moves on, things get broken in the process. Whether it’s relationships, or my own heart, I’ve come to realize that it’s all too easy to shatter either one by my own hand. At times it’s left me feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and with my own footing. ‘girl in a china shop’ is my attempt at acknowledging that, in a way that summarizes the chaotic feeling that is navigating myself and others' emotions.”

Thirteen Magazine was able to interview Caroline during this exciting period of her career and learn more about her accomplishments, “girl in a china shop”, and what’s to come for this rising star. Read more below:

THIRTEEN: Congrats on your single “girl in a china shop”! Could you tell us a little bit more about the song’s explosive chorus juxtaposed to its stripped back verses?

CAROLINE ROMANO: Thank you! The whole concept of “girl in a china shop” really centers around my fear that there’s this volatile intensity to everything I do.  I wanted the song sonically to match those emotions, going from one extreme contradiction to another.  The verses are polite and delicate and calculated, while the chorus is loud and messy and desperate. In the most extreme of cases, that’s how I sometimes feel, and I wanted the song to reflect that.

THIRTEEN: What’s the story behind “girl in a china shop”? How did it come to be?

CAROLINE ROMANO: I wrote down the idea for “girl in china shop” a few weeks after I turned twenty two.  I felt older but emotionally younger and more immature than ever before. I was frustrated with feeling like everything I touch, even with the best of intentions, shatters in my hands.  Whether it was my own emotions, or others, relationships, or day to day things, I just felt like I couldn’t get it right.  I brought the idea into a session I had one day with Todd Tran and Michael Van Wagoner.  It really felt like a therapy session more than anything.  We just talked about those contradicting sides of ourselves we experience when we’re young and wrote them down.  It was probably one of my favorite sessions to date. 

THIRTEEN: There’s a heavy focus on things, relationships, etc. being broken. In what ways do you try to remedy the things in your life that are or feel broken?

CAROLINE ROMANO: I can’t say I necessarily have figured out the best ways to remedy what I break, but I always start by apologizing and trying to piece back together the things that I can.  Whether its for myself, for someone else, or a particular circumstance, I know it takes just putting my best foot forward the next day and doing everything I can to do better.  I try to remind myself that we’re all terribly human and things breaking in the process of life are inevitable.  That’s part of the reason I wrote “girl in a china shop”, as sort of a treaty with my own mind.  I ask for forgiveness and pray and work towards being better tomorrow.

THIRTEEN: What is your background as a musician? How did you begin making music?

CAROLINE ROMANO: I started playing guitar when I was around eleven, and I started writing songs around the age of twelve.  I’d take my journal entries I’d write after school and put them to  chords on the guitar.  I asked my parents to  take me to  Nashville for my thirteenth birthday to play open mic nights around the city.  My first time playing live, I instantly fell in love and I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I kept coming back to  Nashville every few months after that to  try and get into sessions with different writers and producers, and I’ve been doing it ever since.  It’s my favorite thing in the world. 

THIRTEEN: You’ve been creating a steady stream of released music since 2017. What do you wish you could say to that younger version of yourself? What would you do differently?

CAROLINE ROMANO: I’d probably tell myself to take a breath.  I’d make sure I’d take the time to  look around and hold tight to  what I believe in, because it’s going to be a wild next few years.  I don’t really know if I’d do much differently other than make sure to  take the time to  stop and enjoy the little victories more along the way.  It really is a lifelong marathon, and 2017 year old me was just at the starting line of it all. 

THIRTEEN: You’re only 22 years old and already have a long list of accomplishments under your belt. What else are you hoping to achieve in the future?

CAROLINE ROMANO: There are so many things I want to achieve in the near future.  I want to  tour.  I want to put out an album that changes people’s lives in the ways many different albums have changed mine.  I want to write better songs every single day, and I want to  live a life that I love writing about.  There’s not a ceiling to  what I want to  do. 

THIRTEEN: As of late, Nashville seems to be the place for musicians to go to take their career more seriously. Has being based in Nashville helped or hurt your career?

CAROLINE ROMANO:  Being in Nashville has definitely helped my career in too many ways to  count.  It’s provided me with an incredible community of musicians and creatives to work with, and it’s given me the opportunity to  make connections that have changed my life inside and outside of the music industry.  It’s grown so much in the time that I’ve been here, and it’s only getting bigger.  I love Nashville, and I’m so incredibly blessed to be here. 

THIRTEEN: What inspires you to create music? Does your motivation come from life experiences, other artists, certain emotions? Or something else entirely?

CAROLINE ROMANO: It’s a bit of everything I suppose.  I like to say that life begs to  be written.  Whether it’s my own experiences, or observations, emotions, or just the innate desire to write, I’m constantly finding new outlets from which I’m inspired.  Songwriting is secondhand to  breathing for me, I don’t really know what I’d do without it.  I just love writing about it all. 

THIRTEEN: Do you have a specific process of bringing a song from an idea to streaming platforms? 

CAROLINE ROMANO: I usually come up with an idea or a line for a song by myself or in a session, and I pretty much start there.  Writing the song looks a little different every time.  Sometimes it’s written in minutes, and other times it’s written across the course of several months.  However, once it’s finished I’ll bring either a demo or an acoustic scratch to  a production session, and it’s built out from there.  Once it’s mixed and mastered, it’s then a matter of creating artwork for the project and submitting it all to  distribution. 

THIRTEEN: What can we expect to see from you in the new year?

CAROLINE ROMANO: There will be a lot of new music and more live shows in 2024!  I’m very excited!