PREMIERE: Romanie Refuses to Go Under in Video for ‘Cannot Have It All’

October 16, 2023

Belgian-born, Naarm-based musician Romanie will release her debut album, Are We There Yet?, on Thursday, 26th October. The album is preceded by the singles, ‘Fortune Teller’, ‘Are We There Yet?’ and ‘Cannot Have It All’. Music Feeds is premiering the video for the latter, directed by Marcus Coblyn – watch it below.

‘Cannot Have It All’ stemmed from a School Of Song workshop Romanie attended, facilitated by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews. The song is narrated in the third person and focuses on the character, Jean, who’s unable to look too far into the future without getting depressed.

Romanie – ‘Cannot Have It All’

“I was thinking about my life at the time and how it always felt like whenever something was going well, something bad was on the horizon too,” Romanie said of the song’s thematic focus. “Then I came up with a fictional character that was living all these experiences of deception and change.”

‘Cannot Have It All’, like the rest of Are We There Yet?, was recorded at Pakenham’s Treehouse Studio with Romanie sharing co-production duties with Alex O’Gorman (Juice Webster, Angie McMahon). The song features Lachlan O’Kane on drums and piano.

“We were jokingly saying [O’Kane] was like Elton John and he played as if he were, and [O’Gorman] literally screamed, ‘This part is staying in.’ I have very fond memories of recording that song, everything came so naturally,” Romanie said.

Romanie will celebrate the release of Are We There Yet? with an in-store performance at Rowdy’s Records on Friday, 27th October. The official album launch happens just up at the road at Northcote Social Club on Thursday, 16th November. Romanie will then embark on a run of east coast headline shows in February and March 2024.