After taking fans to her woodsy home state of Wisconsin on her 2023 album, singer Carlie Hanson is bringing us along for a journey into the unknown. Hanson is anointing the release of her new, largely self-produced EP, too late to cry, with a video for the standout track, “Covering Faces,” which is set in Tokyo — a city she hadn’t visited until she shot the video.
The semi-spontaneous visit came about after she connected with one of the video’s co-directors, Erik Rojas. “When I came across Erik’s work, I was in love with his style. We connected and spoke for a while when he told me he was going to be in Japan during the timeframe we had to get this video done,” Hanson shares with PAPER. “He explained that he’d been going there for over 10 years and just how much I’d fall in love with it there if we could make this happen. It felt like where I wanted to be, a place I’d never been, away from everything I knew.”
Moving through quiet morning streets, standing idly in the thrall of Shibuya’s neon madness, finding catharsis in a karaoke booth, the video — premiering today on PAPER — shows Hanson searching for clarity amidst the confusion of being so far from home. That jives with the lyrics, which circle around a deep sense that Hanson is looking for resolution. “I bet you wish you knew me now/ You’re sorry now/ You’re covering your faces,” she sings with a sense of both heartbreak and closure. But even as she addresses an unnamed presence who scorned her, she returns to her own confidence, singing again and again, “I really bet you wish you knew me now.”
Hanson’s search for closure is made all the more meaningful when considering all that she’s experienced in the music industry. She was only 17 years old when she broke through via her quiet smash, “Only One” which caught the attention of Taylor Swift, who added it to her Apple Music playlist of favorites. Since then, Hanson has collaborated with The Chainsmokers and toured with the likes of Troye Sivan and Kim Petras.
Now, Hanson is in a new era of her career. She parted with her label and has taught herself music production via YouTube tutorials. In March 2024, she left Los Angeles to go home to Wisconsin “to balance out the scales in some way, to reconnect with [her] family, friends, and regroup, after being in LA for almost 7 years.”
“These last few years have been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s been hard for me to find my grounding,” Hanson reflects. “[But now], here we are, 2025, and I feel like somewhat of a nomad,” she adds. “I don’t know where I’ll go next, but I don’t feel like any one place is my home right now. I don’t know what my grounding is, and it feels good.” With the release of too late to cry, Hanson is sure to be on to her next chapter. And even though her definition of home is still in flux, her searching spirit is sure to carry her on.
Photography: Stefan Kohli
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