Rina Sawayama General Discussion Thread

[Crystal <3]

For those unfamiliar, Rina Sawayama is a British and Japanese singer/songwriter and actress, who is known for her multidiverse talent in her music through her inclusion of numerous genres ranged amongst her projects. So far she's released 2 full length albums and one extended play. Discuss.

 

[Crystal <3]

Thought i'd open a general discussion thread for her to discuss her music as well as post updates on a RS3, which feels a little overdue for some reason. I remember between 2020-22 everyone was crazy about her and then she suddenly went under the radar after her sophmore dropped. Not sure why, but I relistened to Hold The Girl recently, still an amazing record idgaf. I've been a HTG defender since release day. For those who are unfamiliar with Rina, allow me to present some essential reccomendations

 

[Kesha Slays]

Just now, Crystal &lt;3 said:

Thought i'd open a general discussion thread for her to discuss her music as well as post updates on a RS3, which feels a little overdue for some reason. I remember between 2020-22 everyone was crazy about her and then she suddenly went under the radar after her sophmore dropped. Not sure why, but I relistened to Hold The Girl recently, still an amazing record idgaf. I've been a HTG defender since release day. For those who are unfamiliar with Rina, allow me to present some essential reccomendations

 

love miss Rina! Hold The Girl is a pretty solid record! I loved This Hell as a lead, at the time everyone was releasing singles with durations so short, but This Hell was over 3 almost 4 minutes long and had such a cool pop-rock bad b*tch vibe to it! I can't fathom why Hold The Girl didn't blow up either....

[napoleon]

The amount of time she's taking to release anything of her own since the last album is insane for this day and age. She's kind of disappeared.

[suchangarb]

i think i remember reading somewhere the conflict she has with her record label was complicating the release of new music.. not sure if that's accurate or just a rumour.

does anybody know anything about this?

[Crystal <3]

1 hour ago, suchangarb said:

i think i remember reading somewhere the conflict she has with her record label was complicating the release of new music.. not sure if that's accurate or just a rumour.

does anybody know anything about this?

Yeah i read earlier that she said in an interview her label won't let her release another album. Notice how it was around the same time she called out Matt Healy at Glastobury too. She did recently post herself in the studio so maybe whatever she was working on got postponed until her label was "in the clear" if yk what I mean. I hope she drops new music this year, solo stuff hopefully!

Also a side note that this isn't the first time Dirty Hit (Rina's current label) were in some controversy. Two lesser known artists, formally signed, accused the label of racism, same topic Rina addressed in her performance at Glastonbury, and got dropped. I guess to them, they couldn't do much to damage the label's image as they aren't as known as somebody like Rina, who ofc caused a bigger outroar. 

2 hours ago, napoleon said:

The amount of time she's taking to release anything of her own since the last album is insane for this day and age. She's kind of disappeared.

100%. Given how she spoke out about how she was being prolonged by her label and ofc the Glastonbury performance I think the whole reason was to wait until the public had forgotten about the whole callout. I think they're responsible for her absence. 

[Crystal <3]

2 hours ago, Kesha Slays said:

love miss Rina! Hold The Girl is a pretty solid record! I loved This Hell as a lead, at the time everyone was releasing singles with durations so short, but This Hell was over 3 almost 4 minutes long and had such a cool pop-rock bad b*tch vibe to it! I can't fathom why Hold The Girl didn't blow up either....

Hold The Girl WAS mostly critically acclaimed (as it should be) and peaked at Number 3 on the album charts in the UK, but still the fan reception and other baffles me. It's not an incredibly creative and chaotic record like her previous record, but it does maintain her unique genre diversity with very respectable songwriting. The fact people even slandered some of the record was crazy. Phantom antis DNI.

[suchangarb]

1 hour ago, Crystal &lt;3 said:

Yeah i read earlier that she said in an interview her label won't let her release another album. Notice how it was around the same time she called out Matt Healy at Glastobury too. She did recently post herself in the studio so maybe whatever she was working on got postponed until her label was "in the clear" if yk what I mean. I hope she drops new music this year, solo stuff hopefully!

Also a side note that this isn't the first time Dirty Hit (Rina's current label) were in some controversy. Two lesser known artists, formally signed, accused the label of racism, same topic Rina addressed in her performance at Glastonbury, and got dropped. I guess to them, they couldn't do much to damage the label's image as they aren't as known as somebody like Rina, who ofc caused a bigger outroar. 

100%. Given how she spoke out about how she was being prolonged by her label and ofc the Glastonbury performance I think the whole reason was to wait until the public had forgotten about the whole callout. I think they're responsible for her absence. 

ah yeah that's what it was.. it's a shame because all this time of not releasing music will inevitably affect her in the long term as people move on to other artists...... the biggest sabotage for her speaking up. if they don't want to work with her anymore, just drop her and stop making her life a living hell......😭

also i wonder if there are different clauses for features, cause she did do the paris hilton and salute features..... which i also loved!

but yeah i agree, HTG is an incredible album! i also don't understand why people don't like it tbh.. some of my friends loved her debut but not HTG and claimed she had changed too much and was trying to be gaga so much(???) which i never quite understood myself... but oh well........ 

[Ice Prince]

I love all this Hold the Girl appreciation! Even if Sawayama is much more groundbreaking and unique if you will, I find myself revisiting Hold the Girl much more often. I mean, come on, Holy (Til You Let Me Go) is my favourite Rina song ever, and also you have Frankenstein, Your Age, Forgiveness, the title track, Phantom, Hurricanes... it's such a solid pop record. I will never understand how it never became the hit collection it should've been.

I can't wait for her third album to be released, but tbh I don't think it's coming until like next year maybe? I hope I'm wrong and she surprises us with RS3 this summer or something.

[Crystal <3]

6 hours ago, suchangarb said:

claimed she had changed too much and was trying to be gaga so much(???)

help WHAT

[Ice Prince]

4 hours ago, Crystal &lt;3 said:

help WHAT

Oh yeah I remember those claims lmao, about the time she released Lucid

[Crystal <3]

2 hours ago, Ice Prince said:

Oh yeah I remember those claims lmao, about the time she released Lucid

how is she comparable to gaga help me....

[Ice Prince]

11 hours ago, Crystal &lt;3 said:

how is she comparable to gaga help me....

IKR?????

I mean, aside from some similarities in her most obviously pop songs (Holy, This Hell, Catch Me in the Air, Lucid, Hold the Girl), there's not really like, an actual copy-pasting? It's pop music so the reminiscence will be there but saying she wanted her Gaga moment was a stretch indeed.

The most I remember was that Lucid was produced by BloodPop, who just had produced Chromatica, and that's where most of the comments were stemming from. Again, it's pop music, but that's about it.