Rina Sawayama’s Debut Album is Gay Heaven.
Crammed into a relatively small converted church space at the 02 Ritz in Manchester, it’s unbelievable that she’s the support act as the crowd chants her name. We’re here to see Charli XCX, and while the performance is an auditory feast of robotic, clink-clonk rave-music bliss, Miss ‘Cyber Stockholm Syndrome’ makes the stage her own beforehand, appearing out of nowhere like an ethereal woodland-nymph, giving us a short but sweet set that leaves us sweating, dry-mouthed and in love.
Some of you may know of a London-born, Cambridge-educated model turned singer by the name of Rina, but a lot of people still don’t; that should change with the release of her debut album ‘SAWAYAMA.’
Much of the singer’s first inklings of fame were manifested through the release of the song ‘Where U Are,’ followed by shortly by the hit-filled, ‘Rina’ EP. The song discusses talking to someone online, and having those feelings of warmth and togetherness despite both parties being completely alone. A lot of her work seems to focus on the warped reality we live in through social media, Cyber Stockholm Syndrome conveying the anxieties that can come when we’re faced with real human contact due to the effects of technology. The chorus chimes, ‘Came here on my own, party on my phone, came here on my own and I start to feel alone.’
With a futuristic pop and RnB infused discography; the singer is hard to pin down. She does not adhere to one genre. The album echoes TLC, Britney, Tatu. It’s all over the place in the best possible way.
The singer is not shy of breaking the mould when it comes to lyrical content in her songs, ‘Bad Friend’ at first seeming as though it was written about a lover, through contemplative piano and its lyrics ‘We ran through the bright Tokyo lights, nothing to lose Summer of 2012, burnt in my mind.’ The chorus takes on a different shape, working essentially as an apology to everyone in her life for being shitty at going through with plans. This is my favourite song on the album, (does this mean I’m flakey, too? Sorry everyone.) But really, it’s the over the top auto-tune and vocal layering in the chorus that gets me. You’d be a robot if it didn’t make you want to dance and cry simultaneously. On Instagram live, the singer states, ‘This song finishes me every time, and it’s my own song.’ Who can blame her?
Then there’s the self-awareness. With Sawayama being born in Japan, this album references the country a lot, like in ‘Tokyo Love’ and ‘Akasaka Sad.’ In the former, she sings, ‘Thought I was original, but after all I guess this is just another song ‘bout Tokyo.’ But just because she references her birthplace, doesn’t mean you should put her in a box.
Powerful tracks like ‘STFU’ are quite literally a ‘fuck you’ to people who tie her to stereotypes and sexualised, infantilising assumptions. Backed by a heavy, death-metalesque guitar, she coos, ‘How come you don’t respect me? Expecting fantasies to be the reality, why don’t you just sit down and shut the fuck up?’
The video opens with a short skit, her having dinner with a white guy who says all the wrong things, (allegedly taken from a real experience she’s had.) He asks the (London raised) singer about all-things-Japan and even expresses surprise at her singing in English.
In an interview with Vogue, Sawayama stated, ‘For a lot of women in Japan, these are the expectations people put on them, from anime culture, kawaii culture… that can really put women at a disadvantage, objectifying them.’ During her gig in Manchester, the singer called out a record producer who had compared her surname to the Japanese chain-restaurant Wagamama’s, to much discern from the crowd. Fusing poppy music with a an important and seldom voiced message while still having it sound like great music is, quite simply, genius. And added onto elaborate costumes and flawless dance numbers, it’s clear that she was made for this.
OK, I did say gay heaven, and it’s because she’s everything you look for in a pop star and more. But I’ll rephrase: This girl is everything you look for in a pop star.
She ticks every box, meaning you should all get onto her. If you’re not ‘too cool’ for pop, you should be open to blessing your ears and eyes. She is, after all, the future.
Stream the album: https://open.spotify.com/album/3stadz88XVpHcXnVYMHc4J
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