Rina Sawayama is entering her superstar era

The British-Japanese singer talks about her unconventional rise, and her sublime second record.

THURSTAN REDDING

The British-Japanese singer talks about her unconventional rise, and her sublime second record, Hold the Girl.

“My musical references are not very cool,” admits Rina Sawayama. You’re probably surprised to hear this, because the words that spring to mind when thinking of Sawayama are ‘soooo cool’. But Sawayama, who was raised by her single Japanese mother in a London flatshare, isn’t about denying her truths.

“I wouldn’t say that my house was a musical household,” she says. “It was mainly Japanese music that I listened to, and chart music. It was only in my late teens that I went out to record stores and sat there listening to CDs.”  

Maybe this is why Sawayama’s music feels so distinct, and the industry is taking notice. At the beginning of this year, the singer collaborated with fellow pop princess Charli XCX on Beg for You. 

In April she played Coachella, and soon after announced her sophomore album, Hold the Girl, was on its way. Her self-titled debut was one of the breakthrough hits of 2020, named one of the year’s 50 best albums by the Guardian. She’s performed on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, opened for Elton John and, back in May, Sawayama landed the ultimate stamp of industry approval: a billboard in Times Square.

Nor can the fashion world get enough of her disco cowgirl style. She’s been wearing archival Gucci and Vivienne Westwood, and in July, was guest of honour at couture week, sitting front row at Chanel.  

She’s unquestionably a pop star, but is not afraid to bring elements of rock, R&B and even country into her eclectic opus. Full and atmospheric – think Lady Gaga crossed with Shania Twain – the artist’s soaring vocals are where her early-to-mid-2000s references shine. Her lyrics also strike a chord.

 A cursory scroll through the comments on Sawayama’s YouTube channel reveals her impact on people, especially those from the LGBTQI community; Sawayama herself identifies as pansexual. “Discovering Rina is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” is a common refrain among fans. 

“I kind of lived my whole 20s not in the music industry, which I think gave me a lot of perspective,” she explains. “It’s also been really good on the business side, because it means that I haven’t signed anything away that I shouldn’t have.”  

She says that in hindsight, she wouldn’t have done it any other way. Her songwriting hasn’t been compromised by the pressures of the industry, which has allowed the artist to continue doing things her way. “If I’m about to write an album, I’ll spend at least a month or two getting my brain into focus and doing research. I just pick up a couple books and I look at any interesting quotes that I could maybe work into a song, or any titles or chapters. Then I’ll just get them all down in my iPhone notes,” she shares.  

Now that Hold the Girl has dropped, we get to see those voice notes come together in an album that’s destined for acclaim. High streaming numbers and five-star reviews are difficult to net, especially for pop musicians. But Sawayama dug deep when writing this album; she  spent a lot of time in her own company and restarted therapy, which led to her addressing a period of her life she hadn’t wanted to go into.

The musician’s relationship with her mother (“I felt like she didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand her at all”), which is touched on throughout the album, comes to a tender crescendo in Catch Me In The Air, one of Hold the Girl’s most affecting songs. Sawayama, who’s about to set off on a European tour, couldn’t be more ready to enter her superstar era. 

“Everything I dreamed of when I was younger, I’m doing it right now,” she says. “I want as many people as possible to hear my songs. This is the pop I want to listen to, and the more people I can connect with through it … I’m ready.”