Released April 17, 2020
8.5 / 10
Favorites
Dynasty, XS, STFU!, Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys), Akasaka Sad, Paradisin', Love Me 4 Me, Bad Friend, Fuck This World (Interlude), Tokyo Love Hotel, Snakeskin
Least Favorites
Who's Gonna Save Your Now?, Chosen Family
Pop music’s recent marriage with the unexpected lives on in Rina Sawayama’s debut studio album ‘SAWAYAMA’, as she fully embraces an incredibly creative take on nu metal and stadium rock while bringing back Y2K diva pop at the same time. Ventures of the pop genre into metal territory aren’t the first of the kind (Grimes, for instance, has been exploring the land for some time now - and internet phenom Poppy is making remarkable strides in this avenue on her side as well) but Rina’s excursions are incredibly focused and tightly integrated with the 2000s influences that breathe life into ‘SAWAYAMA’. In fact, the British-Japanese singer-songwriter managed to carve out her own lane in the overcrowded pop space with no major label backing - an uncommon feat that absolutely deserves some accolades.
There is no questioning the authenticity of Rina’s art: in ‘SAWAYAMA’ she uses her creative energy to break from the chains of intergenerational pain and invites the listener to re-examine their own - and the result sounds as good as making it must have felt. The dramatic opener, Dynasty, is an Evanescence-esque epic condensed in a three minute number that dives headfirst in the fight for redemption with strength in numbers. Rina beckons “won’t you break the chain with me?” to a heavily compressed sound that resonates along chiming bells, gyrating chords and a plethora of other layers that are hard to un-mesh from one another. The track peaks with a guitar solo paired with stellar vocals that reproduce its meandering in real time, begging the question: if that’s where we're starting from, where is there to go from here?
Well, we’re only taken to challenge capitalist greed and the inevitable destruction of our planet as we know it, that’s where. XS is a luxurious track on the calamitous consequences of consumerism - “a trap that [she doesn’t] see us getting out of” (Pitchfork). The song synthesizes polar opposites seamlessly, with N.E.R.D.-reminiscent chords, a chorus you wouldn’t be surprised to have heard Britney on back in the day and sporadic metal guitar flares. Production touches by Chris Lyon, Clarence Clarity and Kyle Shearer take it the extra mile with the addition of effects right out of a music video - cash register clinks, a coin tossed on a hard surface and gum popping. The song is thematically echoed by the later “Fuck This World”, in which Rina adds her voice to that of a generation sickened by the dread of climate change and economic injustice. The interlude glistens, rippling through space as Rina floats away, “sick of what you people taking / From the bottom to feed the top”.
Frustration mounts as those fights we need to take on as a collective become more and more urgent while we all have our own personal battles to overcome. The eternal quest for identity is one Rina suggests we must each undertake with our own set of circumstances and obstacles - and she is willing to share some of hers. Rina has two worlds to juggle - created out of the conjunction of life in the UK and her Japanese roots -, feeling like she belongs to neither because her ties to the other keep her from fitting in anywhere. In one place she might look the part but feels alienated by a complex culture that can be difficult to navigate. In the other she faces micro-aggressions and insensitive racial comments on a regular basis - which she calls out on STFU!, a masterful fusion of nu metal and bubblegum pop. The blending of genres is incredibly well-executed and, although the instrumentals are truthfully overbearing, Rina’s presence doesn’t get lost in the mix. Again, it’s the little touches that elevate the track - from Rina’s sadistic melodic laugh to the little chimes that bring back XS to mind. No moment feels as cathartic as the track ending’s gratifying scream in unison with Clarence Clarity. Akasaka Sad and Tokyo Love Hotel address the discomfort with the lack of feeling of belonging, each in their own way. Akasaka Sad explores the physical effects of ‘home’ being a blurry concept. The track advances inexorably from a majestic intro that, unlike Dynasty’s, doesn’t explode, and instead simmers with electronic clangs for a little over three minutes - hinting at a blast that never comes. Tokyo Love Hotel was written after Rina witnessed tourists being obnoxiously loud in the streets of Tokyo, treating the Japanese megalopolis like they would Disneyland. The event made her think of her own group trip with friends to Tokyo in her early twenties (which she references in Bad Friend - one of the album’s brightest spots) and wondered whether her behavior was any better then. The line “I guess this is just another song ‘bout Tokyo” can then be both interpreted as referencing the Bad Friend episode and as questioning the effect of her music on listeners through a self-critical lens. Perhaps, to a carefree ear, songs like Tokyo Love Hotel can further fetishize a people that is already buried under layer upon layer of stereotypes in Western zeitgeist. Rina is acutely aware of this and addresses it in the track: about ending the song with the repetition of “your fascination’s my world” she said she “want[s] people to think about whether there is a certain responsibility that comes with being fascinated with a culture” (Genius). Beyond lyrical content, the track sounds glossy and expensive, not unlike a cut off Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 “Emotion” - especially congruent with the two bonus tracks the pop vixen released this year on the album’s fifth anniversary.
As announced by its opening cut and developed throughout its unreeling, 'SAWAYAMA' exorcises Rina’s trauma out of her to the point where the final moments try to ring like the triumphant anthems she deserves at long last. Chosen Family relies on a beautiful sentiment that “we don’t need to be related to relate” - particularly dedicated to the queer community for whom the concept is long-standing in the face of outside hostility and rejection. Sonically it’s one of the weaker cuts of the record, with vocal treatment by Danny L Harle (hints of what he’s done so well with Caroline Polachek’s “Pang” don’t translate as well for Rina) and vocals that could be brought down a tone or two for comfort. Thankfully the final hurrah comes with Snakeskin in the form of a haunting grand finale. The singer perfects her transformation into a more confident serene version of herself by shedding her “snakeskin” - 'SAWAYAMA' itself. The track gains momentum, packing in expectations and delivering on those right away while managing to incorporate a Beethoven sonata, to interpolate the Final Fantasy IX victory fanfare and to boast the modern-day equivalent of the dubstep drop of yore. Percussions fill the voids that need filling, filthy grumbling bass lines make a mess of the musical fabric where it runs the risk of being too clean and Rina’s vocals slither across the track, amplified by distortions in places and raw in others. There isn’t a more triumphant way to close a debut album so unabashedly sure of itself in its quest for identity than this.
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