SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama

I want to make a confession: Neither I actually ever heard of this artist before nor knowing her previous discography. I found this album accidentally on my Spotify and I thought I might need to spice up my 2020 album playlist. At first I thought this would be that generic pop/R&B album made by an indie artist in order to get into the mainstream music. I know I was so wrong!

Little research: this is a debut album from Rina Sawayama. It was released on 17 April 2020 through Dirty Hit Label. it has 13 songs with total duration of 43 minutes. I really didn’t know what to expect from this album, but I could sense that it would be an experimental album.

The album starts with “Dynasty”, a pop song blends with nu-metal concept like something Evanescence would make. The intro starts with strings, a horn – it sounds really oriental then shifts to rocking sound and it really fits with her soprano vocal. The lyric mainly talks about the issues of the family – internal conflicts, how pain can inherit the next heir of the family. “XS” is a song about the ridiculous capitalism (the title pronounces as Excess). Melodically, it is such a throwback to early 2000s pop music, drawing same style with Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. “STFU!” is a head-banger song. It is heavily-influenced by nu-metal sound. She rails against the racist micro-aggressions she’s had to put up with throughout her life. Then, it switches to a vibrant-club song full with confidence sound “Comme Des Garcons (Like The Boys)”, a song dedicated to LGBTQ+ community and tackling toxic masculinity tradition. “Akasaka Sad” is a track of being out of place. “Paradisin” explores Rina’s nostalgic tale of childhood. It is perfectly fit to open an anime with this song. “Love Me 4 Me” is an anthem for self-love seeker. “Bad Friend” is a ballad about feeling guilty for falling out of touch with a close friend. “Fuck The World (Interlude)” is a short interlude about climate grief and human greed that leads to inevitable destruction. It continues to “Who Gonna Save U Now?”, a stadium-shaking song about dealing with her ex. “Tokyo Love Hotel” is a bubblegum pop song about fetishizing a culture. “Chosen Family” is also a song dedicated to LGBTQ+ community. The album closing track “Snakeskin” is a haunting, dark pop song about her choice in pouring her past experience into a song. It is also about accepting the pain as the new form of strength.

The album ultimately is about family and identity. It is also implying the crash between the two opposing culture that she has experienced (British and Japanese). On the production side, I really surprised that she can blend Pop, R&B, and nu-metal so effortlessly without trying so hard. It is just flowing naturally throughout the album. This genre-splicing is perfectly captured different emotions and channeling the thematic message on this deeply personal album. As a debut album, this is well-crafted and solid as an introduction. Her vocal is also great. The experimental sounds work so far. This is a very good body of work in my book. 

Overall, From the unruly nu-metal to sparkling R&B, SAWAYAMA is a legitimate, classification detonating self-representation. Drawing on each part of her character, SAWAYAMA makes a far reaching melodic record of her own history, all reinforced by her great experimental composing methods. What's more, in addition, she's by one way or another figured out how to make nu-metal sound so cool.