Rina Sawayama’s debut Album Sawayama is one that in my opinion deserves a fair listen from everyone. The 2020 album cannot be defined by a single genre, having songs that range from rock to hyperpop. The album is a deeply personal one from Rina as she tackles concepts such as her culture, generational truama, her sexuality, and capitalism. Rina also also stated she took inspiration from Evanesance, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, and Gwen Stefani just to name a few. Similar to the amount of love I have for it, there’s not enough words to explain all the facets of Sawayama so let’s get into some of my favorite songs from it.
Dynasty
Starting the album off strong is Dynasty. Dynasty can be described as a mix of Glam Metal (metal music that takes inspiration by pop) and electronic pop. The song discuses the issues that Rina experienced growing up in her household, a very unhealthy environment for her as her parents we’re going through an incredibly slow divorce process. Rina compares the effect her parents relationship and mental health problems had on her as a dynasty, as she is the one inheriting all of their problems. The standout part of this song to me is the Bridge (starting around 1:55) having fairly raw lyrics that directly address her parents “Mother and father, you gave me life/I nearly gave it away for the sake of my sanity/(Hurting inside, no end in sight/Passing it down, I’m not losing this fight)/Mother and father, I know you were raised differently/Fighting about money and his infidelity/(Now it’s my time to make things right)/And if I fail, then I am my dynasty,” followed by a guitar solo which Rina harmonizes with. Another song that follows the rock tone of Dynasty is the albums 10th song Who’s Gonna Save U Now?
XS
Imagine the whiplash of going from the heavy Dynasty to the cynical and poppy XS. Going into this album blind is an experience I may be robbing some of you of as the second song from the Album, XS, sounds like its from a different record. Following in the footsteps of early 2000’s pop and RnB, the second song on the album talks about themes of overconsumption and the negatives of capitalism. The song features a fun repeating gutair rift, drums, and upbeat vocals. The repeating line of the song is, “Gimme just a little bit (More), little bit of (XS),” XS being a play on the word excess.
Tokyo Love Hotel
The Synth-pop 11th track on the album Tokoyo Love Hotel is Rina’s crtique of those who fetishize and romanticize Japanese culture without actually caring about it. A Love Hotel is a place where tourist go to simply have sex and leave. Using this analogy for the song Rina sings about her love for Tokyo and what it’s like to be from somewhere that people have a very 2D view on, “Everybody’s staying at the Tokyo Love Hotel/I just want your love all to myself.” Rina explains it best herself when talking about the song “They’ll say, ‘That was so amazing, I love Tokyo,’ but they don’t give a sh*t about the people or don’t know anything about the people and how difficult it is to grow up there.” But focusing on the sound of the song, the instramental is comprised of layers upon layers of synth sounds. If you listen closely you can hear an eletric guitar being covered by the synth which only occasionally makes itself known throughout the song. The song is a very slow paced love letter to Tokyo.
Sawayama is one of my favorite albums and although I know very little about the technical side of music, I hope that I described some of these songs well enough for you to give the album a chance. But if you’re only slightly intrested some other highlights from this album are Love Me 4 Me, STFU! , and Akasaka Sad. Other songs by Rina Sawayama that I enjoy are Frakenstein, Valentine, and Cyber Stockholm Syndrome.