Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA

I thought we had a thread on her already but apparently not. 

Sort of unfortunate for her new record to be released on the same day as Fiona's but let's not sleep on it cause it bangs.

Some of you have probably already heard this nu-nu-metal pop jam last year: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XojM2D3F-Dc&  

"XS" is excellent too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO2c06p6m5w 

As is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv5i5yg-zNc 

i found this a bit disappointing compared to her previous work, it's ok but doesn't really reach the same highs as "cyber stockholm syndrome", "alterlife" or "cherry"

"stfu!" is good but then "chosen family" is an insufferably corny ballad that sonically invokes owl city

I was quite disappointed with this as a whole. I love her mini album so much and Cherry is one of my favourite singles of the last few years, but most of this left me cold. Totally agree with you about Chosen Family ufo, it's such a cloying song. I really don't know what she was going for there.

agree that Chosen Family is the worst song on here but "STFU", "Love me 4 me'", and "Tokyo Love Hotel"  are as good as anything she's done imo.
 
She's obvs big on the whole late 90s/early 00s TRL sound, but I really love that she's bringing back that v specific NSYNC/JC Chasez vibe on songs like "XS" and "Take Me as I Am" (off the mini). 

To redress the balance a bit: loved the mini-album, loved the subsequent singles (pretty sure I voted Cherry as track of the year in a prev ILX poll) and really love this. "Dynasty" is massive, "Paradisin'" is glorious and cute, "Bad Friend" is crushing, and the whole thing feels seamless and super-consistent throughout (with the exception of "Chosen Family" which is just... fine).

i think it's like a solid 7/10 but i was hoping for better, certainly with the reviews it's been getting

OMG I love this album.

"Chosen Family" sounds exactly like the moment during the support act that you're enjoying that you decide you need another drink and it's faster to go now than when the music stops.

I like this album a lot more than I expected to - this is what I wanted the recent Grimes and Poppy ones to actually sound like. It sounds like so many different things but precisely like the era its nostalgic for, even though nothing actually existed at this intersection of chart-pop, r&b and nu-metal at the time.

Wow this is some bullshit:

I was shocked when @rinasawayama reached out and said she'd been barred from the Mercury Prize – all because she wasn't *British* enough.

Please read my interview with her and ask yourself: why are our cultural gatekeepers behaving like border control? https://t.co/tLoAMBxek6

— Zing Tsjeng (@misszing) July 29, 2020

I linked to it in the Mercury thread, hadn't seen you already posted it. Grade A bullshit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85_uFm1R5TA

Also, she recently released a duet with Elton John on Chosen Family, her sappy ballad from the album.

new song is pretty good imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vapT7WBkBdY

this feels like it was designed for a lip-synch in Rupaul's Drag Race

*whispers* everything i've heard from her sounds like it's made for Drag Race

And now that I'm listening to the new album in full, it's essentially a collection of solid Eurovision bangers. This is not a complaint.

Only got around to listening now. Agreed, first thing that Hold The Girl yelled in my ear was EUROVISION!
This Hell is too Shania Twain for me to be comfortable with....