Breakout British pop queen Rina Sawayama has announced the follow-up to her debut album SAWAYAMA (2020). Hold The Girl will be released on September 2, 2022! The singer posted to her Twitter with a video attached.
Find it after the jump!
Hold The Girl
The new album
September 2 2022https://t.co/1r1X9PKSmk pic.twitter.com/nw59Im5ra4— RINA SAWAYAMA (@rinasawayama) May 16, 2022
Interesting. She’s born Japanese but moved to the UK 26 years ago at age 5; she never became British, largely as she would have had to give up her Japanese passport. However, all her education (through Cambridge) and professional life (model at Elite; singer composer) has been British, and, despite widespread critical acclaim, was NOT eligible for a British breakout designation. The BFI changed its rules, and she became British, dropping her Japanese passport.
I found this more melodious, resonant version of her original song much more to my liking than her solo production; she has a rich, resonant, nuanced voice that lost in bubble pop configuration<
Who knows, but she is clearly British bred when she is interviewed, and may not be literate in Japanese since her schooling has been in the UK. I'm told her voice is "pleasing" to Japanese when she speaks in Japanese, probably as it sounds like a Briton who is fluent in Japanese.