This Hell

Single by Rina Sawayama

## Music Video

"**This Hell**" is a song recorded by Rina Sawayama, taken from her second studio album *Hold the Girl* (2022). It was released as the album's lead single on 18 May 2022 through Dirty Hit, and was written by Sawayama with Lauren Aquilina, Paul Epworth and Vic Jamieson. Epworth produced the song along with Clarence Clarity.

A music video directed by Ali Kurr was released on 15 June 2022. The video sees Sawayama preparing for an old-western wedding with Evangelical protestors sporting signs that "condemn her to eternal damnation." It received a nomination at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, in the Video for Good category.

## Background and production

In April 2022, Rina Sawayama kicked off the North American leg of her Dynasty Tour, promoting her 2020 debut LP, *Sawayama*. The tour's last show was held in New York City on 13 May 2022. On 11 May, selected journalists received black-and-red pamphlets with the phrases "Rina is going to hell" and "An invitation to eternal damnation", teasing the new era. The next day, Sawayama posted a picture of the pamphlet with the caption "#RinaIsGoingToHell". She was also announced as a performer for the *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* a week before her performance on the show.

The song was inspired by female country singers. Sawayama expressed she wanted to write an "euphoric and tongue-in-cheek" country-pop song. "Country music at its core to me represents comfort, brilliant storytelling and authentic expression of the writer's reality," she explained. The song was written by Sawayama with Lauren Aquilina, Paul Epworth and Vixen. Epworth co-produced the song with Sawayama's long-time collaborator Clarence Clarity. In a press release, Sawayama said that her entire career she wanted to work with Epworth. "I knew it was meant to be when we finished this song in a day."

### Cover art

The single's cover art depicts Sawayama posing on a chair on a floor with water against a red background. The photo was shot by Sawayama's long time friend and collaborator Thurstan Redding, and it was creative directed by her friend Chester Lockhart. For the shoot, Sawayama was styled by Jordan Kelsey, while her makeup was done by Mona Leanne, her hair by Jake Gallagher, and her nails by Angel's Nailz. The set was designed by Miguel Bento.

## Composition

> It's an important song for me given the human rights that are being taken away from minorities at a rapid rate in the name of traditional religious beliefs, more specifically I was thinking about the rights being taken away from the LGBTQ community when I wrote this song. When the world tells us we don't deserve love and protection, we have no choice but to give love and protection to each other. This Hell is better with you."
>
> — Sawayama on "This Hell"

"This Hell" is a country-pop songs with glam rock and metal elements. It was written as a response to "human rights that are being taken away from minorities at a rapid rate in the name of traditional religious beliefs", particularly the rights of the LGBT community; the lyrics contain references to several gay icons, namely Britney Spears, Whitney Houston and Princess Diana, and criticise the paparazzi's "cruelty" towards them. Musically, the song is composed in the key of A Minor, with a tempo of 121 beats per minute.

During the recording of the song, Sawayama "freaked out" realizing its prominent guitar riff sounded like 1979 hit single "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" by Swedish group ABBA, which songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus generally do not allow anyone to sample any of their tracks. Sawayama contacted her publicists, who told her to change the melody as "ABBA are absolutely going to say no to this." Sawayama re-recorded the song with what Mark Savage from BBC News noted as an inferior guitar hook, but then she reached out to her friend Elton John to contact the group. Through a contact at Universal Music, John sent the original recording of the song to the band, accompanied by a handwritten letter from Sawayama herself.

> "I said: 'Look, I love your music. I'm happy to split the publishing. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen.'"
>
> — Sawayama on her letter sent to ABBA.

A few days later, Sawayama received a responce from Benny Andersson. "No problem," the letter read. "Absolutely fine. All the best." During an interview with BBC News, Sawayama told reporter Mark Savage that she felt that "This Hell" has the blessing of ABBA.

## Release and promotion

On the day of the Dynasty Tour's last show on 13 May 2022, Sawayama blanked out her Instagram account. This is the second time she blanks out her Instagram account, the first time being in 2019 ahead of the release of "STFU!", the lead single of *Sawayama*. She then posted a picture of her stepping on the "Rina is going to hell" pamphlet. During her show at the Dynasty Tour, Sawayama confirmed that the new era would begin "the next week", and a snippet of an unknown song was played. When fans found the pamphlets, they noticed that the title of a song, "This Hell," was written inside with its lyrics in the background.

On 17 May 2022, Sawayama announced the release of "This Hell" a day after announcing her second LP titled *Hold the Girl*, which was released on 16 September 2022. "This Hell" served as the album's lead single, and was released on 18 May 2022 through Dirty Hit.

## Critical reception

The song received positive reviews from music critics. Sarena Moss from *Gay Times* commented it is an "encapsulation of 21st century sounds and country pop" described it as a "euphoric and timeless" track.

## Music video

The music video for "This Hell" premiered on YouTube on 15 June 2022, at 5pm GMT. It was directed by Sawayama's long-time collaborator Ali Kurr, who previously directed the music videos for "XS" and "Bad Friend" in 2020. Sawayama's friend Chester Lockhart served as the creative director of the music video.

The music video received a nomination for the Video For Good award at the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards, which was held on August 28, 2022.

## Live performance

Sawayama debuted "This Hell" live on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*, for the episode on 19 May 2022. This is her second performance on the show, the first one being in October 2020 when she performed "XS". It was also performed at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend on the Future Sounds Stage on 29 May 2022.The song was part of the setlist for Sawayama's two shows at Primavera Sound 2022.

## Lyrics

*Let's go, girls*

Saw a poster on the corner opposite the motel

Turns out I'm going to hell if I keep on being myself

Don't know what I did but they seem pretty mad about it

God hates us? Alright then, buckle up, at dawn we're riding

Walk a mile on these coals

Busy cleansing my soul

Getting ready for the night

Damned for eternity

But you're coming with me

Into the afterlife

This hell is better with you

We're burning up together

Baby, that makes two

'Cause the devil's wearing Prada

And loves a little drama, ooh

*(This hell is better with you)*

With you

With you

Oh, with you

*(This hell is better with you, ahahaha)*

Flame red, caught the moment posing for the paparazzi

Fuck what they did to Britney, to Lady Di and Whitney

Don't know why we're here but might as well get down and dirty

That Satan's looking thirsty, not even he can hurt me

Walk a mile on these coals

Busy cleansing my soul

Getting ready for the night

Damned for eternity

But you're coming with me

Into the afterlife *(Wow, that's hot)*

This hell is better with you

We're burning up together

Baby, that makes two

'Cause the devil's wearing Prada

And loves a little drama, ooh

This hell is better with you *(Better with you)*

This life gave us nothing to lose

We're going down together

Got a ticket for two

'Cause the devil's wearing Prada

And loves a little drama, ooh

*(This hell is better with you)*

With you

With you

Oh, with you

*(This hell is better with you)*

Got my invitation to eternal damnation

Get in line, pass the wine, bitch

We're going straight to hell!

Got my invitation to eternal damnation

Get in line, pass the wine, bitch

We're going straight to hell!

This hell is better with you

We're burning up together

Baby, that makes two

'Cause the devil's wearing Prada

And loves a little drama, ooh

This hell is better with you *(With you)*

This hell is better with you *(I'm in this hell with you)*

This hell is better with you *(With you, with you)*

This hell is better with you *(Ooh)*

*(This hell is better with you)*

## Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

* Rina Sawayama – vocals, songwriting
* Lauren Aquilina – songwriting
* Paul Epworth – production, songwriting, synthesizer, programming, drum programming
* Vic Jamieson – songwriting, guitar
* Clarence Clarity – production, guitar, programming, synthesizer
* Robin Schmidt – mastering
* Geoff Swan – mixing
* Riley MacIntyre – sound engineering
* Cameron Gower-Pooler– vocal producer

## References

1. ↑ O'Connor, Siobhain (15 June 2022). "Rina Sawayama drops video for ‘This Hell’ – watch". *Dork*. The Bunker Publishing Ltd. Retrieved on June 16, 2022.
2. ↑ Helfand, Raphael (15 June 2022). "Rina Sawayama is a cowgirl bride in new “This Hell” video". *The Fader*. Retrieved on June 16, 2022.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kenneally, Cerys (16 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama is teasing her new era". *The Line of Best Fit*. Retrieved on May 17, 2022.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Johnson, Sydney (19 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama's new single ‘This Hell’ is a pop-country pride anthem". Hotpress. Retrieved on May 22, 2022.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lockhart, Chester (@chesterlockhart) (17 May 2022). "Chester Lockhart on Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved on May 17, 2022.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jones, Damian (18 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama shares euphoric new single 'This Hell' and UK tour dates". *NME*. Retrieved on May 23, 2022.
7. ↑ Garcia, Thania (18 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama Reveals Album ‘Hold The Girl,’ With Single ‘This Hell’". *Variety*. Retrieved on May 22, 2022.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Moreland, Quinn (18 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama: “This Hell” Track Review". *Pitchfork*.
9. ↑ Sanchez, Gabrielle. "Rina Sawayama announces new album, shares new countrified pop single "This Hell"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved on May 23, 2022.
10. ↑ "Key & BPM for This Hell by Rina Sawayama". Tunebat. Retrieved on May 22, 2022.
11. ↑ Arcand, Rob (2 September 2022). "Rina Sawayama Says She Received ABBA’s Blessing for Interpolation on “This Hell”". *Pitchfork*. Retrieved on September 2, 2022.
12. ↑ Savage, Mark (1 September 2022). "Rina Sawayama: I've been blessed by ABBA!". BBC News. Retrieved on September 2, 2022.
13. ↑ Rina Sawayama [@rinasonline] (13 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama on Instagram". Retrieved on May 26, 2022. “#RinaIsGoingToHell”
14. ↑ Earl, William (16 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama Electrifies NYC on Final Date of ‘Dynasty’ Tour: Concert Review". *Variety*. Retrieved on May 17, 2022.
15. ↑ Moss, Sarena (19 May 2022). "Rina Sawayama is back with pop-country anthem This Hell". *Gay Times*. Retrieved on May 22, 2022.
16. ↑ Rina Sawayama (15 June 2022). "Rina Sawayama - This Hell (Official Music Video)". YouTube. Retrieved on June 16, 2022.
17. ↑ Minsker, Evan (26 July 2022). "MTV VMAs 2022 Nominees Announced: See the Full List Here". *Pitchfork*. Retrieved on July 26, 2022.
18. ↑ Cantor, Brian (12 May 2022). "Jojo Siwa To Chat, Rina Sawayama To Perform On May 19 “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”". Headline Planet. Retrieved on May 17, 2022.
19. ↑ Sam (29 May 2022). "Ed Sheeran, Rina Sawayama, & Harry Styles Heat Up BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend". *The Grape Juice*. Retrieved on June 7, 2022.