Akasaka Sad

Song by Rina Sawayama

## Audio

"**Akasaka Sad**" is the fifth track from Rina Sawayama's debut album, *Sawayama* (2020). Written by Rina with its producer Clarence Clarity, the song refers to the fact that Rina feels displaced from Japan and wonders if this is how her parents felt when they were immigrants in London.

## Background

According to Rina, she wrote "Akasaka Sad" in her favourite hotel in Akasaka, Tokyo: "It’s a very non-descript hotel, but I choose to stay there rather than at my family home because I feel freer. I always hope that Tokyo will make me feel happier but it doesn’t, and the song is about how depression follows you around wherever you go."

Rina said about the song:

> This was one of the songs that I wrote alone. It is personal, but I always try and remove my ego and try to think of the end result, which is the song. There’s no point fighting over whether it’s 100% authentically personal. I think there’s ways to tell stories in songs that is personal, but also general. RINA was just me writing lyrics and melody and then [UK producer] Clarence Clarity producing. This record was the first time that I’d gone in with songwriters. Honestly, up until then I was like, “So what do they actually do? I don’t understand what they would do in a session.” I didn’t understand how they could help, but it’s only made my lyrics better and my melodies better.
>
> — Apple Music

## Critical reception

Reviewing the album *Sawayama*, Lexi Lane from *Atwood Magazine* wrote that the song's chorus "is a testament to her talented wordplay and lyricism, even name dropping her last name and shoutouts to her family for it." Writing for *God Is In The TV*, LloydBest noted that "Akasaka Sad" shows "once more the versatility of [Rina's] catalog". Erin Bashford from *The Line of Best Fit* wrote that the "thicket of genres which twist throughout SAWAYAMA, often opposing each other, are the key weapon in the arsenal", naming “Akasaka Sad” and “Paradisin’” as two "strong pop songs sat side by side."

## Live performances

"Akasaka Sad" was part of the regular set list of the Dynasty Tour, which began on 8 November 2021 in Dublin, Ireland.

## Lyrics

Hotel corridor

Blacked out rear window

Crawling under my skin

Flew here to escape

But I feel the same

Jetlag making me thin

Sucks to be me (Ayy)

Sucks to be so lonely

Egyptian sheets

Unraveling slowly

Don't look at me

Fragile, I bruise easily

You make me

Akasaka sad

'Cause I'm a sucker, sucker, so I suffer

Akasaka Sawayama

Just like my mother

Akasaka sad

'Cause I'm a sucker, sucker, so I suffer

Akasaka Sawayama

Just like my father

Akasaka sad, I guess I'll be sad

Akasaka sad, I guess I'll be sad

Forever and ever and ever

Wherever I go, forever

Akasaka sad

国々に　歩き渡り

鳴り響き　悲劇のシンフォニー

喜びに　変わる悲しみ

をさぐる毎日

Twenty-eight and I still want to scream

Can't face who I can and can't be

Five thousand, nine hundred, thirty-eight miles between you

You make me

Akasaka sad

'Cause I'm a sucker, sucker, so I suffer

Akasaka Sawayama (Sawayama)

Just like my mother

Akasaka sad

'Cause I'm a sucker, sucker, so I suffer

Akasaka Sawayama

Just like my father

Akasaka sad, I guess I'll be sad

Akasaka sad, I guess I'll be sad

Forever and ever and ever

Wherever I go, forever

Akasaka sad (Ayy), I guess I'll be sad

Akasaka sad, I guess I'll be sad

Forever and ever and ever

Wherever I go, forever

* *The second verse in Japanese roughly translates to "From country to country / I hear tragic symphonies / Everyday searching / For a pain that turns into happiness".*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 God Is In The TV. Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA (Dirty Hit).
2. ↑ Genius. Rina Sawayama – Akasaka Sad Lyrics
3. ↑ SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama on Apple Music
4. ↑ *Atwood Magazine.* Review: Rina Sawayama’s Debut LP ‘SAWAYAMA’ Is the Epitome of Brilliant & Badass Hyperpop.
5. ↑ *The Line of Best Fit*. Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA.