Sawayama

For the singer, see Rina Sawayama.

* Physical
* Digital/streaming
* Remixed

### Producer(s)

Clarence Clarity, Rina Sawayama, Kyle Shearer, Jonathan Gilmore, Bram Inscore, Salute, Danny L. Harle

## Singles

1. "STFU!"
Released: 22 November 2019
2. "Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)"
Released: 17 January 2020
3. "XS"
Released: 2 March 2020
4. "Chosen Family"
Released: 3 April 2020
5. "Bad Friend"
Released: 15 April 2020

***Sawayama*** (stylised in all caps) is the debut studio album by Rina Sawayama, released on 17 April 2020. It is a follow up to her independently released debut mini album *Rina*. The album received widespread acclaim from music critics, achieving an aggregate score of 90/100 on Metacritic.

A deluxe edition of the album was released on 4 December 2020. The deluxe edition features a bonus disc with eleven tracks, including two unreleased songs and The 1975's "Love It If We Made It" cover.

## Background

*Sawayama* was recorded in London and Los Angeles. The artist herself stated in a press release that the album "is about family and identity. It's about understanding yourself in the context of two opposing cultures (for me British and Japanese), what "belonging" means when home is an evolving concept, figuring out where you sit comfortably within and awkwardly outside of stereotypes, and ultimately trying to be ok with just being you, warts and all."

## Singles

"STFU!" was released as the lead single to the then-unannounced album on 21 November 2019. It is a nu metal track and represents a change in direction for Sawayama. The song premiered alongside the music video, which was co-directed by Ali Kurr and Sawayama herself. The single was met with critical acclaim, achieving a score of 82 on the website *Album Of The Year* (based on both Critic and User reviews).

"Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)" was released as the second single to the album, along with the album pre-order, on 17 January 2020. It is a dance track written about female empowerment and the "rejection of traditional masculinity" by gay men. A remix of the track was released a month later, on 21 February 2020, featuring Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar and a new mix by Brabo. A music video featuring the original mix of the song was released to YouTube on 26 February 2020.

"XS" was released as the album's third official single on 2 March 2020. Sawayama stated that the track "is a song that mocks capitalism in a sinking world. Given that we all know global climate change is accelerating and human extinction is a very real possibility within our lifetime it seemed hilarious to me that brands were still coming out with new makeup palettes every month and public figures were doing a gigantic house tour of their gated property in Calabasas, California in the same week as doing a 'sad about Australian wildfires' Instagram post." This song received positive reviews, with Sofia Meyers of *Euphoria* stating that "if this is the direction she is going in, we're all in for what's next." A music video for the track was released on 17 April 2020.

"Chosen Family" was the fourth single to be released from the album, on 3 April 2020. A week and a half before the official release date of the single, Sawayama leaked the chords and the lyrics to the track so that fans create their own versions of the track. The day after the single released, a video was uploaded to her official YouTube account featuring her favorite fan made versions of the track, and a tutorial of how to play the song on the guitar.

"Bad Friend" was released as the fifth single from the record on 15 April 2020, two days before the album's release. It was released following its debut on BBC Radio 1 the same day. Sawayama herself has described the track as her favorite from the album and stated that it was written after she found out through social media that her formerly close friend had just had a baby. A karaoke video for the track was released to YouTube on the same day as the release.

## Tour

Main article: The Dynasty Tour
On 8 November 2021, Sawayama embarked to her Dynasty Tour in Dublin, Ireland, which concluded on 13 May 2022. Hana and Ama Jones served as the opening acts for the tour.

The tour was originally set to begin on April 24, 2020 in Los Angeles and to conclude on May 21, 2021; however, due to fears from COVID-19, all of the original planned dates were canceled or postponed for 2021, commencing on 8 November in Dublin, Ireland and concluding on 9 May 2022 in New York City, U.S. Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Europe, the second European leg from 11 March to 23 March was canceled. In February 2022, Sawayama announced some updates on the North American leg with two new shows and some venues upgraded.

The Dynasty Tour was met with critical acclaim and most of the dates were sold out.

## Artwork

Sawayama revealed the album's official artwork on 17 January 2020 through her social media.

The album artwork was shot by Hendrik Schneider, with creative direction handled by Ben Ditto and Samuel Burgess-Johnson. Sawayama was styled by Danielle Emerson.

Digital coverPhysical cover, featuring the album title at the top.
## Critical reception

Upon release, *Sayawama* received widespread acclaim from music critics. Aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 89 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The album was rated an 8.2 out of 10 on aggregator AnyDecentMusic?.

*The Line of Best Fit* writer Erin Bashford gave it 9 out of 10 stars and called it a "deftly intelligent record takes personal and musical themes, and presents them in a way that doesn't feel like it's ever been done before". He also praised Sawayama's "strong and emotional vocals" and "tak[ing] motifs and styles from every genre and era and curat[ing] something that feels futuristic". He summed up his review by stating "Rina Sawayama is one-of-a-kind, and her debut album certainly isn't going to be quiet about that". *NME* complimented *Sawayama* for being "an exciting first step from an artist unafraid to push pop into new realms".

Writing for Pitchfork, Katherine St. Asaph announced that *Sawayama* "is a Y2K flashback that’s as reverent of Evanescence and Korn as it is of Britney and Christina." In June 2020, Elton John called the album "the strongest album of the year so far" and called album track "Bad Friend" "a song that Madonna would die for."

## Deluxe edition

A deluxe edition of *Sawayama* was released on 4 December 2020. The deluxe edition features a second disc with 11 tracks, including two bonus tracks, a cover, a live, three acoustics, and three remixes.

## *Sawayama Remixed*

On 10 November 2020, to celebrate the success of *Sawayama*, Dirty Hit and Rough Trade presented *Sawayama Remixed*, a super exclusive limited edition 12” vinyl EP remix, featuring remixes and covers of Rina including Lady Gaga's "Dance In The Dark" and a new remix of "Bad Friend", as well as Rina's cover of The 1975's "Love It If We Made It" for *The Face*.

## Cut Songs

Rina had wrote and recorded multiple songs from 2017 - 2019 with the intention of putting them on the album. This is the list of songs that almost made the final cut.

* "Capital"
* "Haiku"
* "How We Were Then"
* "Mission: U"
* "Model Minority"
* "Proud"
* "Ready or Not"

## Credits

* Musicians
* Technical
* Management and marketing

 Hendrik Schneider | photography

## References

1. ↑ Rina Sawayama Announces Tour and Debut Album, Shares New Song: Listen
2. ↑ Rina Sawayama – STFU!
3. ↑ Rina Sawayama wants us to "STFU!" and it's probably best we listen
4. ↑ Kurr, Ali and Rina Sawayama, directors. *STFU!* *YouTube*, Dirty Hit , 21 November 2019
5. ↑ Rina Sawayama - STFU!
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rina Sawayama Announces Debut Album, Shares Pulsing Club Track 'Comme Des Garçons'
7. ↑ Rina Sawayama (Ft. Pabllo Vittar) – Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys) Brabo Remix
8. ↑ Rina Sawayama – XS
9. ↑ Listen to Rina Sawayama’s New Song 'XS'
10. ↑ Track review: Rina Sawayama drops new single "XS"
11. ↑ Rina Sawayama - XS (Official Video)
12. ↑ Rina Sawayama – Chosen Family
13. ↑ Rina Sawayama on Instagram: "👭🏻CHOSEN FAMILY👬🏻 💥GET INVOLVED IN MY NEXT SINGLE CHOSEN FAMILY OUT APRIL 3RD 💥 I decided to LEAK my own lyrics and chords to Chosen…"
14. ↑ Rina Sawayama asks fans to interpret her next single 'Chosen Family' and shares chords online | NME
15. ↑ Pop Artist REACTS to Fan Covers Chosen Family GUITAR TUTORIAL (Easy) video *Youtube*, Dirty Hit,
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Rina Sawayama – Bad Friend
17. ↑ Rina Sawayama on Instagram: "the final song before the album drop BAD FRIEND, one of my absolute faves from the record 😭😭😭, is dropping TONIGHT on @anniemac as the…"
18. ↑ "Bad Friend". *YouTube*, Dirty Hit, 15 April 2020
19. ↑ D'Souza, Shaad (17 January 2020). "Rina Sawayama drops “Comme Des Garçons,” announces debut album and tour". *The Fader*. Retrieved on July 12, 2021.
20. ↑ Sawayama by Rina Sawayama, Reviews and Tracks
21. ↑ SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama reviews
22. ↑ Rina Sawayama - Sawayama
23. ↑ Rina Sawayama: SAWAYAMA Review
24. ↑ Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA
25. ↑ Album Review: Rina Sawayama - Sawayama
26. ↑ Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA review: An audacious album from one of the boldest voices in pop
27. ↑ Rina Sawayama - *SAWAYAMA* | Album Review
28. ↑ Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA - Review
29. ↑ Rina Sawayama – ‘SAWAYAMA’ review
30. ↑ Rina Sawayama: SAWAYAMA Album Review
31. ↑ Rina Sawayama Is the Pop Moment on Her Debut Album, ‘Sawayama’
32. ↑ Rina Sawayama album review: SAWAYAMA
33. ↑ Sawayama by Rina Sawayama Review and Tracks - Metacritic
34. ↑ Win Rina Sawayama 'SAWAYAMA' album!
35. ↑ Rina Sawayama: SAWAYAMA
36. ↑ Elton John calls Rina Sawayama’s debut LP "the strongest album of the year so far"
37. ↑ The 50 Best Albums of 2020 (So Far)
38. ↑ The best albums of 2020 so far
39. ↑ The Best Albums of 2020 (So Far)
40. ↑ The 50 Best Albums of 2020 So Far
41. ↑ The Best Albums of 2020 (So Far)
42. ↑ The Best Albums Of 2020 So Far
43. ↑ "20 of the best albums of 2020". *What Hi-Fi?*
44. ↑ World of Wonder’s 2020 WOWIE Awards: Cast Your Votes Now!
45. ↑ RINA SAWAYAMA on Twitter: "#SAWAYAMADELUXE tracklist"
46. ↑ "Rina Sawayama - Sawayama Remixed - 12"". Rough Trade.