Dirty Hit

**Dirty Hit** is a British independent record label formed in late 2009 by Jamie Oborne, Brian Smith and Ugo Ehiogu. Based in West London, England, their releases are distributed to digital platforms by Ingrooves Music Group.

In mid-late 2019, the label signed Rina Sawayama, with the first release being "STFU!", released on 21 November 2019.

## History

### Label

The label was founded in December 2009 by Jamie Oborne, Brian Smith and former England footballer, Ugo Ehiogu.

Since the label's inception, Oborne has been the main driving force behind the label. Previously part of a signed band, he moved into artist management aiming to provide artist support. Providing a platform for two acts that Oborne managed, was the main motivation behind starting the label. Both the 1975 and Benjamin Francis Leftwich thus became the first signings. The 1975 were the first act on the label to achieve mainstream success, having achieved a number 1 on the UK Albums Chart in September 2013 with their eponymous debut album. Oborne also manages some of the groups on the label through his All On Red management company.

### Signing of Rina Sawayama

After releasing various singles with different labels, including "Valentine (What's It Gonna Be)" with 88rising, and "Cherry" and "Flicker" with Different Recordings label, Rina Sawayama announced on 15 November 2019 that she signed to Dirty Hit, while teasing her upcoming single "STFU!".

During an interview with *Billboard*, Sawayama revealed that before signing to Dirty Hit, a major-label A&R executive backed out of a deal at the last minute after listening to the demo of "STFU!". She also revealed that after what happened, she found out one of the label executives jokingly called her "Rina Wagamama" behind her back.

> Basically that was like second-hand information – one of my team members heard that that went on behind the scenes, and it was someone on the board of directors that was telling that joke. And I’m pretty sure that whoever has unusual surnames in the music industry get taken the piss out of like that, I mean, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, and maybe worse things have been said about me. But that was just an example of what we can’t normalise. We can’t just normalise using Japan or Japanese culture in the way that we’ve been doing. We don’t have any respect for the people whether they’re living here or there. And that’s kind of like the broader message behind my album.
>
>

Dirty Hit founder Jamie Oborne had a different reaction to "STFU!". "It was such a collision of different cultural elements, of genres", says Oborne. On the singer, Oborne stated "I feel like Rina is going to explode once people start going to shows and seeing her."

Before signing to Dirty Hit, Sawayama revealed that she asked Wolf Alice's Theo Ellis, who was her bandmate in Lazy Lion from 2010 to 2012, and more artist friends what they think of the label and Dirty Hit was "the one that people didn’t talk shit about."

> They have such a great family of people that they work with, and with the sound of the album being more rock, it’s been amazing to tap into the engineers that they work with and the studios I’m not accustomed to – like, I’ve never recorded live drums, ever, so it’s been really eye-opening seeing what it does to a song.
>
>

## Releases

### Albums

*Sawayama*
(17 April 2020)*Sawayama Remixed*
(27 November 2020)*Hold the Girl*
(16 September 2022)
### Singles

"STFU!"
(22 November 2019)"Comme des Garçons..."
(17 January 2020)"Comme des Garçons..." (Remix)
(21 February 2020)"XS"
(2 March 2020)"Chosen Family"
(3 April 2020)"Bad Friend"
(15 April 2020)"Dance in the Dark"
(29 June 2020)"Bad Friend" (Remix)
(20 November 2020)"Lucid"
(25 November 2020)"Chosen Family" (with Elton John)
(15 April 2021)"Follow Me" (with Pabllo Vittar)
(1 April 2022)"This Hell"
(18 May 2022)"Catch Me in the Air"
(27 June 2022)"Hold the Girl"
(27 July 2022)"Phantom"
(25 August 2022)"Hurricanes"
(12 September 2022)
### Music videos

* "STFU!" (21 Nov 2019) – Ali Kurr and Rina Sawayama directors
* "Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)" (26 Feb 2020)
Eddie Whelan director
* "XS" (17 Apr 2020) – Ali Kurr director
* "Bad Friend" (20 May 2020) – Ali Kurr director
* "Bad Friend" Remix (19 Nov 2020) – nagafujiriku director
* "Lucid" (4 Dic 2020) – Dave Ferner and Ksenia Kulakova directors
* "Chosen Family" (14 Apr 2021)

## References

1. ↑ Harrison, Angus (21 April 2017). "RIP Ugo Ehiogu, Who Brought Genuine Passion to a Cynical Music Business". *Vice*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
2. ↑ Ganfield, Matt. "Rina Sawayama signs to Dirty Hit, releases stellar STFU! video". Riot. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
3. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (13 February 2019). ""They're at the peak of their powers" – Dirty Hit's Jamie Oborne tells us about the future of The 1975 and what's next for the label". *NME*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
4. ↑ Harrison, Angus (21 April 2017). "RIP Ugo Ehiogu, Who Brought Genuine Passion to a Cynical Music Business". *Noisey*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
5. ↑ Graves, Shahlin (2 September 2019). "Interview: Dirty Hit’s Jamie Oborne on the "business of selling identity"". *Coup De Main Magazine*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
6. ↑ "'Managers should make decisions based on reason, logic – and knowing their artists'". Music Business Worldwide (29 February 2016). Retrieved on February 24, 2019.
7. ↑ "The 1975 score debut number 1 album". Official Charts Company. Retrieved on October 18, 2013.
8. ↑ "'The coolest of the cool': Matthew Healy and Jamie Oborne talk ambitions as The 1975 drop album number three". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved on February 24, 2019.
9. ↑ @rinasawayama (15 November 2019). "RINA SAWAYAMA on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved on June 25, 2021. “I signed to @DirtyHit”
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Kuga, Mitchell (2 June 2021). "Rina Sawayama Is Turning Pop Inside Out: Pride 2021 Cover". *Billboard*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
11. ↑ Savage, Mark (23 April 2020). "Rina Sawayama: Turning familial pain into pop gold". bbc.com. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
12. ↑ Mylrea, Hannah (22 November 2019). "Rina Sawayama: “We can’t just normalise using Japanese culture in the way that we’ve been doing”". *NME*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.
13. ↑ Bulut, Selim (21 November 2019). "Rina Sawayama on her nu-metal-inspired single ‘STFU!’". *Dazed*. Retrieved on June 25, 2021.