Hi hello and welcome ladies and gentlemen to this Rina Sawayama review. Now me personally I REALLY liked Rina’s last project SAWAYAMA with tracks like XS and STFU! effortlessly blending together elements of metal and pop music into this beautiful mix that sounded like nothing else at the time and honestly still does today. So my expectations were fairly high going into this album and admittedly on my innitial listen I was a bit confused as what to make of this project just because of how once again different it was from her previous record. This time around the emphasis is definetly more on the pop side of things with elements of rock and elctronic music shining through only at certain times, however I genuinely think this record show Rina’s songwriting ability much better then her last album did, like it’s insane how much she improved in that department. The song structures, sharper songwriting and much more focused sound is this album in a nutshell and even though I personally still prefer Rina’s previous album to this one, I can see how she improved and evolved as an artist. So without further ado, let’s take this album apart, shall we?
The opener „Minor Feelings“ is kind of and underwhelming opener – it’s not really a song, more of an interlude that does its job well enough I guess by setting the mood of the album well enough and it sets the stage for the next pretty well but that’s it. The next song also the title track „Hold The Girl“ is a mezmerizing and beautiful balad that I genuinely can’t get enough of. Rina’s voice is so gentle yet powerful here and the melodies are just magical. Definetly picked things up after the last song and one of my favorite Rina tracks period. However this song does already raise the issue that many people have with this album and that is that in a similar sense as Charli XcX’s last album it’s just too pop oriented. And while I agree with this I honestly don’t see this as that big of an issue when the songs are on this level of quality. Yeah this album may not have the same ammount of replayability nor staying power as her last but it still is a nice listen you know. „This Hell“ is the prime example of this – while the song does have some niche electronic guitars, the electronics and pretty basic beat make for your typical Rina pop ballad – not a bad one at that, just a tad unadventurous you know, the song doesn’t realy take any risks in any point. „Catch Me In The Air“ does have some really nice 2000s pop punk energy at the beginning and a pretty catch pre-chorus, however the payoff is just not really there in my opinion. Again a solid tune, just not mind-blowing – Rina’s voice however definetly carries this album, her vocal performance throughout this whole album is stellar. „Forgiveness“ does have some nice vocal melodies here and there but it just sounds like an alright-ish campfire song, even though the instrumentation around the 2:50 mark goes really hard and boosts the song up a few notches. „Holy (Til You Let Me Go)“ is however where things REALLY start to get good, the 80s sound work really well here and I especially like the lyrics here, they mix really well with the sound and make for a pretty nice tune. „Your Age“ justs sort of exists, I honestly don’t have a lot to say about it, keeps the flow of the album well enough i guess. „Imagining“ is one hell of a banger though, this song really proves to me that Rina’s still got it, the chorus is SUPER infectious, like criminally so, and the instrumentation is super tasteful and futuristic and robotic and just… Exciting. Really reminds me of some of the stuff off of her last album. And if that wasn’t enough, she manages to top it off with the next song „Frankenstein“ which is one of my personaly favorite, if not just my favorite, from this album. The driving energetic beat, the dirty bass and the pure musical euphoria that is the chorus just all make for a super well-rounded song that just keeps on delivering each and every time. I like the next song „Hurricanes“ well enough even though it’s once again one of the more poppier ones but as I said the song quality is just there so it works. „Send My Love To John“ is another one of my personal favorites – this one’s very lyrically centred and it packs a serious emotional punch, just go listen to it and you’ll se what I mean. „Phantom continues the hot streak of songs with a very climactic feel, lushious strings and anthemic guitars that all mash together into this coming of age song that really hits all the right spots. „To Be Alive“ follows it up decently but I honestly think „Phantom“ should have been the actual closer – still an okay addition to the album and closes it off pretty well.
So all in all, Rina did indeed deliver – like yeah what did you expect. Besides some just alright songs, this is a pretty amazing collection of songs that all have something unique about them. Overall a solid listen, if you liked her last album then definetly give this one a listen but just keep in mind the more poppier direction.
-favorite tracks: Hold The Girl, Holy (Til You Let Me Go), Imagining, Frankenstein, Hurricanes, Send My Love To John, Phantom
-least favorite tracks: Catch Me In The Air (If i had to pick something, they are all solid)
Strong 7/10