Rina Sawayama Releases Her New Album ‘Hold The Girl’

GLOBAL NEWS—The British-Japanese pop sensation Rina Sawayama shares her second album “Hold The Girl”, which was released recently via Dirty Hit.

The emotionally charged power ballad offers another taste of the variety of influences Rina touches on in “Hold The Gir” and comes with a visualizer of Rina pouring her heart out through the lyrics.

Photo courtesy of Amplified Entertainment.

She has recently graced the covers of V Magazine, The Guardian Film & Music, Music Week, and Who What Wear, where she discusses her rising pop stardom.

“I realized as an adult that I have spent my whole life pleasing other people and not realizing it – constantly pushing my boundaries and not realizing the difference between what I wanted to do and what other people wanted from me. Through the lyrics in the verse I’m trying to tell this story and then in the choruses I’m morning the loss of my real self.”

With precision-tuned songwriting and powerful vocals, Rina demonstrates her talent for bending huge chart influences and blockbuster melodies to her will.

Photo courtesy of Amplified Entertainment.

The 13-track “Hold The Girl” will include previously released singles “This Hell,” which recently launched with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, along with “Catch Me In The Air” and the title track “Hold The Girl”, which came with an Ali Kurr direced video and portrays Rina stuck in a time loop within the bounds of a 19th-century farmhouse until she finally breaks free.

Rina’s critically acclaimed debut “SAWAYAMA” followed by “Hold The Girl”, which will see Rina juxtapose intimate storytelling with arena-sized songs, creating another ambitious and original album that will excite fans and critics alike.

Over the last year and a half, Rina has worked with long-term collaborators Clarence Clarity and Lauren Aquilina, as well as legendary producers Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence & the Machine), Stuart Price (Dua Lipa, The Killers, Madonna), and Marcus Andersson (Demi Lovato, Ashnikko).

A bold and open statement of Rina’s own evolution—coming to terms with her own past and the joy of looking to the future—the result of Rina and these collective minds working together is an album that melds influences from throughout the pop spectrum.

Photo courtesy of Amplified Entertainment.

Rina’s debut album “SAWAYAMA” was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year in 2020, appearing on over 50 best-of lists, including the New York Times (#2), The Guardian (#3), and Rolling Stone (#6). She has accomplished a number of significant milestones during the past 18 months, including changing the Mercury Prize and BRIT qualifying standards so that non-British musicians may submit applications provided they had been a permanent resident of the UK for more than 5 years.

In 2021, Elton John collaborated with the pop singer to create a special version of “Chosen Family,” a moving tribute to her LGBTQ+ family; in 2022, Rina gave “Free Woman” by Lady Gaga new life; and in 2023, Rina will make her feature acting debut as Keanu Reeves’ co-star in John Wick 4.

“Hold The Girl” Track list: