Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani helped bona fide pop star Rina Sawayama connect and integrate with her white classmates after her family moved from Japan to London.in a new interview with theythe “Hold the Girl” star shared how music enabled her to connect with her peers before becoming fluent in English.
Pop was ‘a way to blend in,’ she said they“Even if you’re new to that school, you can really connect with other students.” I said there is
It was also through her own pop music and her new album. hold the girl — Sawayama has found healing for her “inner child,” she says. [her] own truth. Many records also reflect her experiences as a queer woman and as a child of immigrants.
Sawayama talked about her track “Send My Love to John,” which was inspired by a real-life experience of a queer friend who was not immediately accepted by her family. By doing so, Sawayama hoped to give an “empathetic view” of parents who immigrated to America and “want their children many things that have gone wrong.”
“I hope this song will set a lot of people free, people who have never said sorry and people who never see their beautiful humanity,” she said. “I think there are many people who carry it around, [feeling like] They represent embarrassment and shame towards others. I think people like that deserve an apology. ”
Sawayama says the LP is a vehicle for “infusing pop music with therapy”. It offers healing not only to oneself but also to those who listen.
“Where did you start, where [other people] begin is something I learned really, really recently,” said Sawayama. “I think it’s time to spend your whole life making other people happy, whether it’s your parents, your school, or your social conception of what’s good. […] I really forget what I want to do. what makes you happy? what are your values? I think this whole record is about finding out what those boundaries are. “
a rolling stone Reviews of hold the girl Rob Sheffield praised the musician for her ability to combine so many different sonics in a still cohesive LP.
“Lockdown isolation seems to have made her more bold about looking inward. hold the girl It’s impossible to predict where Sawayama will go next. “She’s a cultural artist on so many different levels,” Sheffield wrote. “But these songs make it clear that Sawayama can fly off into whatever future she wants.”
