Rina Sawayama welcomes listeners to Hell with her latest album, “Hold The Girl”

Undiscovered artists by mass media tend to make some of the highest quality music, and that is the case with British pop star Rina Sawayama’s latest album, “Hold The Girl.” 

Released on Sept. 16, this album is an elevated rock sound of what Sawayama explored in her previous 2020 album, “SAWAYAMA.”

Within this album, Sawayama effortlessly blends the rock genre with both pop and country. The production of this album is immaculate, something listeners should always expect when listening to a track by her. 

Despite this style of music being different from typical pop culture, this album deserves some recognition from the masses. Sonically, this is one of the best albums of 2022 so far.

“Minor Feelings” wakes up listeners from their slumber as a gentle introduction to this album, a taste of the emotional collection that Sawyama has gifted listeners.

A noteworthy feature of Sawayama’s music are her gorgeous lyrics. “Minor Feelings” has no minor lyrics, every lyric is impactful and hits where it is most needed. 

This song is short, running only two minutes long, but with Sawayama’s voice, it feels like a siren is luring you in.

The siren’s trance lures you deeper into her trap with the lyrics, “All my life I’ve felt out of place. All my life I’ve been saving face. Well, all these minor feelings are majorly breaking me down.”

This song is a strong introduction to the theme of the album, connecting to your past and learning from your mistakes to grow into a beautiful being. 

The next two songs, “Hold The Girl” and “This Hell” both introduce the two styles of country/western that are present within the album. 

“Hold the Girl,” the song,  is experimental. This song shows that no matter the genre, Sawyama can blend it together seamlessly. There are three distinct genres present; them being country, hyper pop, and rock.

With guitar in the verse, strings that lead you into the chorus, and hyper pop interludes after, there is never a dull moment in the instrumentals, but they still do not overwhelm the song as a whole.

The booming drums lead you into a grandeur bridge that feels like the gates of heaven are opening. It’s a true movie ending, and this is still only the beginning of the album. 

“This Hell” reverses the style and is almost a straight western-inspired pop song. Something about this song makes you feel like you are at a saloon line dancing. Once again, the lyrics of this song are immaculate, with hidden meanings of queer youth getting ready to party in hell. 

Moving forward, the songs afterward take a softer approach. 

As the church bells end within the song “Forgiveness,” they lead into “Holy (Til You Let Me Go),” which is the perfect euro-rave religious trauma song for the gays.

This song is most similar to the music that made “SAWAYAMA” a hit amongst the queer community. It is that unique pop sound blended with a genre that the queer community is highly connected to, club and rave music.

Needless to say, this song is blasted whenever it comes on. This was fighting for gay rights.

The lyrics, “Found my peace when I lost my religion. All these years I wished I was different” really struck me.  This song’s deep meaning is relatable for the queer kids who grew up in religious institutions. 

While “Holy (Til You Let Me Go)” is a song to get people through trauma, the next song, “Your Age,” is taking that trauma and putting raw anger into it. 

The song has a banjo introduction and shows that Sawayama is about to get down and dirty. Then the anger comes in, with the guitar and yelling of Sawayama. 

When “Imagining” came on, I was almost convinced it was a Charli XCX song. This hyper-pop song really snaps you out of the anger that “Your Age” makes you feel, but when the chorus hits, that anger has returned once more. 

The song almost takes more of house music instrumental, and fantasy sound at the end, with the synthesizer used in Sawayama’s voice and electric piano.

Anger continues with the next song “Frankenstein.” This song is pure teen angst, with the need to be beautiful and perfect in everyone’s eyes. It almost feels like a video game villain battle. The guitar has a consistent strumming sound, and there is a bass stoke at each lyric that is meant to be impactful. 

The lyrics “Put me together, make me better. Love me forever, hold me tight. I could be your Frankenstein, Frankenstein” in the chorus really help express the anger and emotion that Sawyama has been feeling for these past four songs. 

From “Holy (Til You Let Me Go)” to “Frankenstein,” these four songs on the album are hypnotizing. Hearing all this anger and rage back to back really gets your blood pumping. The adrenaline I feel while listening to these songs is unmatched. 

Sawayama’s ability to not only captivate her audience, but hold them in a trance is unmatched. This album entraps you, and for 46 minutes and four seconds, Sawayama has your full, undivided attention. 

After the anger, the album starts to slow down into more emotional, ballad songs. Make sure tissues are nearby.

All spectacular in their own ways, the one song that stands out the most is “Send My Love To John,” a guitar solo about a mother’s emotion towards raising her gay son and sending love to his boyfriend, John.

To say this song made me violently sob is an understatement, this is the most emotional song on the entire album. Despite the anger present in the prior songs being overwhelming, having this stripped down letter is gut-wrenching. 

This song is the love letter that every queer person wants to hear from their mother. Sawayama’s gentle voice in this song is the comfort that everyone needs. 

Sawyama’s versatility truly shines within this album. The only downside is that not everyone knows about her, so they will not be able to enjoy this work. 

This album truly does have something for everyone, whether you are a heavy metal lover, a soft country lover, or a hyper-pop enthusiast. Rina Sawayama’s talent speaks for itself and deserves recognition.