Rina Sawayama
Hold the Girl
Release Date: Sep 16, 2022
Genre(s): Pop, Pop/Rock, Left-Field Pop
Record label: Dirty Hit
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Album Review: Hold the Girl by Rina Sawayama
Exceptionally Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 5
Imbued with a spirit and attitude that only the very best pop records have, this is not just a step up but a whole leap to a new exalted level of pop excellence We're currently living in an age featuring some of the most futuristic, inventive and thrilling pop music ever made by a vanguard of pioneering pop stars that oddly exist in their own distinct prism. A pop pantheon that exists outside the traditional and, arguably, terribly outdated metrics of the album charts. No artist exemplifies this more than the daring pop visionary Rina Sawayama.
Based on rating 3.5/5
"I'm not the girl I tried to be yesterday" Let me take you back to a time before time, before the world began its post-2012 crawl towards the apocalypse, when the chief means of music consumption were CDs and the radio and mainstream was an invocation of Simon Cowell rather than Taylor Swift. The UK '00s are easy to romanticise for anyone privileged enough to remember their lackadaisical, sheltered side. Truth is, there was a great deal of disaffection and apathy brewing throughout that time, but compared with the depths we've since plumbed, it's easy to filter those through a hollow sense of optimism.
Opinion: Fantastic
Rina Sawayama is an artist consistently pushing the boundaries of what pop music can be, blending a myriad of styles from hyperpop to nu-metal, all while juggling collaborations with everyone from Elton John to Charli XCX. Debut album, 2020's 'SAWAYAMA' , encapsulated this genre-fluid ideology and was executed extremely well. Critical acclaim ensued, among Mercury Prize dramata.
'Hold the Girl'
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