Music Review: Sawayama
Isobel Helme reviews Rina Sawayama’s debut album.
“So, my name is Rina Sawayama, and I found out one label exec jokingly called me Rina Wagamama. I was pursuing a deal with them, but you know, that’s gone.”
Racial comments such as these have plagued Sawayama since she moved to London from Japan at the age of five. In an interview with NME she recounts the story of a date who expressed his surprise that she sang in English, asking her if she had ever “been to that Japanese place Wagamama’s?” and explaining that he was writing fanfiction about “a little Japanese woman”. The lyrics “Shut the fuck up / Have you ever thought about taping your big mouth shut? / ‘Cause I have many times” should therefore come as no surprise.
Sawayama, the artist’s self-titled debut studio album, delves into the plethora of issues that have underpinned the 29-year-old’s life; racism, shame regarding sexuality, and family trauma to name a few. Ultimately all the topics boil down to the two overarching concepts of identity and family. According to Sawayama, the album is about “understanding yourself in the context of two opposing cultures (for me British and Japanese), what ‘belonging’ means when home is an evolving concept, figuring out where you sit comfortably within and awkwardly outside of stereotypes, and ultimately trying to be ok with just being you, warts and all.”
Identity - its imposition but also its fluidity – is something Sawayama has grappled with since her early youth. Her parents had an acrimonious divorce when she was young that she claims left her without a clear narrative; “You don’t understand, you don’t know what your story is or what your take is on the whole situation”. She discusses family trauma in “Dynasty”, explaining “I’m a dynasty / The pain in my vein is hereditary”. First attending a Japanese primary school in London, she later joined a Church of England school where she struggled to fit in, and then went on to gain a place at the University of Cambridge to study Politics, Psychology, and Sociology.
On the imposter syndrome that she felt at Cambridge, she says: “You’re introduced to the class you never grew up with; the future Boris Johnsons and the people who have the same surname as the library. I just did not understand that world whatsoever.” The realisation that she was pansexual threw another spanner in the identity works. Family and identity collide throughout Sawayama; as mentioned, “home is an evolving concept”. In “Chosen Family” Sawayama worships the LGBTQ+ community’s inclusiveness, explaining “We don’t need to be related to relate / We don’t need to share genes or a surname / You are my chosen family”.
Aside from a couple of anomalies in the middle of the album, Sawayama is an achievement. Few artists have Sawayama’s ability to combine Noughties pop-princessness with the intensely personal; fewer again can make nu-metal (as heard on “STFU!”) feel modern. The lyrical content, ranging from forgotten friendships to racial fetishism, is hugely refreshing. Sawayama explains that she addresses songwriting in much the same way as she did her dissertations at Cambridge. She ends “Dynasty” with the words “Won’t you break the chain with me?”. She states that this is “the biggest question of the record – whether I’m able to break the chain of pain that runs in my family”. I can’t help but hope that Sawayama will continue to break the chain of mundanity that has long dominated pop music.