“An experimental pop visionary who refuses to play by the rules of the game”. Therefore Lady Gaga describe Rina Sawayama, one of the most promising British artists of her generation. At 33, she has established herself on the alternative music scene as a creative and innovative popstar, as much in her music which sometimes ventures on the shores of punk rock, sometimes on those of country, as through her acute sense of the fashion. Today it’s Paris Hilton, another icon, who called on the singer. On June 21, 2024, the two artists will unveil “I’m Free”, their first collaboration. When she had just been named Zalando ambassador, Vogue met Rina Sawayama in London. The opportunity to learn more about his astonishing journey.
Rina Sawayama or the explosion of genres
If she was born in Japan, Rina Sawayama arrived in the United Kingdom at the age of 5. As a child, she remained immersed in her parents’ culture for a long time, notably by attending a Japanese school. For a long time, the British culture around him completely escaped him. As such, one of his first musical memories remains to this day the voice of the Japanese singer Utada Hikaru to the song “Automatic”, which she practices singing all day long. The song, infused with soul and R’n’B sounds, was released in 1999 on the album First Love, which sold 2 million copies almost immediately, and remained at the top of the Japanese rankings for six weeks. It remains to this day the best-selling album in Japan, well over 10 million copies. Enough to understand why Rina Sawayama in fact one of his idols, going so far as to cover another of his songs, “First Love”, on stage in Tokyo in 2022.
The career of Utada Hikaru has received numerous acclaim, notably for her ability to explore different musical genres, from pop to R’n’B, house and disco. It is undoubtedly this aspect which pleased the young Rina Sawayama, who has, in the space of two albums, built an unapologetic pop style, ready to flirt with genres as astonishing as punk rock or country. A surprising position for the one who started at the dawn of the 2010s on Soundcloud with much softer and atmospheric pieces. Asked about her different musical turns, she explains: “I think I have become more confident, especially in terms of composition. I grew up with R’n’B, it’s a musical genre that is dear to me. But by releasing the EP RINA, I felt like I had a finger on what I really had to say”. The famous EP RINA was released in 2017, and marks a turning point in the artist’s discography, towards more marked and incisive sounds. An assertion which succeeded him, until the release of his first album, SAWAYAMAin April 2020.
