Rina Sawayama has announced her debut album.
Titled ‘Sawayama’, the full-length will be with us on 17th April via Dirty Hit.
“Previously I’ve put this sort of societal angle on it, because that pleases me, trying to take my story and make it into a bigger thing,” Rina explains. “But I’ve been using music quite therapeutically recently, to understand things that are happening in my life.”
“The album ultimately is about family and identity. It’s 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.”
Following up on her pop-Korn-tastic recent single ‘STFU!’, there’s also a brand new track, ‘Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)’, which you can check out below.
“When I was writing this song I wanted on one hand to lyrically explore the idea of people having to adopt negative male tropes to appear confident, whilst on the other sonically paying homage to the early 2000s dance tracks that made me feel confident,” Rina reveals. “The idea that the socially acceptable version of confidence is in acting “like the boys”, otherwise as a woman you get called a bitch – but in the club, we reclaim the word “bitch” as a sign of ultimate confidence (‘yes bitch’, ‘work bitch’). I wanted to sit these two together and make a club fashion banger that makes you feeling like THAT bitch whoever you are.”
There’ll be a brand new tour, too, which kicks off in Los Angeles on 24th April, and finishes up in Glasgow on 21st May. Tickets go on general sale next Friday, 24th January at 10am local time.
The dates read:
April
24 Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
25 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
27 Portland, OR @ Holocene
28 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
May
1 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
2 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
3 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
6 Washington, DC @ Union Stage
7 New York City, NY @ Webster Hall
8 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
9 Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at the Fillmore
15 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
16 Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute3
20 London, UK @ Electric Brixton
21 Glasgow, UK @ King Tuts