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Review Summary: Rina takes the listener on personal journey that those who were youth during the early-mid 2000s will find nostalgic on her debut album. Rina is a Japanese-British R&B/pop artist. "Sawayama" is her debut album released in march of 2020. supported by the singles "XS" and "STFU" prior to release. The album takes the early to mid 2000's in its main atheistic in sound.
Right out of the gate the album is well produced and mixed as their is a slight retro flare with the whole album borrowing from the music of the early 2000's which fits the albums nostalgic atmosphere as the whole album plays out like a coming of age movie. This could not be even more obvious with a track like "Paradin", which features a sax solo and defiantly would not be out of place on the intro to a sit com and is one of the albums more upbeat moments.
She is not afraid to put part of her family on blast here too, such as the opening track "Dynasty", where she calls out her fathers side and how their selfishness with their wealth has only brought pain. The song takes the sound of symphonic rock and Rina here sounds fantastic, the best way to describe it would be if Tarja Turunen (formally of nightwish) were to do vocals on an evanescence track due to the tone of Rina's voice here.
Speaking of being fearless, the album is not afraid to go political ether, from toxic masculinity on the fun and bubbly "Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)" or the extremely addictive R&B song "XS". On the latter, the flirtatious presence of Rina's delivery sells the anti-capitalist song very well, after all sex sells. The use of a 2000s R&B atheistic is the perfect backdrop for such a song.It is a big ear worm that is easy to get stuck in ones head,one that is addicting too, and as such has immense replay value. The lyrical content here with lines like "Flex, when all that's left is immaterial, And the price we paid is unbelievable" make this song that is well worth visiting other then "oh its just a catchy pop song".
"Sawayama" is also quite personal, as a subject that comes up through the album is prejudice of various anti-Japanese comments Rina has gotten thought her life, to varying degrees. Of course this is pretty upfront in "STFU" which uses a Bouncy Nu-metal instrumental that is light enough to where it can fit into a predominately R&B style. One of the unexpected but best sells of the track is her gentle near whisper like delivery of what the acronym of the song stands for, which gives the song a passive aggressive tone and it fits well with her experiences in these situations. It fits better well then, if she was just yelling it like a good amount of nu metal would be.The lyrics really benefit with this tone, "Have you ever thought about taping your big mouth shut? 'Cause I have, many times" definitely really works well when played in this passive aggressive manor. That is not to say there are not some moments where it gets a bit intense, like with her sudden bout of crazed laughter, or the scream near the end of the song. Another highlight on this similar subject matter is "Tokyo Love hotel" with how Japan has this amusement park view from both tourists and the world in general, and no cares about the hardships or problems of the country. People are more interested in making love with the culture, rather then being interested in the issues in the country. This is all set fantastically behind an 80s synth backdrop.
This Personal nature also touches out to Rina's own faults, such as on "bad friend" which is a song about how she was terrible with keeping in touch with a friend who she only found out on social media is expecting behind a bubbly instrumental and a reflective tone. "Don't even know where you are What you do and who you do it with"
That is not to say the album does not have any issues. While I do agree with the sentiment that we should love ourselves before loving someone else, "Love Me 4 Me" like many subjects on this topic, does not stick out from the others, hitting many of the same beats with little personality to distinguish itself and be unique. Do not know if it is because the subject matter is infuriatingly liner, but a lot of songs with this message tend to be one note and liner in approach. This is not to say every attempt at a broader subject feels underwhelming here like on the LGBTQ anthem "Chosen Family" which is a well done balled complete with a bold chorus. Another good sell on the song is how subtle the guitar is and the bass heavy beat.
"Sawayama" enters a strong final stretch with "Who's is gonna save U now" that features a lively nature and thanks to a powerful vocal performance from Rina that sells it well. This song was inspired by a "star is born" so it should be no surprise this song definitely does sound like a big crowd moment in one of those music drama movies. The theme of the song about wanting to inspire a personal change rather then wanting revenge makes the song have a more effective impact.
"Snakeskin" closes the album somberly with an introspective look at Rina as sings about her choice of pouring her personal pain into commercial pop songs."I tear my soul into two so that you can P-p-p-pretend despair" (also the Final Fantasy reference here is another thing to enjoy). The vocalization here is fantastic and goes with the build of the beat quite well. the last chorus cuts out suddenly and then plays a sample of Rina's mom play Beethoven on a piano, its a drop that will catch anyone off guard on their first listen. In a way, this choice to end the song with that sample does circle the record back to dynasty.
When all is set in done, "Sawayama" is a strong debut album with it's strong points being the moments where Rina goes personal that has moments of mediocrity on a few of her attempts at boarder subjects.
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Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
This was my first review, tips and feedback welcome. What I struggled with the most was starting off the review
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i think it could start off with something a little more interesting than the generic background of the artist but well written review nonetheless
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
thank you for that! I will work on writing a more interesting starter for future reviews!
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
not bad for a first review + beaut choice of album! some feedback, if helpful
- agreed with sgrech on the intro being a bit flat; try to find a way in that comes off as more than a circumstantial content dump. this is tricky and take practice, but if you think of it as highlighting why you're writing on this album specifically (what's interesting distinctive about it/what your angle is) rather than plainly explaining what it is, you'll hopefully find it easier to grab the attention whoever reads
- i like the way you pick apart the album as a personal/identity piece (v. necessary for this one!), but I think this could use more foregrounding before you jump into specific examples - who is rina sawayama beyond a 'Japanese-British R&B/pop artist' who likes '00s pop, and why does this matter? "the whole album plays out like a coming of age movie" is a solid point that doesn't get unpacked quite as much as it deserves; if you had got your claws into this a little more, i think the following paras would have seemed much better substantiate
- "the best way to describe it would be if Tarja Turunen (formally of nightwish) were to do vocals on an evanescence track due to the tone of Rina's voice here": content point, but v much disagreed here, not sure they have anything in common beyond the general use of *some* rock instrumentation and a couple of vocal melodies. imo you'd be way better off referring to either certain j-pop acts or the same kind of stadium rock vibes the album riffs off later on; both are more pertinent reference points in general
- "It is a big ear worm [...] other then "oh its just a catchy pop song".": whole of this block could use some rephrasing. the direct speech at the end in particular is worth avoiding - if you're anticipating someone else's reaction, best to use reported speech (unless you want to exaggerate for effect, in which case make more of it - but I don't think this is called for here).
- ""Sawayama" is also quite personal" a lot of the points you've made so far have already been about personal topics, no?
- "anti-Japanese" being very pedantic here, but my understanding is that these comments have been broadly racist. "anti-Japanese" technically isn't incorrect, but it implies that rina has been stigmatised specifically for being japanese, rather than for not being white (as is more the case)
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
- "gentle near whisper like delivery of what the acronym of the song stands for": rephrase (also, idk i'd replace 'gentle' with 'passive-aggressive' or 'sassy', but your call)
- "It fits better well then, if she was just yelling it like a good amount of nu metal would be." definitely rephrase this, and maybe explain why this is the case?
- ""Tokyo Love hotel" with how Japan has this amusement park view from both tourists and the world in general, and no cares about the hardships or problems of the country" v clearly expressed, nice
- ""bad friend" which is a song about how she was terrible " cut the bold bit; redundant
- ""Love Me 4 Me" like many subjects on this topic" ???
- "hitting many of the same beats with little personality to distinguish itself and be unique" HOW DARE YOU! song is a huge banger, one of the best here ;]
- "also the Final Fantasy reference here is another thing to enjoy" missed this one - maybe unpack this reference if you bring it up?
typos etc:
"Paradin" = "Paradisin'"
"Bouncy Nu-metal" decapitalise
"light enough to where it can fit into a predominately R&B style" cut "where it can", probs replace "fit" with "suit", and perhaps indicate that the style in question is that of the other songs - if you leave it as is, it looks a bit muddled, as though STFU is a R&B track as much as it is nu-metal (if that's your point, rephrase to make it clearer anyway)
"The lyrics really benefit with this tone" - the lyrics [really] support this tone
"making love with the culture" i get what you're trying to here, but i'm not sure it scans. if you wanna keep up the romantic/eroticised register, maybe go for 'infatuated with the culture'?
"This Personal nature" decapitalise personal
""bad friend"" capitalise
"Do not know if it" sentence needs a subject
"which is a well done balled" ballad - also "well done" is clunky&boring, find another positive expression to use here
""Sawayama" enters a strong final stretch" as a general rule, stylise song titles one way, and album titles another. general protocol is to put the album title in italics if you use speech marks for the song titles, but it doesn't matter as long as you keep them separate
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
general points:
- your register is very informal, which makes all the above points seem more awkward when they come up. i'm very much in favour in being able to maintain a conversational feel throughout a review, but i think it's important that you master a formal register before you focus on this - it'll give your writing a lot more weight
- as it is, the review kinda follows an A,B,C,D,E etc structure, with one point after another. this is fine to begin with, especially since some of those points are neat, but you'll get a lot out of focusing on a cohesive introduction and thread/argument/attitude that can run through the whole review. your points (and this album!) definitely give you the scope to do so - there's loads of links between the different parts of her background and personality that you can draw on, for instance - so try to bear this in mind next time.
sorry for the o v e r l o a d - didn't mean to shred this too badly! most important thing is to keep doing what you're doing and focus on tightening your style just a bit at a time; all this shit gets easier with practice ;]
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o v e r l o a d
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I've seen you leaving soundoffs on a bunch of Elvis albums. Rina Sawayama would not be my guess for your first review lol. Solid review though
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
-ill work on that with the intro, "why" instead of "what is an approach I did not think of
-I should of done better with expanding on the "coming of age" point.
- could of used a better example I will admit, and one that would fit the taste of her listeners more
-I will work on rephrasing that.
-yeah i was redundant there
-yeah, while i was technically right on that, racism was a better way to describe it.
-Work on rephrasing (also I was trying to get around swearing in the review)
-yup, should of expanded on this with an example
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
-thanks
-was redundant indeed x3
-that should of been "like many songs of this subject"
-i am sorry to disagree with you on that one
-I dropped the ball with mentioning the sampling of the Final Fantasy victory theme
as for typos and grammar, i did make a few errors mainly with capitalization (pleasantly surprised not many spelling errors, as I am terrible with spelling, thank goodness for spellcheck!)
-With the whole "Make love" thing, I was trying to write something to imply the whole "having sexual intercourse with the culture" while being as PG as possible, infatuated was a better way to do so and I should of thought of that
Thank you for the feedback! @JohnneyoftheWell
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
@CoalT That is because I am doing an Elvis discography run currently, honestly i am surprised too this was my first review published as I have another before this one i am working on ("Unlimited Diffusion" by Aldious, which is a bit of a challenge!)
| | | Album Rating: 1.0
Johnny I'm confiscating your keyboard for the day
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no ur not
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
he did + am borrowing my mum's fone to type this rn rofl
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Lame alb agreed
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