Rina Sawayama Announces Sophomore Album 'Hold the Girl'

The follow-up to 2020's 'Sawayama' arrives September 2

BY Kaelen BellPublished May 16, 2022

Back in 2020, Rina Sawayama released Sawayama, her aughties-pop meets nu-metal concoction of a debut. And today, the British alt-pop star has shared a teaser for her impending follow-up Hold the Girl, arriving September 2. 

UPDATE (18/05, 2:00 p.m. ET): Sawayama has shared the official artwork and first single from Hold the Girl — "This Hell" is a synthetic country-pop song produced by Paul Epworth written to celebrate the queer community in the face of homophobic legislation. About the track, Sawayama said, "When the world tells us we don't deserve love and protection, we have no choice but to give love and protection to each other. This Hell is better with you." Check out the single below. 

The announcement comes a few days after new imagery reading "Rina is going to hell" started popping up, and it includes a teaser video that features some ferocious guitar solos and menacing drums, plus a very brief snippet of what sounds like a folk/country guitar lick. She also says, in the immortal words of Shania Twain, "Let's go girls." 

Most recently, Sawayama appeared on Charli XCX's CRASH single "Beg For You."

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