Rina Sawayama is about to return with her second album, Hold The Girl, in September. She’s just released her Shania Twain inspired huge bop, This Hell. And after high-profile collaborations with both Lady Gaga and Charli XCX, the singer might be singing about crashing her way to hell, but Rina's career on a sharp rise.
Last year, Rina made headlines when she successfully changed the eligibility for musicians to be nominated for both Brit and Mercury Awards - meaning those who don't have British citizenship, but have lived here for at least five years, can now be nominated. The Japanese singer, who has lived in the UK for 27 years, was originally told she 'wasn't British enough' to enter the awards with her debut album XS. Thankfully, she was later nominated for the rising star Brit Award, following the #SAWAYAMAISBRITISH campaign.
‘It's just one little thing that stops people from feeling like they can't achieve their fullest potential,' Rina says, speaking to Grazia at Radio 1's Big Weekend, ‘I went to Cambridge and studied politics and I felt like so many people helped me along the way to get there. And I just want to do that in any way that I can to try and change things.’
But another thing Rina, 31, does say is that the music industry can get better at age diversity. ‘My first album deal was at 29,’ she says. ‘And maybe that's the thing which really needs to change. People need to think that it's not all about the teenagers. There's like a lot of people who are in their mid 20s and late 20s with incredible stories. I definitely wonder in hindsight now, with all the labels that turned me down for the first record, I wonder if that was a factor.’ She adds, ‘I really love seeing artists like Self Esteem. And one of my favourite records last year was Jessie Ware’s record. It's nice to see that diversity in age.’
There have been rumours swirling that Rina is going to support Lady Gaga on tour, when Gaga is in London next month, performing at Tottenham Stadium. Rina provided her vocals on Gaga’s remix album for Chromatica (and later met Gaga in Vegas after Rina’s teams tour bus broke down). ‘I don’t think I’d be doing music if it wasn’t for her,’ Rina says. ‘Gaga really created the blueprint for authenticity and like just being yourself.'
Watch Rina's set at Radio 1's Big Weekend on iPlayer.