Rina’s unsigned & its obviously very early days, but she’s already picked up momentum via a couple of tracks she uploaded herself onto Soundcloud (tips from Fader, Best Fit, Prefix Mag plus 50K+ streams racked up organically). This new tune ‘Where U Are‘ picks up on themes of loneliness and alienation in a digital age which the Japan-born, London-based Rina nailed in the slick, Arvida Byström-directed video for previous release ’Tunnel Vision’. The immediate, iridescent RnB of new tune ‘Where U Are’ (which reboots Jacko’s 70s hit ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’, mercifully minus the harpsichord intro) finds Ri kicking things up a gear, calling out the duplicitous nature of prepackaging a ‘Best Self’ for modern love in the digital age of Tinder, catfishing, sexting & all the rest of it.
Speaking about the track, Politics graduate Ri says; ‘Online you can present your best edited self, and bypass lots of the messiness and awkwardness that comes with real human interactions. Your overheating phone substitutes human warmth. Weirdest of all- you’re together, but also very alone”.
Rina Sawayama: Where U Are
Written by Rina Sawayama. Produced by Hoost.
Rina Sawayama: Where U Are Lyrics:
Directed and edited by Rina Sawayama and Alessandra Kurr, DOP Nick Morris.
Styling Lucy Upton-Prowse, Makeup Kristina Ralph Andrews.
Originally produced by Hoost and Rina Sawayama.