Rina Sawayama Announces a UK Tour And a New Track Called ‘This Hell’

The first track from Rina Sawayama’s upcoming album ‘Hold The Girl’ has been released.

According to a press release, ‘This Hell’ is a “joyous and roaring slice of pop-meets-country” that is “awash with glam rock riffs and lyrics that are sprinkled with tongue-in-cheek one-liners yelling out a pantheon of LGBTQ icons — Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, and Princess Di.”

Sawayama added that she had a lot of fun writing ‘This Hell’. She has been listening to a lot of female country singers over the last couple of years and wanted to write a joyful and tongue-in-cheek country pop tune. To her, country music embodies comfort, amazing storytelling and an honest portrayal of the writer’s reality. She tried to include as many memorable pop culture moments as possible, but the song is much more.

She also went on to say that it’s an essential song for her, considering the human rights that are being taken away from minorities at an alarming rate in the guise of traditional religious views. We have no choice but to love and defend each other when the world tells us we don’t deserve love and protection. With you, Hell is a lot better.

The song will appear on the pop star’s follow-up to her 2020 breakthrough, ‘SAWAYAMA,’ which will be released on 2nd September via Dirty Hit.

She’s also announced a new UK and Ireland tour, which will begin in October with two nights at Glasgow’s SW3, followed by stops in Dublin, Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and Brighton. It will end on 26th October at the O2 Academy Brixton in London.

Sawayama, meanwhile, played at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 earlier this March, winning the iconic middle finger for Best Live Act Supported By Grolsch.

—Silviya.Y