Rina Sawayama was inspired by Taylor Swift while writing and recording her new album ‘Hold The Girl’.
The singer will release the follow-up to 2019’s ‘SAWAYAMA’ on September 2, with its lead single This Hell out now.
Speaking ahead of the album’s release, the hitmaker confessed it was the “fake stories” on the country-pop star’s record that inspired the direction of her own LP.
“I remember when Taylor Swift released ‘Folklore’, I was like, ‘This bitch is writing about fake stories and she just wrote a whole album. If she can do it, I need to do it,’” she told Rolling Stone UK.
Rina went on to insist she plans on keeping her own experiences out of her music for now, explaining: “For me, it’s important that the listener is able to listen to it as a pop record first without that background, [and] make their own feelings about it.
“And then, when I’m ready, I think I will be able to talk about what it’s actually about.”
Rina previously opened up about her new LP, revealing: “I wrote a record during lockdown, which was really difficult.
“I felt I just didn’t have anything to write about because, like a lot of people, I wasn’t doing anything.
“But I managed to do it and it is coming out this year.”
Adding that she got the seal of approval from pal and collaborator Elton John, she continued: “We spent some time in the summer together and he has this humongous boombox which he listens to music on.
“I played him my songs and he loved them.”
‘Hold The Girl’ is available to pre-order now.
