Rina Sawayama’s second studio album, Hold the Girl, opens with a short, atmospheric track, “Minor Feelings,” that introduce several lyrical themes that the Japanese-British singer will go on to explore across the album’s remaining 12 tracks. She sings of anxiety, loneliness, and the struggle for self-actualization while dealing with past trauma. Though few other songs on Hold the Girl are quite this mellow, the laidback track allows Sawayama’s lyrics to take center stage. The album isn’t as sonically bombastic or inventive as her debut, Sawayama, but it’s one whose music reflects the artist’s growing introspection.
This isn’t to say that Hold the Girl lacks risk or wants for interesting ideas. Sawayama continues to channel her diverse musical influences, especially the sounds of early-2000s pop, in creative ways on songs like the title track. Her vocal inflection here is reminiscent of that of Christina Aguilera, while “This Hell” contains subtle nods to both Michael Jackson and ABBA in both its melody and synthesizer tones. Elsewhere, “Catch Me in the Air” boasts a propulsive beat and sun-soaked hook reminiscent of early-2010s pop, albeit with a more melancholic lyrical focus.
Elsewhere, “Send My Love to John” is an intimate ballad wherein Sawayama’s voice is accompanied solely by acoustic guitar and some layered vocals. Ironically, it’s one of the few songs on Hold the Girl in which Sawayama seems to tell a story beyond her immediate personal experience—in this case, about the fraught relationships between parents and children as it relates to experiences of otherness. Though it sticks out lyrically from the majority of the album’s other songs, it nonetheless allows Sawayama to widen her sonic palette.
On “Send My Love to John” and other tracks on Hold the Girl, Sawayama engages with the profound traumas caused by the oppression of organized religion. For one, “This Hell,” “Your Age,” and “Frankenstein” all find the singer exploring how religion can reinforce feelings of loneliness, fear, and even self-loathing. “Found my peace when I lost my religion/All these years, I wished I was different,” she sings on “Holy (Til You Let Me Go).”
Whereas Sawayama tackled themes of consumerism and ego, Hold the Girl is more introspective and probing by comparison. Though still confrontational, Sawayama’s lyrics are more vivid for allowing us to see and identify with the real-world consequences of these topics.
That said, they can also succumb to cliché: On “This Hell,” Sawayama sings of being “damned for eternity/But you’re coming with me/Into the afterlife/This hell is better with you/We’re burning up together, baby, that makes two.” Her experiments aren’t as bold or memorable as those of her debut, and the hooks throughout Hold the Girl aren’t as immediately catchy. Nonetheless, Sawayama’s undeniably fierce willingness to gaze further inward and confront thornier topics makes the album compelling in its own right.
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