REVIEW: Rina Sawayama's Hold the Girl off of Dirty Hit

 

Hold the Girl is the sophomore album by Japanese-British artist Rina Sawayama. After the 2020 debut I was left impressed by the modern pop and nu metal fusions and how willing Sawayama was to show her scars to the world and eagerly awaited a follow up. However as the singles to this new record were released I honestly felt more and more underwhelmed.


This record itself wasn’t really a let down and in context of the entire project I felt great about some of the songs themselves, including singles that I didn’t love, I just don’t feel it's as strong a record as Sawayama and shares one of its deepest flaws on top of that. As much as I did have a great first few listens of both these projects they both begin to feel stale fast and I don’t feel drawn to repeat listens as a whole body of work, just a song here or there. I do, however, have to applaud the risks taken here as Sawayama herself does go outside her lane quite a bit and while I don’t think it sticks the landing all the time it does make for admirable musicianship. I also enjoy how the metal based influences are replaced more so by classic rock and how they fit the themes even better in a lot of ways.


In spite of my issues I really resonate with songs like the title track on my own personal level. In it Sawayama talks about giving care to her inner child and making sure that part of her heart feels taken care of from her own trauma. In my own way I feel the same toward my own transition. My inner child didn’t get to be a little girl and while I wish she did I want her to know that I’m trying my hardest to make up for that.


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