Since Rina Sawayama’s breakthrough album, Sawayama, dropped in 2020, the Japanese-British pop singer’s star has been steadily on the rise. She’s claimed standout collaborations with both Charli XCX (“Beg For You”) and Elton John (“Chosen Family”), and now has just announced that her third album, Hold This Girl, is coming out on September 2nd.
If Sawayama has made a habit of anything, it’s pushing the boundaries of what pop music has to offer. Lead single “This Hell” culls from both country music and glam rock influences, as she punctuating the chorus singing, “This hell is better with you!” The track was co-produced by Adele producer and former Grammy Awards Producer Of The Year winner Paul Epworth, and Sawayama’s longtime collaborator Clarence Clarity. It’s propped up on an electrifying guitar riff and is lyrically tongue-in-cheek without giving up any fire.
“The past couple of years I’ve been listening to lots of female country singers and wanted to write a euphoric and tongue-in-cheek country-pop song,” Sawayama said in a statement.” I’ve been dreaming of working with Paul Epworth my entire career so I knew it was meant to be when we finished this song in a day. I put in as many iconic pop culture moments as I can, but the song is more than that.”
She’s set to perform the song on Fallon tomorrow, but you can listen to “This Hell” now, above.
Hold This Girl is out 9/2 via Dirty Hit. pre-order it here.