Rina Sawayama has shared her storming new single 'STFU' – tune in now.
Recently signing to Dirty Hit, Rina seems able to retain the phenomenal creative independence that made her first releases to intoxicating.
Swapping her future-facing pop for something more visceral, new single 'STFU' sounds like Korn or Rage Against The Machine in its caustic anger.
Rina is unleashed pent up aggression, a rebellion forced against the everyday racism she encounters as a Japanese born woman in the UK.
The video is unrelenting, her middle finger raised in potent rebellion. A genuine moment, 'STFU' is easily one of the most daring pop – if we can even call it that – releases in 2019.
She comments…
“‘STFU!’ is a song about releasing the RAGE against micro-aggressions. As a Japanese girl growing up in the West I dealt with an array of aggressors ranging from: sexual stereotypes, comparisons with Lucy Liu and Cho Chang, to having to be the unofficial PR person and tourist board to Tokyo (a city of Western fascination that I left when I was four), to people shouting Asian greetings down the street (nihao! Konnichiwa!), and finally to people doing 'slit eyes'.”
“The way I’ve dealt with these micro aggressions in recent years has been through comedy – my Asian friends and I have bonded over our shared experiences, laughing at how truly ridiculous these micro-aggressions are. Through humour and we heal and can move on.”
“This is the spirit of ‘STFU!’ It was truly a therapeutic experience to condense all the things that people have said to me over the years into a situation that highlights how ridiculous these comments are when said all in one go in a context (like a first date) of flattery.”
Check it out now.
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