Rina Sawayama says writing second album during lockdown ‘healed’ her

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Attitude

Rina Sawayama has said that writing her second album “healed” her after her experiences during the lockdown, and it will address things she hasn’t spoken about before.

The record, due out next year, will serve as the follow-up to the singer’s acclaimed debut album, Sawayama, which came out last year.

Sawayama was awarded the Breakthrough Award at last year’s Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar.

“I uncovered a couple of things”

Discussing her experience of lockdown in an interview with Time magazine for their Next Generation Leaders feature, Rina says: “I uncovered a couple of things about myself, and it really landed me in a weird place psychologically,” adding, “Writing about it has kind of healed me.”

The ‘Chosen Family’ singer also talked about the diversity of stories being told by artists at the moment. “Music has always shifted and shaped and reflected culture, I think,” she says in her Zoom interview.

“Now more than ever we have so – there are so many artists and I do think that so many incredible stories are being told. And we’re constantly thinking of stories that I want to tell that I don’t see being told as often,” she adds. 

She continues: “We’ve come a long way for LGBT visibility and even having non-binary people come out is amazing.”

“What leadership means to me is constantly finding ways to do good. I think you can always do better and I think some people think doing better, especially in this world, is earning more money and, you know, reaching more career highs, and I think that can become pretty futile.”

Instead, her music is all about connecting people and “making people feel seen.”

The Attitude Awards issue is out now.

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