Rina Sawayama drops "Bad Friend" and reads me down

On the eve of the release of her long awaited debut album, Rina Sawayama has been generous and let everybody in on a new song lifted from it - just mere weeks after releasing its fourth single "Chosen Family".

I'm mad at Rina. Because "Bad Friend" really should have been a promotional single. And if the performance of her past singles are anything to go by, this won't get the exposure or traction that it deserves.

Rina really just read me down.

I am that friend who won't reach out for weeks or sometimes months. I don't do it because I don't care, and I don't make a conscious decision to do it. It just happens. My friends don't take it personally and neither do I when it's done to me. When we do finally reconnect, it's like no time had passed since we last spoke. BUT. We often don't think about what that friend could be going through during these moments of silence and how much somebody's life can change in that time. And sometimes we distance ourselves because we're going through shit and we just wanna isolate and be away from every-damn-body.

Being a friend is easy, hard, complicated, effortless and exhausting all at the same time.

Rina's "Bad Friend" is a nice different take on friendship from a different perspective from what we normally get in songs. It reminded me of Jessie Ware's "Wildest Moments", which was also a flipped take on a friendship, of how being in a friendship with somebody you truly love and care about means sharing many great moments, but inevitably sharing some of the worst ones too.

UK Pop hits different sometimes. We be miserable.

"Bad Friend" literally gives me all of the things I wanted from "Chosen Family". An anthemic bridge section with choir style vocals in the middle, a better climax and a less clunky set of lyrics.

Rina's debut album releases tomorrow on April 17th and will be available on all streaming platforms.

🎛️ This is the remix: Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys) featuring Pabllo Vittar
🎧 This is the original: Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)
📺 These are the music videos: STFU! | Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)
📝 This is the EP review: Rina
🔊 This is the playlist: This is Rina Sawayama