Rina Sawayama does it like the boys in "Bad Friend"

Rina had shot music videos for "XS" and "Bad Friend" back to back before Miss Corona arrived on the scene and it's a good damn thing that she did. Having to release her album in the midst of a pandemic when it'll be a struggle for fans to buy a physical copy and have her tour be delayed is one thing. But could you imagine if a bitch had NO music videos to drop neither?

Gurl.

Shout outs to the artists who shot their music videos in advance. Because, I know they're relived they can just drop their shit whenever and not have to worry about D.I.Y at home visuals like many artists be having to do.

There is nothing wrong with a "7/11" style video. But it makes a difference when you do that as a creative choice versus being forced to because you can't do shit else. It must be doo-doo to be an artist with a vision for a music video and then not be able to carry it out right now. Although some be making it work. JoJo has given us two music videos shot whilst in quarantine, which probably would have looked no different if she had shot them out of it.

The video for "Bad Friend" speaks a lot to the type of artist that Rina is. It would have been far more common to have gone with a video which had Rina walking around a city alone, or sat at home staring into a fireplace with a drink in hand. But Rina being Rina, she cross dressed and gave us something that looks like it was lifted from a Japanese film in the 1930s.

"Bad Friend" is one of many highlights of Rina's debut album, and one which hits far more now at a time when many of us actually can't see our friends in person, and we have all the time to really sit and think about relationships we share and once shared with others.

Seeing the production values and effort put into the music videos for "XS" and"Bad Friend" makes me even more pissed that "Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys)" got the video that it did. Even if you're a ride or die Rina fan, you know damn well that "Comme Des Garçons" deserved a far better video than that green screen lyric video looking-ass shit that it got.

📝 Reviews: The Rina EP | The Sawayama LP