Rina shows us the making of her debut album Sawayama. Well...a lil' bit of it.

Rina Sawayama has released a video which shows the making of her debut album Sawayama, a video that she had teased back in July.

In all honesty this video doesn't shed a greater deal more light on the process than fans already knew, as Rina had already shared in interviews, on Twitter and in her own YouTube videos the process of making the album. So nothing in this video feels revelatory or new. And there's no real structure or breadth to it. It's just footage from Rina in the studio from about three studio sessions and her in the back of a taxi. You get to hear her record "Comme des Garçons (Like The Boys)" and you hear early versions of "Dynasty" and "Akasaka Sad". But the video is severely light on the details that I feel fans would want to know, and it doesn't consolidate that of what we already knew. Even Secret Serviceyoncé showed us more of the making of her self-titled album. But hey. It's content. And another reminder that the Sawayama album exists. So hopefully the YouTube algorithm will work in Rina's favour to get her album some extra streams.

It's interesting to see how reluctant Rina was to even record anything and how she low key detests being in the studio. It's amazing that between her detest for recording vocals and Clarence Clarity's nonchalance that they even got an album done. But they did, and it was amazing, and it deserves.

If you'd like to hear a more in depth take on the process of making Sawayama, I would highly recommend checking out episode 46 of the podcast Tapes Notes, which features Rina and Clarence, who play early versions of songs, vocal takes and really delve into how songs on the album came together. It's a far more detailed, transparent and interesting look at the making of Sawayama than this video.

🎙️ Listen to episode 46 of Tape Notes: Official website | Spotify | Apple Music

In other news, songs from Sawayama and the album itself has been submitted to the Grammys. Fingers crossed. Rina and Clarence deserve a gold gramophone for the fireplace.

💿 Album reviews: The LP: Sawayama | The EP: Rina