Rina Sawayama releases the title track of her album ‘Hold the Girl’. Oh. And pushes the album back.

Rina’s third single of 2022 is out already. The third single from Rina’s second studio album...which isn’t out until September...is out already. Mere weeks after “Catch Me In the Air”.

Rina is making her way through songs how Lil’ Kim used to make her way through wigs.

It’s been all of 4 weeks since Rina released her second single from Hold the Girl, “Catch Me in the Air”. And we got no promotion for that song whatsoever, aside from a lengthy Instagram caption. We didn’t even get a proper music video. And that single came 4-5 weeks after “This Hell”, which was the single to kick off the run-up to Rina’s second studio album. And already we have the album title track as a third single.

Some people may be cool with this quick succession of singles. But I’m not. I’ve been soap boxing, being old, and saying as of late that I do not like this new trend of labels and acts just cranking out singles, with no real promotional plan and no patience.

I get that we are at a point in music where everybody wants things fast and wants them immediately. But having a quick churn on singles is not good. Because you know what is severely lacking in the music business right now as a result of this? Attention spans. And the solution isn’t just to build a release strategy around that.

“This Hell” was a good song that should have been a smash hit and done big things for Rina. And, hey. I completely get that just because a song sounds like a hit, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a hit. But it didn’t seem like Rina or her team were even trying to make “This Hell” the hit it could have been. Where was the promo? We got two, maybe three live performances of the song, and NOTHING else. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes that Rina didn’t perform “This Hell” at Coachella. That would have been the perfect time to have debuted the song. Then Rina releases “Catch Me in the Air” out of nowhere. A song that has been floating around online for months because she’d performed it on her tour (where it sounded a whole lot better). No promo of that song or televised performances either. And now here we are with another single, which will probably ALSO receive no promo. And Rina has already announced that because her album has been delayed, that there will be an additional single.

At this rate we’re going to get a single a month until the album drops. And the damn thing will probably end up leaking weeks before its release, because physical copies have already been pressed. I mean, shit. If a Beyoncé album in 2022 can’t escape a leak, Rina has no chance. Although I guess being a smaller artist with fewer fans anticipating the release, a smaller label, and fewer retailers globally stocking your album would greatly reduce the risk of it leaking. And this messy album rollout certainly isn’t going to help Rina get bigger.

Whatever this shit is that she and her team are doing with this album roll out, it isn’t cutting it. I don’t know if Rina is just trying to get these singles, tour dates and the album announcement out of the way in advance to make space for the John Wick 4 press that she’ll probably get locked into. Or if she’s just trying to rush release her way out of her current recording contract. Either way, it’s not good.

Well, at least the single cover art for “Hold the Girl” is nice.

This shoulda been the album cover.

As for the song itself? I’m not feeling it. It has a very similar vibe to Charli XCX’s “Beg For You” which Rina featured on, and I wasn’t feeling that song one bit. The 2-step garage vibe is what throws the song off for me. It would have been far better without it. The underlying melody and tone of the song is actually really similar to “Dynasty”. So I wouldn’t have been mad at Rina going full Evanescence again with it. But what really would have been great, is the beats were taken off the song, and it was just strings, guitar and a piano, because everything under the beats is really nice. But the 2-step garage beats are distracting, unnecessary and a weird fit.

I can hear the hit potential in “Hold the Girl” though. But as was the case with “Catch Me in the Air”, the timing doesn’t feel right for a song like this. And if it’s going to receive the same amount of promo as the past two singles, then what is even the point in releasing it?

“This Hell” shoulda been the long haul single until August.

In more Rina news, her album has been pushed back 2 weeks, from September 2 to September 16 due to production issues. Fans have been begging Rina to change the album cover, but she really can’t. Not now. The most she can do now is have the digital release feature a different cover art.

Let this be a lesson as to why sometimes it’s best to keep album release dates close to your chest until nearer the time. And to have somebody on your team who will pick a good shot for your album cover.

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💿 Rina reviews: This Hell | Sawayama | Rina
📀 Rina revision: Sawayama (The Random J Pop Revised Expanded Edition)
🗄️ Rina shit: That time Rina performed This Hell on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon | That time Rina performed at Coachella | That time Rina got shafted because of racism and xenophobia | That time Rina met Hikaru Utada | That time Rina released a gay anthem and gave it an awful music video