Rina Sawayama covers Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever”

Rina Sawayama has finally gotten to grace everybody with a Radio 1 Live Lounge cover. You know a bitch has made it when she ends up on Live Lounge. And Rina not only gave a great performance, she picked a song from Billie Eilish, which means this shit is going to circulate like mad on social media. She covered a song which very easily could have been her own single. And she covered a song which I think speaks more to Rina’s current tastes and what to expect from Hold the Girl more than any of the performances she’s given thus far.

“Happier Than Ever” is a highlight from Billie’s album of the same name. It’s different for her. Not just because of the rock sound, but because it leans into that feeling of angst that Billie has always had, but kept tamed somewhat within a lot of her music. I remember being really surprised when I first heard Billie’s music after seeing images of her, because I never expected her music to sound as tender as it did.

Billie sounds good on “Happier Than Ever”, but Rina owns the shit out of it. I feel it more when Rina sings it, because of the performance that she brings to it.

Over the years, Rina has really been focusing on bringing a level of theatrics to her songs and the way in which she sings, and it’s very noticeable here. Also, Rina just sounds great. She’s not ducking a single note, and she’s really going for it in ways Billie does not and could not. If only Rina gave me more of this shit on her albums. But that’s a whole conversation for my Hold the Girl album review.

Rina made a great choice covering “Happier Than Ever”. She absolutely knew she would doo-doo on the original and hit it . And this cover would sit real good on Hold the Girl.

It’s a real shame how Live Lounge has dipped in quality over the years. Because there was a good stretch for a couple of years circa 2007, where artists were swinging by and delivering amazing covers of songs you would never expect them to cover.

---

💿 Album reviews: Rina: Sawayama | Billie: Happier Than Ever