Rina Sawayama releases her Hold the Ghoul song “Frankenstein” as a single for Halloween

I complain every October that not enough pop artists release songs for Halloween.

I don’t even need a song to be specifically tailored to Halloween. If a song has any tangential reference to something which can be associated with Halloween, or the shit sounds dark - fuck it. Release it as a single for Halloween.

When I reviewed “Hold the Girl”, I said that I hope Rina releases “Frankenstein” for Halloween. And now, look. A bitch has gone and done it.

This only single from Hold the Girl which feels like it was released at the right time. We got there in the end. 

I was VERY unsure of Hold the Girl when I first heard it. But “Frankenstein” was like on a first listen. There was no dilly-dallying. No hesitation. I knew it was my shit. But this video? I do not like it one bit.

Rina Sawayama - Frankenstein | © 2022 Dirty Hit

The music video for “Frankenstein” just doesn’t give enough of...well...anything. The visuals do not lean hard enough into anything, so the whole thing just feels so creatively loose and kinda theme-less. The song itself is doing all of the heavy lifting.

Dark Rina coming out of the mirror should have been far creepier and scarier. It shoulda straight up been some shit out of The Ring. Also, Dark Rina shoulda have looked...darker, or had a more extreme look. There should have been more dancing. The choreography didn’t hit one bit. It was far too static and had zero impact when only three people were doing it. EVERYBODY in the video should have been doing the dance together.

“STFU” and “XS” felt more Halloween themed and better executed than this. This was a real chance for Rina to make an impact with a music video, and even be self referential and give the Pixels Easter eggs with nods to the aforementioned music videos. But all she gave us was a house party in Albert Square and nothing more.

Gurl. You had a real chance to create this great landmark video for Halloween that gets annual repeat views, and you give us this trash.

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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