Rina Sawayama has revealed the title and release date of her brand new studio album. Unveiling the news via Instagram, the Japanese-born British singer-songwriter has confirmed that the album will be titled Hold The Girl, and will land on September 2.
The sophomore full-length studio record from the fast-rising alt-pop star, who stole the show at last month's Coachella Festival in California, is one of the most anticipated releases of 2022. The announcement for Hold The Girl was accompanied by a dramatic trailer for the new album, featuring various pieces of footage spliced with snippets of guitars, drum clashes and vocal lines.
In 2020, Rina released her debut album, Sawayama, to critical acclaim, with particular praise being directed towards the record's diverse range of influences and heavy use of rock and metal on tracks like XS, STFU! and Who's Gonna Save U Now? If these (very) early indicators are anything to go by, it looks like Rina has been digging into similar inspirations for Hold The Girl.
When speaking to Metal Hammer last year about her epic cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman for their Blacklist project, Rina touched on how metal and hard rock have influenced her writing.
"My music is a blend of a lot of different genres, but I always find myself taking inspiration from metal," she noted. "Songs like STFU! and XS obviously have metal/nu metal influences, but even my earlier songs like [2017's] Afterlife do as well. I love matching pop production with crunchy guitar riffs and an epic solo."
Watch the announcement video for Hold The Girl below.
