album Rina Sawayama - 'Hold the Girl'

[sam.teas]

can someone tell me what’s the title of the sample in Holy? i can’t remember the name 

[Lazuli]

The switching has begun, no more tired drags and complains anymore  

Gonna wait for next friday tho 

[justin464]

Hmmm interesting album. I like it & I think it will grow on me more. SMLTJ was honestly the biggest surprise for me though, I loved it. My favorites after first listen are probably Frankenstein, Imagining, and Holy.

[Doogle]

I think I will keep listening and I like it overall. But where did Rina Sawayama go  she’s missing a lot here

[LoveInStereo]

Wow. Insiders really know everything except for what a good song sounds like. I was told the singles were the weak songs but stuff like Forgiveness hit new lows. Even the highlights are so derivative. Imagining is Kill V Maim, period. Your Age is a Poppy rip-off. This album confirms for me she’s not creative at all

[ahauntingnearu]

3 minutes ago, LoveInStereo said:

Wow. Insiders really know everything except for what a good song sounds like. I was told the singles were the weak songs but stuff like Forgiveness hit new lows. Even the highlights are so derivative. Imagining is Kill V Maim, period. Your Age is a Poppy rip-off. This album confirms for me she’s not creative at all

[東京.]

1 hour ago, LoveInStereo said:

Wow. Insiders really know everything except for what a good song sounds like. I was told the singles were the weak songs but stuff like Forgiveness hit new lows. Even the highlights are so derivative. Imagining is Kill V Maim, period. Your Age is a Poppy rip-off. This album confirms for me she’s not creative at all

If anyone's interested, this is what a lack of taste and a pre-determined opinion looks like.

 

[Jagger]

Forgiveness is the worst song on this. It's such a non event. And basically the uglier sister of Phantom 

[Roger]

2 hours ago, Jagger said:

Forgiveness is the worst song on this. It's such a non event. And basically the uglier sister of Phantom 

Agree

[getawaycar]

Sorry I'm enjoying every song so far lol

 

HTG > Imagining > Forgiveness > CMITA > Hurricanes > Frankenstein > Phantom > This Hell

[Freaky Prince]

Frankenstein is the best song ever  

[Sheegs]

Catch Me In The Air kinda sounds better listening with the whole album

[LeMésTragique]

At least 50% of the album is going to be good by the looks of it

[Ice Cream Skies]

Forgiveness is a highlight, I don't know what you all are smoking. 

 

The most basic/throwaway songs here are This Hell and Hurricanes.

[sam.teas]

I don't get why she chose that songs as singles...
btw
Holy, Frankenstein, Forgiveness, Your Age are majestic 

[KatyPrismSpirit]

couldnt resist listening 

 

i love this album sm!

 

Forgiveness

Imagining

Holy

Phantom 

 

are the best hands down

[KatyPrismSpirit]

this album is such a improvement from her debut imo. i literally still dont get the panning this album received so far 

[TrueBlood]

1 hour ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

this album is such a improvement from her debut imo. i literally still dont get the panning this album received so far 

Sorry, this is simply untrue. You can say you like it better than SAWAYAMA of course, it's your personal taste. But it's exactly the opposite of an improvement, and I'll repeat myself by saying that this sounds like the album that could have been released BEFORE an album like Sawayama. Like, compared to this record, her debut sounds like a work from an artist who develoved more confidence, more skills, more creativity and so on. 

 

This album isn't bad at all, it's just way on the bland side for her standards. Some of the ballads here could have easily been released by Madison Beer, or the likes of her. I don't get this fairytale, almost Disney vibe of big and anthemic ballads she wanted to do for this record. The slower songs were a weak point in SAWAYAMA too, but they still sounded like they had a particular flare to them, or at least they were more coherent with the rest of the record.

 

Here, they're all over the place. She lost her peculiar aspect of mixing early 2000s styles with different genres, sometimes even clashing genres like hard rock and dance-pop, and instead opted for some rehashes here and there of mild pop-rock ballads that were so popular in the mid 2000s. 

 

You have a central part which is definitely more interesting, but also quite confusing to me because it tries different things in a very short amount of time (and honestly, XS alone is better than all of them combined), and after these 4 songs you have a Kelly Clarkson cover from her debut album, then a country-ish ballad, and then the album closes with two tracks from the Mulan soundtrack.

 

I'm sounding overly critical on purpose here, this album has something that I'll definitely enjoy for the next months but I can't lie and say that this is frankly quite a disappointment for me and probably for a lot of fans too. 

[KatyPrismSpirit]

9 minutes ago, TrueBlood said:

Sorry, this is simply untrue. You can say you like it better than SAWAYAMA of course, it's your personal taste. But it's exactly the opposite of an improvement, and I'll repeat myself by saying that this sounds like the album that could have been released BEFORE an album like Sawayama. Like, compared to this record, her debut sounds like a work from an artist who develoved more confidence, more skills, more creativity and so on. 

 

This album isn't bad at all, it's just way on the bland side for her standards. Some of the ballads here could have easily been released by Madison Beer, or the likes of her. I don't get this fairytale, almost Disney vibe of big and anthemic ballads she wanted to do for this record. The slower songs were a weak point in SAWAYAMA too, but they still sounded like they had a particular flare to them, or at least they were more coherent with the rest of the record.

 

Here, they're all over the place. She lost her peculiar aspect of mixing early 2000s styles with different genres, sometimes even clashing genres like hard rock and dance-pop, and instead opted for some rehashes here and there of mild pop-rock ballads that were so popular in the mid 2000s. 

 

You have a central part which is definitely more interesting, but also quite confusing to me because it tries different things in a very short amount of time (and honestly, XS alone is better than all of them combined), and after these 4 songs you have a Kelly Clarkson cover from her debut album, then a country-ish ballad, and then the album closes with two tracks from the Mulan soundtrack.

 

I'm sounding overly critical on purpose here, this album has something that I'll definitely enjoy for the next months but I can't lie and say that this is frankly quite a disappointment for me and probably for a lot of fans too. 

I see Hold The Girl as an improvement simply because she made a much more cohesive record than her debut. Although Sawayama was an immaculate debut, the album low key lacked cohesiveness in my opinion. From nu-metal to dance pop and cinematic pop all with a Y2K style production (which was out of this world btw).. i mean its understandable for a debut because she wanted to showcase to everyone what she's capable of. But with this record, it feels like she truly found the sound that suits her the best. Thus all with sharing a side of herself that feels personal and organic. Sawayama was amazing but it had this forced urgency sometimes. Especially on songs like Chosen Family and STFU. With this album it just flows and it sounds more like HER. In my opinion debut actually was the record that had a lot of Christina Aguilera, Britney and Kelly moments. Not really this one. This album's sound is truly something she created for herself. 

[Club classic]

2 hours ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

couldnt resist listening 

 

i love this album sm!

 

Forgiveness

Imagining

Holy

Phantom 

 

are the best hands down

I agree! I also adore HTG and Your Age

[Communion]

1 hour ago, TrueBlood said:

Sorry, this is simply untrue. You can say you like it better than SAWAYAMA of course, it's your personal taste. But it's exactly the opposite of an improvement, and I'll repeat myself by saying that this sounds like the album that could have been released BEFORE an album like Sawayama. Like, compared to this record, her debut sounds like a work from an artist who develoved more confidence, more skills, more creativity and so on. 

 

This album isn't bad at all, it's just way on the bland side for her standards.

I agree the albums are different and I think SAWAYAMA has strengths over HTG, but this feels a bit unfair.

 

I think the main difference comes from her having a desired soundscape + theme she wanted to achieve. 

 

SAWAYAMA is more dynamic in terms of genres and sounds because she was truly just trying everything. It's like she wanted to show as many sides of herself for her first real album. She told multiple stories.

 

By the same token, HTG is more cohesive. It has one theme and the soundscape is tighter, focused on specific early 2000s genres she listened to when young. It overlaps sounds of UK garage, pop-rock and even Christian contemporary pop. There's two clear halves to the record (dance/pop-rock), but even then, they blend like they're from the same period in time. She doesn't genre hop as she did before.

 

I think there's room for praise for her succeeding in creating a cohesive record. Cohesiveness isn't for everyone, sure, as focusing in on specific sounds might not interest everyone the debut did. Which is a fair complaint to have. But I don't think that such complaints take away from what she's achieved artistically though. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Communion

[Lady Claire]

Nothing on this album stuck with me but i feel like it'll make more sense as a whole body of work rather than standalone songs. I will listen to it

[TrueBlood]

55 minutes ago, Communion said:

I agree the albums are different and I think SAWAYAMA has strengths over HTG, but this feels a bit unfair.

 

I think the main difference comes from her having a desired soundscape + theme she wanted to achieve. 

 

SAWAYAMA is more dynamic in terms of genres and sounds because she was truly just trying everything. It's like she wanted to show as many sides of herself for her first real album. She told multiple stories.

 

By the same token, HTG is more cohesive. It has one theme and the soundscape is tighter, focused on specific early 2000s genres she listened to when young. It overlaps sounds of UK garage, pop-rock and even Christian contemporary pop. There's two clear halves to the record (dance/pop-rock), but even then, they blend like they're from the same period in time. She doesn't genre hop as she did before.

 

I think there's room for praise for her succeeding in creating a cohesive record. Cohesiveness isn't for everyone, sure, as focusing in on specific sounds might not interest everyone the debut did. Which is a fair complaint to have. But I don't think that such complaints take away from what she's achieved artistically though. 

You definitely made some points here and I don’t wanna take anything away from what she accomplished with this record. I’m just being a little overly critical, like I said, mainly out of a different expectation I had from

her sophomore.

 

I think SAWAYAMA is (as acclaimed as it was) one of most impressive debut albums I’ve ever heard in pop music. The amount of genres, influences, lyrical topics she touched, also combining different cultures that belong to her somehow even as a conflict… It’s really an outstanding body of work. And what I loved the most was how daring she careless she seemed to approach her music, I remember the first time hearing that record feeling almost overwhelmed and “scared” at how someone could remind me of Britney, y2k pop music, j-pop, nu-metal etc. all at the same time.

 

I do agree that this album is a lot more focused in creating an homogenic music landscape, it’s just that in my mind I had this vision where SAWAYAMA was her Debut (comparing her to Bjork), and this album could have been her Post, so going actually further and further with all the elements of the previous one and going in even crazier directions.

 

As of now, this sounds to me in many ways as if she was limiting herself, as if I’m listening to a very controlled and restrained version of what we actually already knew she was capable of, since we got to hear much more previously.
 

One thing I wanna say tho is that her vocal showcase this time feels bigger, ‘cause undoubtedly most songs here have more space for her to deliver with her vocals. The melodies tho, that’s another issue I have. I’m hearing a lot of very on-the-nose melodies here and there, at times catchy, at times a bit forced, most of the times quite flat and not even very complementing of the tracks (Hurricanes being the most obvious example, it sounds like she created a melody over a different composition and then she forgot to actually match them).

 

But it’s a good sign that we’re discussing the record this deeply, this definitely shows that it’s another interesting release from her. It’s probably one of those cases where, despite thinking it’s a way more accessible record than the previous one, I struggle way more to fully get into it.

[justin.]

I plan on listening when it’s officially released, but I’ve disliked all the singles sans This Hell, so I’m worried. 

[Lady Claire]

Ok, so... the album is acceptable but most of it sounded like pure background music. Not bad but i would simply forgot how it goes right after it was finished. Most songs fail to leave an impression, which is the complete opposite from Sawayama.

 

I totally agree with the posts saying it sounds like a record that it would come before Sawayama. Some songs on this album are lacking a punch, either on production or melodies... she should've worked with more writers and producers to elevate them to the max. However, there are some songs that reach their full potential and are my favorites: Imagining, Frankenstein, Send My Love to John and Your Age.

 

The concept for This Hell and the whole vibe is so ******* nice but the lyrics are a cringe fest i usually don't mind bad lyrics as long the rest is good for me but the melody should've been catchier and the production needed a bigger punch, it's giving Born this Way reject.

 

This album feels more like a work in progress, the potential is there but... anyways. Maybe it's a grower. I'm rooting for Rina though and i hope she's successful with this era