album Rina Sawayama - 'Hold the Girl'

[RideOrDie]

13 minutes ago, Miracle said:

Minor Feelings: 7/10. If this song didn't serve as the opening and was randomly in the tracklist it would be like a 6 cause it doesn't really add much to anything, besides warning us that the album will go full on Disney (Channel) at some points

Hold The Girl: 8/10. I used to like it more when it was released, but with the album having superior dance tracks, some of the melodies in here don't feel right and production doesn't quite elevate those. The outro tho >>>>>>>

This Hell: 4/10. I forced myself to like it and listened to it a lot so I could get into it, cause I definitely wasn't expecting this from Rina Sawayama. The lyrics have to be one of the worst of the year. It's like taking a discarded demo from a Britney Spears instrumental and a discarded demo of Lady Gaga and turning them into an abomination. With that said, the song is catchy af and the chorus, while not explosive, is good.

Catch Me In The Air: 8,1/10. This is the only disney-like song that truly works, and it's all because of good songwriting, especially in terms of melody. Who doesn't love a bigger-than-life chorus?

Forgiveness: 3/10. This is why we get into Disney Channel ad song territory: but not some masterpieces that Disney Channel used to play some times (like Love Story by Taylor Swift), no, but rather the ubergeneric songs by random artists which probably don't even have a Wikipedia page by now. A disgrace. What are those oh oh ohs?

Holy (Til Let You Me Go): 9,8/10. From a vapid mid to late 2000s Disney channel ballad from a literal techno cultural baptism: if Hold The Girl has any defining quality is it's ability to surprise in its choice of genres. Holy doesn't only have very smart songwriting choices but also arrangements that, despite being taken straight from pop raves in London in the 90s, feels fresh and new. Chapeau!

Your Age: 9/10. Great song overall, had potential to be the best in the album, but i feel like she turned the pop-nu-metal volume too hard on what could've been a perfec, robotic yet raw electropop extravaganza. 

Imagining 8,8/10. While the melody isn't as infectious as the ones in the two previous tracks, Imagining feels the most innovative in an album which only concept, musically, is, not to elevate, but to randomly use marginalized, guilty-pleasure genres with less or more success depending on the song. Imagining is one of the tracks that fully success in bringing something, that, while not new, feels very elevated.

Frankestein 8,8/10. Very enjoyable. While on Your Age I felt like the rock-pop excess should have been avoided, here it fits like a glove. The lyrics are still embarassing (though they have never been Rina's forte) but everything else about the song is top notch.

Phantom: 2/10. It just bores me to death. The lyrics are manipulative in the worst way possible and truly represent the blandest of one of the "inspirations" from this album, which it's Rina reading self-help books. Phantom could be a decent 5/10 ballad if it didn't try to be a healing song.

Hurricanes 6,5/10. Loved the live snippet, the song itself is not bad but the Speak-Now esque chorus deserved a better song with better instrumentation. 

Send My Love To John 7/10. Cute song and the best songwriting in the album. It should feel like a palette cleanser after so much forced excess, but it's just there. 

To Be Alive 8,8/10. Finally a slow tempo track that doesn't feel like straight from Disney. The melody is irresistible and the instrumentation of this song is the direction the entirety of the song should have followed

 

 

Final rate. In terms of how much I enjoy the album and replay album, this is like a 7.8/8. In terms of quality, it's a 6.5. While SAWAYAMA was an album made to take some of the most generic, overdone and maligned sounds of all time, Hold The Girl uses them to get a nostalgia-driven hit on Tik Tok. But Rina demontstrates she's still one of the most talented pop stars nowadays tho, cause 1/3rd of the album is genius. 

 

 

to be alive is the most disney'd song from this album lol

[Miracle]

35 minutes ago, RideOrDie said:

to be alive is the most disney'd song from this album lol

Phantom and Forgiveness are. To Be Alive still has the disney vibe but I personally like the melody a lot vs the others, and it feels lighter. Plus I like the trip hop production.

 

Sounding Disney is not a bad thing. Sounding like a Disney Channel reject is.

 

[doonerr]

Poor the Girl

[MonsterJohn]

If she had released Holy as 1st single the gays wouldn't left in droves like that until the album release

 

But her potential is still immerse, hope she'll skip her ARTPOP and Joanne and go straight to ASIB

 

 

[Bey Admired]

Just listened. 

 

It’s a very good pop album. There’s nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking on here, but I found it a very easy listen and I’ll probably revisit it many times throughout the next couple months. 

 

It’s certainly not a bad album like many in this thread would have you believe. To me, it’s better than any Gaga output for many years so I really don’t get the hate from Gaga fans especially. 

[Schami66]

the album is good  and keeps growing on me but for my taste it's not as good as Rina era stuff or the Sawayama album.

I can still enjoy it - except for Your Age. I've seen many people on here praising it but it's an instant skip for me.

 

I feel like she tried to reach a broader audience with this album? idk

I think she'll be able to maintain her core listeners but will lose many casual listeners. 

[geodancefreak]

Hold The Girl, Holy, Imagining and Frankenstein are some of the best songs of the year.

[Tyrion_LMG]

Holy is becoming my favourite pop song of the year. At first listen I thought it was great but now I think it goes beyond that.

 

Stuart Price did that with the production. 

[Hector]

Apple Music Worldwide Top 10:

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Hector

[WildAmerican]

why am i such a rina girl omg

 

in my personal music library, everysong on Sawayama has over 100 plays (except for the trash that is Paradising) and HTG tracks all already have like 15-20 plays each 

[ahauntingnearu]

21 minutes ago, WildAmerican said:

why am i such a rina girl omg

 

in my personal music library, everysong on Sawayama has over 100 plays (except for the trash that is Paradising) and HTG tracks all already have like 15-20 plays each 

[Vrajesh]

1 hour ago, geodancefreak said:

Hold The Girl, Holy, Imagining and Frankenstein are some of the best songs of the year.

This. 

Those 4 songs carry the album imo.

The production is stellar too.

 

[BlackJesus]

22 minutes ago, Vrajesh said:

This. 

Those 4 songs carry the album imo.

The production is stellar too.

 

And your age

[youresotoxic]

this album is actually fantastic. i had my worries, but listening to the full album changed my mind 

my top 5 are:

1. Hold The Girl

2. Frankenstein

3. Phantom 

4. Imagining 

5. Your Age

Edited September 18, 2022 by youresotoxic

[dangerousbutera]

definitely not as instant as SAWAYAMA for me, but I'll definitely be revisiting it. Phantom is one of my favourite songs of the year

[Guy12345]

Top to bottom as for now:

1. Catch Me in the Air

2. Phantom

3. Your Age

4. Holy (Til You Let Me Go)

5. Imagining

6. Forgiveness

7. Frankenstein

8. Hurricanes

9. Send My Love to John

10. Hold the Girl

11. Minor Feelings

12. This Hell

13. To Be Alive

[ahauntingnearu]

I was so right about people loving Your Age . . . but so wrong about Imagining  I've definitely switched the more I got used to it

[Freaky Prince]

FOTM would've worked so well in the middle section, between Your Age and Imagining. I hate her for this 

[AcidPrince]

Amazing album. Dont get the hate tbh.

[Virgos Groove]

Good album. Not as consistent as Sawayama, but not the disaster some people are making it out to be either. The 2nd half is amazing. Imagining >>>

 

EDIT: The mastering needs to be solved tho

Edited September 18, 2022 by ATWK

[butterflymimi]

sawayama set her up so bad for criticism but my god I love this album too and really don't get the hate, after a couple of listens I'm in love and deffo still stan.

 

the instant standouts for me are:

phantom

holy

hold the girl

catch me in the air

hurricane

frankenstein

 

I even like this hell in the context of the album lol. this album will slap on tour.

[WildAmerican]

send my love to john made me tear up twice today 

[Sky Engineer]

If Disney artists served some of these songs as people claim they are, Disney would be shook 

[State of Grace.]

And they will never know
The fear of making a mistake
The risk you take, the pain you create
But mama look at us now
High above the clouds
Yeah, I hope that you're, hope that you're proud 
 

SO CATCH ME IN THE AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR

THE AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR (So catch me in the air, the air, the air, the air, the air, the air)
Mama, look at me now, I'm flying (Air, the air, the air, the air, the air)
Mama, look at me now, I'm flying
The air, yeah (The air, the air, the air, the air, the air, the air)

Save each other in every way
Feel the fears as we float in the sea
Look at us now, way past the clouds that haunted your dreams
I hope that you're proud
Save each other in every way
Feel the fear as we float in the sea
Look at us now, way past the clouds that haunted your dreams
I hope that you're proud

 

[Jagger]

How can you guys listen to a song about someone's mother out loud and not cringe? It's just so third grade