SAWAYAMA: An Album That Changed My Life!

Hello everyone! It’s Dulce here, and today, I’m sharing a life-changing album recommendation that helped me through one of the toughest times in my life—Sawayama by the brilliant Rina Sawayama. This album is an underrated gem that dropped during the lockdown, a time when I felt isolated and overwhelmed with anxiety about COVID and the halt of my junior and senior academic plans. Listening to Sawayama became a source of comfort, strength, and reflection during those uncertain days.

Rina Sawayama is a powerhouse of talent and activism, blending her Japanese-British roots and bold social commentary into groundbreaking music that resonates. A Cambridge graduate in political science, she has used her platform to fight for equality, including writing a powerful letter to the UK Equalities Minister in 2020, urging a ban on LGBTQ+ conversion therapy. As a proud pansexual woman, her activism and music are inseparable, creating empowering anthems that champion marginalized communities and inspire change.

Let me tell you, this album is VERSATILE. Rina Sawayama blends so many genres like pop, rock, and even nu-metal, but it’s the messages within the songs that truly hit hard. Sawayama dives deep into issues like capitalism, materialism, and racism. One of my all-time favorite tracks, "STFU!", is a impressive anthem that expresses her anger toward the microaggressions she’s faced as an Asian woman. She brilliantly takes on the everyday racism that minorities experience with lyrics that are bold and unapologetic. In her words, this track is “dedicated to any minority who has experienced microaggressions” (ATWOOD) (JETSETTIMES).

Other songs, like "Dynasty" and "Who's Gonna Save U Now?", are about confronting personal and collective struggles, from family trauma to societal expectations. And let me tell you, this album will have you feeling empowered and reflective all at once. She shows us it’s important to love ourselves in a world that often pushes us down. 

Sawayama isn’t just an album, it’s a journey!! It's iconic, and it helped me process my feelings of uncertainty and anger about the world, all while making me want to get up sing, and dance! Seriously, this album makes me want to scream the lyrics at the top of my lungs!! Ugh, I so wish I had made it to her tour for this album, it would have been EVERYTHING! But even without that, this album was my rock when I felt completely lost, all I wanted to do was scream at the world and universe. It’s the ultimate soundtrack for every ounce of teenage angst and rage I had back then. It made me feel so seen, validated, and honestly more human.

My faves on repeat? "F*** This World (Interlude)", "Dynasty", "Snakeskin", "Love Me 4 Me", "Who's Gonna Save U Now?" and of course, "STFU!" Each track is packed with energy, meaning, and so much heart. 

If you haven’t listened to Sawayama yet, what are you waiting for? It’s criminally underrated, and trust me, once you start, you won’t be able to stop. 🎶