Roo AOTD #60 Rina Sawayama

All aboard the hype train for Bonnaroo 2023! Only 60 days until we are all on the Farm again, can you believe it? It’s coming up fast and we can’t wait to be dancing with all of you at Bonnaroo! Today’s Artist of the Day is the one and only Rina Sawayama. Learn more about the artist below. Don’t forget to check out all of our artist spotlights! Check back in with us tomorrow for the next Artist of The Day!

Artist Biography

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese-British singer/songwriter who blends various sonic influences including R&B, nu-metal, and pop. She was born in Niigata in 1990 and moved to London at the age of five. Rina experienced issues of integration and assimilation in middle school while her parents divorced. Additionally, she struggled with her own sexual identity. She pushed through this strife and made her way to the University of Cambridge where she got a political science degree. While at the university, she found solace in queer venues and spaces and joined a hip-hop group with Theo Ellis called Wolf Alice. Rina released her first single in 2013 titled “Sleeping in Waking” which was the first of many smaller successes before she signed with Dirty Hit to release her Sawayama LP in 2020. This album took heavy influences from the early 2000s, blending the styles of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Destiny’s Child with Evanescence vibes. The album charted in Japan and the U.K. and made the Top Ten on the U.K. and U.S. Indie Heatseekers Charts. Her latest LP, Hold the Girl, dropped in 2022.

Genre

Avant-Pop, Electropop

Scheduled at Bonnaroo

Friday (Link to Daily Schedules)