Rina Sawayama, Brixton Academy review — genre-fluid pop star brings showstoppers and high camp

A roar went up from the packed London crowd as the house lights dropped to a purple haze and a caped, imperious Rina Sawayama — British-Japanese pop singer-songwriter, actor and model — materialised, framed in a circular light.

She greeted the audience with, “London! My hometown! My name is Rina Sawayama . . . ” — yet she needed no introduction (fans feverishly chanted her name in the brief breaks between songs), and it underlined the fact that so many of her tracks deal with feeling out of place, as well as celebrating community. She seemed intent on bringing her A-game tonight, kicking off with “Minor Feelings”, a big-hitting country-laced ballad from her recently released second album, Hold the Girl.

Her personal expressions strike a relatable chord with her millennial audience (Sawayama herself is 32); her professional experience has also confronted the boundaries that persist in the mainstream. Even in 2022, there’s the sense that a fusty music industry finds her genre fluidity and pansexual glamour tricky to place — but it’s precisely what makes Sawayama scintillating. And despite rave reviews for her 2020 debut album Sawayama, a “nationality clause” originally ruled her out of UK awards including the BRITs and the Mercury Prize (she was born in Japan before growing up in Britain).

Tonight’s setlist reflected her pop-culture collage, blitzing breathlessly through influences from power rock and Eurodisco to nu metal (with her guitarist ramping up the electric riffs on “Your Age”), debonair Tokyo-style city pop, ballroom scenes and more. Sawayama’s vocals sounded elegant, though they sometimes lacked the punch that she seemed to be striving for.

Her between-song chat tended to resemble a group-therapy session, with an assurance that “music really does have the power to heal”. Such earnest sentiments came spiked with splendid fun, though, including costume changes (rodeo chic; a wispy gown Sawayama described as “couture jellyfish”) and backing dancers with slickly playful, occasionally very literal choreography: they locked Sawayama in an embrace for the plaintive chorus of “Hold the Girl”. There were hints of homage to music/fashion icons Grace Jones and Lady Gaga, and while Sawayama obviously hasn’t reached such heady stature herself, she has confidently guested on a Gaga remix (“Free Woman”) and forged a loyal fan base through catchy original material.

Showstoppers and high-camp moves were swiftly served to the crowd’s delight, including the pulsing hooks of “Frankenstein”, dance-floor smash “Beg For You” (originally a duet with Charli XCX) and immaculate electro banger “Comme des Garçons”, before the deliciously insouciant crescendo of “This Hell”. This was a definite mood: a hot midweek night of mindful revelry.

★★★★☆

Tour continues to January 2023, rina.online