Rina Sawayama 'hides' political messages in her music
Rina Sawayama loves to "hide" political messages in her music.
The 31-year-old singer hopes her new single, 'This Hell', will empower people around the world, and that it will encourage some of her fans to push back against "traditional religious beliefs".
Rina - who identifies as pansexual - shared: "I love hiding politics in a pop song and that’s what I hope I’ve done with this.
"The deeper story behind it is that I’ve got a lot of friends who have been told by people with very traditional religious beliefs that they are wrong for existing, and it has caused so much trauma in their lives.
"It’s about having a party in hell, because someone tells us we are going to hell. Like, ‘Oh we’re going to hell? Cool, I’ll get all dressed up then’."
Rina has taken inspiration from Lady Gaga over the years, and she recently got the chance to meet the 'Bad Romance' hitmaker during a chance encounter in the US.
The pop star - who released her debut album, 'Sawayama', in 2020 - relished the opportunity to spend time with her hero.
She told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "I met her for the first time because our bus broke down outside Vegas.
"I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if we just spent the night in Vegas and saw a show. Imagine if Gaga is on’.
"We had a connection because I was on her remix album.
"I was able to meet her for the first time backstage and she was so sweet, so warm and so full of life.
"She is so influential to me. I don’t really get nervous before meeting people, like I didn’t before meeting Elton [John]. But I was a bit nervous before meeting Lady Gaga."
