ARTISTS TO WATCH
RINA SAWAYAMA Ten new musicians who are blazing paths, scoring big hits, and reshaping pop, hip-hop, Latin, punk, country, and more in 2021
Japanese British singer Rina Sawayama is dreaming up a new world of pop. Plus nine other musicians who are reshaping the sounds of hip-hop, Latin, punk, country, and more in 2021.
FROM London SOUNDS LIKE Boldly original pop music that flits between sounds like turning a radio dial
Given all the strange and terrifying events of 2020, it may not surprise you to learn that a pop star chose to mash up Christina Aguilera-style Y2K melodies with Disturbed-ish nu metal on her debut album. Even so, Rina Sawayama’s SAWAYAMA is still an unlikely — and exciting — pairing of genres. “It was like, ‘I only get one debut record, so what do I want it to sound like?’ ” says the Japanese British singer, 30.
Among the album’s major themes is what family means to Sawayama — whether growing up with divorced immigrant parents, partying with indie-rock bands as a teenager, or finding a new queer community as an adult. When her career began, she recalls, she saw few prominent singer-songwriters of Asian descent in the U.S. or Britain (Mitski was one exception); now, there’s a much wider swath of recognizable acts, from Awkwafina to Yaeji. Still, Sawayama knows personally how much remains to be done. Last year, she was ruled ineligible to be nominated for the prestigious Brit Awards or the Mercury Prize because she isn’t a British citizen, even though she has lived in the U.K. for the majority of her life. She’s now in conversation with those awards’ organizers about how to revamp their guidelines. “Fingers crossed,” she adds. “I just need to see people recognized for their talents.”