Nn I should've known this would happen when I tried to rate things relative to my favorite material here! I don't hate c2.0 but find the adoration for basically an extended outro/remix baffling especially when so much of its parent album really stretches and pivots Charli's sound to great effect.
I'm surprised I was the only zero for LUCID though, legitimately difficult to listen to.
What is the melting point of her core? When is her song forgotten? MACHINEE is a quick little single that ionnalee aka Jonna Lee aka one half of iamamiwhoami released around the time of her concert release done while isolating in her home country of Sweden. Menacing but droney and introspective, the track seems to be about the artist's own musicianship and the questioning of how much of herself can she give to the industry and an avid audience.
I feel like being one of the unsung pioneers of the audivisual album before its peak, that lines such as "Stay for the later applause / Might catch it if you linger" let us hear ionnalee at home in the path she's carved for herself, regardless of industry recognition. And she has tons of material to be proud about! I don't forget the time she mentioned, around the release of her second album Remember the Future, that she thought she would step away from making music and performing but she decided to keep going partially thanks to the support from her fanbase. And I can see that, because I honestly will always be here to see her take new directions not just musically but visually, and thematically, even as a more-less independent artist. I also find it interesting that Jonna has played with the black and white jester imagery heavily with "goods" all the way back in 2012, too. An interesting recurrent theme.
@BubblegumBoy (8.75): "Excited for the iamamiwhoami rate". Same! I should really get going to submit my ballot.
@R27 (4.5): "This could have been a cute little 6 or 7 if it were half the length. However, as is, this goes on way too long without an interesting enough pay off or twist to justify its length". I can't at you cutting of like 3 points! But I guess I disagree because I am accustomed to loving ionna's 6+ minute tracks... as long as they aren't named MATTERS (feat. Zola Jesus).
@Ana Raquel (9.5): "I haven't listened to ionalee since she switched names. This is great, though". I can trust your taste these days.
@Trouble in Paradise (5): "I’m normally very here for ionnalee/iamamiwhoami but this just does not do it". Curious about how you view this one-off compared to Remember the Future now!
Tokyo Takeover is the mythical Japanese bonus track of SAWAYAMA. The track contains lyrics in a mix of English and Japanese, being one of the only instances of Rina prominently featuring the latter in her music. It didn't make the original cut for the Rina EP, and it was first referenced all the way back in 2015. The artist herself has explained that the dual language reflects her struggling with her confidence about her Japanese identity, so that's how the cheerleader chanting, the self-assured image and the guitar throughout the song came to be.
Personally, I can tell why this was technically left off two different projects. The full debut deals with the emotional journey attached to identity and growing up with, generally, far more grace and bite than this track. I think that although it is in-your-face and supposed to be a bit ironic that Rina wrote it while feeling at a lowpoint, it's not super convincing. I'm also bothered that it's the highest-rated "extra" from the album which I guess isn't a homerun of a performance still.
Someone who was surprised by this deep cut was @Trouble in Paradise (9), who said: "I’m giving the production the benefit of the doubt since I can only listen on youtube, cause it's not sounding balanced; her vocals are way too low and the guitar isn’t given the chance to cut through. BUT imagining that the actual version has me excited! This feels closest to XS in nailing the sound of this album. It’s infectious, its POP, its bratty, it’s big ole guitars and that pure pop star charisma! Oh she’s winning me back!". I actually feel like this is unintentionally shady because it's such a throwaway track to me, and while it sounds a little like XS I guess, it has NOTHING on her. She's like Power Corrupts to St. Vincent's Masseduction in that sense.
Other people also concerned with the audio quality include @Ana Raquel (8.5): "It didn't help that the version I heard was LQ, I think ff". It's funny because this song in actually unreleased. Back in March last year, Avex hyped the fact that Rina had signed for the distribution of her music in Japan, and then her debut album didn't get that release, being indefinitely postponed instead. So it's a mess that we have it uploaded somewhere in the first place. But looking a bit further, it does seem like the deluxe did come with Tokyo Takeover included, at least on the digital music service Recochoku.
Finally, @godspeed (7.5) was also happier with this one than with the majority of the main album: "A 2000s throwback album wouldn’t be complete without an absolutely bonkers Japanese bonus track. This is a nice companion piece to Snakeskin, serving as a fun encore". Well what a letdown of an encore it would be, it's all I'll say! As far as I know, the track has never been performed live and the only other time Rina has acknowledged it, was during part 2 of her Rina TV livestream, playing a bit of the song then.
I want to say I'm sorry for leaving the rate on a two-month hiatus, leaving no backup and all that. It began with the excuse of not having all the visuals I wanted to have, ready, but then I just kept postponing doing these write-ups more and more. I promise that I'll get back to celebrating these women on a far more regular basis! Thanks for your engagement, likes and support everyone "<3"
In the numerous songs in SAWAYAMA that deal with experiences lived in Japan, Akasaka Sad feels like one of the moodier ones. Named after one of the major commercial districts of Minato, Tokyo, Rina explores the complicated inability to connect with her home country. Images of a hotel room wrapped in excentric bits and pieces from around the globe, underline a sadness that is perhaps best described as generational. The sedated delivery on the choruses includes a line about relating to her own family's experiences, just on opposite ends of the spectrum and the globe alike: while they faced English society as adults, she faces Tokyo culture at 28 feeling like little more than a tourist.
Some of this carries to the second verse, sung in Japanese, as Rina has admitted that writing full lyrics on the language is difficult for her, with conversational Japanese being hard as is already, but this switch encapsulates the loss and disorientation as she travels back and forth from one country to the other to try and make sense of it, and by the end of the track, this almost seems fruitless. Her journey just isn't over yet, for better or worse.
I love me a good culture clash moment (see Your Best American Girl, one of the character arcs for Diane from BoJack Horseman, etc.), but, god, is the delivery and pace of those choruses absolutely sluggish. I can't hear past the opposite of fulfilment, and I'd rather be listening to something else in Rina's powerful arsenal of identity-related music. Let's hear what the audience says.
@Ana Raquel (9): "A bit worse than the previous songs but one of the catchiest ones on the album. That chorus!!!!". Is it opposite day during this reveal or something girl? You do you I guess.
@godspeed (6.5) is going full essay and commenting on his overall feelings about the album: " I think this song embodies why I’ve never felt particularly enthusiastic about SAWAYAMA. The production is detailed and well-executed, I really like the lyrical content and the way Rina Sawayama manages to take on a heavy and personal subject and make, in appearance, a silly pop song out of it. But despite all those great things about Akasaka Sad, it remains so impenetrable to me. I don’t find it particularly catchy and I don’t get any sense of emotion or excitement out of it. It’s a bit of an empty shell for me, like many songs on SAWAYAMA unfortunately". While you're on thin ice for generalizing over half of the album like this, I agree for this song in particular. On the XS to LUCID spectrum, this chorus threatens to break out of the scale from the wrong side, I'm afraid.
Finally SAWAYAMA's #1 hater, @Trouble in Paradise (3), says: "I hope I’m not crushing someone’s fave but I just don’t enjoy listening to this song. For me, it’s a sonic mess". With the severe lack of high scorers, I think you're safe (for now)!
The rate needing no change in title. These gals love their Japan/US/UK traveling and we won't hear the end of it anytime soon. Promise it's not just Rina
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