Rina Sawayama’s star continues to go supernova in the lead-up to Hold the Girl, and the British-Japanese pop artist has shared one last single ahead of her sophomore album’s release this Friday (Sept. 16) via Dirty Hit. “Hurricanes” is our fifth preview of Sawayama’s much-anticipated SAWAYAMA follow-up, after “Phantom,” “Hold the Girl,” “Catch Me in the Air” and “This Hell.”
Sawayama sets the stage for “Hurricanes” over melodic guitar and glimmering synths, describing a disconnect between external changes and internal stasis (“April showers finally making way for warmer weather / But yet I still feel the same”). The song as a whole sees her confronting the hard truth of that numbness, and coming to terms with the self-destructive tendencies that stem from her emotional detachment: “Chasing hurricanes / ‘Cos I can’t feel the rain,” she sings, “Second guess my pain / ‘Cos I’ve been walking round in chains.” Massive drums accompany Sawayama through the track’s galvanizing choruses, with a stadium-rock riff leading her into an epiphanic bridge in which she harnesses the storm’s power as her own: “I’m in a cyclone, I’m spinning, crashed through the floor / Don’t give me heaven, I’m flying / Tearing down the doors of this city.”
This November, Sawayama heads out on a North American headlining tour, with 13 shows that include stops at the Great Hall at Avant Gardner in New York City, Roadrunner in Boston, The Eastern in Atlanta and the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Prior to that leg, she’ll tour the U.K. and Ireland in October. Ticket info is here.
Listen to “Hurricanes” ahead of Hold the Girl’s Sept. 16 release below, and find Sawayama’s upcoming tour dates further down.
Rina Sawayama Tour Dates:
October
12 – Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG3
13 – Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG3
15 – Dublin, Republic of Ireland @ Olympia Theatre
16 – Dublin, Republic of Ireland @ Olympia Theatre
18 – Nottingham, England @ Rock City
20- Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy
21 – Birmingham, England @ O2 Academy Birmingham
23 – Brighton, East Sussex, England @ Brighton Dome
24 – Cardiff, Wales @ The Great Hall
26 – London, England @ O2 Academy Brixton
November
01 – Brooklyn, NY @ Great Hall at Avant Gardner
02 – Brooklyn, NY @ Great Hall at Avant Gardner
04 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
05 – Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore
06 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
08 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
09 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
11 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom
12 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin
13 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
16 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
18 – San Diego, CA @ SOMA
19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
21 – Oakland, CA @ FoxTheater
23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
