Last month, Rina Sawayama announced that her sophomore album Hold the Girl would be arriving in September. She's already shared lead single "This Hell," and now she's released a new one.
"Catch Me in the Air" is a sunny pop rock track that was apparently inspired by Gwen Stefani. She explained the song's genesis in an interview with Zane Lowe:
Sometimes I feel really ready for the emotional work. And then other times I'm like, "Oh, I'm too tired. I just want to write just a stupid, silly song." And sometimes I do write stupid, silly songs that don't mean anything. But I feel like I'm able to emotionally process that feeling when I write a song about it, so it feels really nice and to be able to share it, and then have that same emotional response from other people is amazing, so it's worth doing… it was one of the first ever sessions that I did during lockdown in person, and so I was so anxious about catching COVID. Everyone was really feeling anxious about it.
And then, so I think because of that, I wasn't able to write and nothing was coming. Gracie was like, "Oh, my God, Gwen Stefani's releasing a new song." And I was like, "Why don't we just pretend to write for Gwen? Like, "Let's just get our brains out of our heads and let's just pretend"… But after that I was like, "Ooh, I'm so about pre-chorus key changes at the moment." So, I think it was going into the chorus or maybe even going into pre-chorus. But anyway, I was like, "Oscar, come up with a key change please." And he was racking his brains because doing a key change is really hard… and what's harder than an obvious key change is a really subtle key change.
"Catch Me in the Air" doesn't necessarily sound much like a Gwen Stefani song, but it's brighter and even poppier than most of the stuff on Sawayama's 2020 debut.
Hold the Girl arrives September 2. Check out "Catch Me in the Air" below.
"Catch Me in the Air" is a sunny pop rock track that was apparently inspired by Gwen Stefani. She explained the song's genesis in an interview with Zane Lowe:
Sometimes I feel really ready for the emotional work. And then other times I'm like, "Oh, I'm too tired. I just want to write just a stupid, silly song." And sometimes I do write stupid, silly songs that don't mean anything. But I feel like I'm able to emotionally process that feeling when I write a song about it, so it feels really nice and to be able to share it, and then have that same emotional response from other people is amazing, so it's worth doing… it was one of the first ever sessions that I did during lockdown in person, and so I was so anxious about catching COVID. Everyone was really feeling anxious about it.
And then, so I think because of that, I wasn't able to write and nothing was coming. Gracie was like, "Oh, my God, Gwen Stefani's releasing a new song." And I was like, "Why don't we just pretend to write for Gwen? Like, "Let's just get our brains out of our heads and let's just pretend"… But after that I was like, "Ooh, I'm so about pre-chorus key changes at the moment." So, I think it was going into the chorus or maybe even going into pre-chorus. But anyway, I was like, "Oscar, come up with a key change please." And he was racking his brains because doing a key change is really hard… and what's harder than an obvious key change is a really subtle key change.
"Catch Me in the Air" doesn't necessarily sound much like a Gwen Stefani song, but it's brighter and even poppier than most of the stuff on Sawayama's 2020 debut.
Hold the Girl arrives September 2. Check out "Catch Me in the Air" below.