Rina Sawayama once said “gimme just a little bit more, little bit of excess” – and now she’s doing just that. Oh, me, oh, my!
Having fully secured all of the love and affection of the Girls, the Gays & The Theys™ in 2020 with her debut studio album Sawayama, the 30-year-old “XS” superstar on the rise returned on Wednesday (November 25) with a little bit more (moah) in the form of “Lucid,” which is featured on her upcoming SAWAYAMA: Deluxe Edition, out on December 4.
The track was co-crafted with BloodPop, of Lady Gaga collaboration fame, among many other feats along the way.
“It’s about living a different life through dreaming, whether it’s to be with the dream girl or to be the dream girl. Me and Lauren Aquilina wrote this together on the floor of my tiny rented living room back in early 2018. BloodPop sent us the beat and the melody flowed out so easily that I remember at one point I started hoovering cos I knew this would be easy to write lol. I’ve kept this song secret for 2 years so I’m so excited to finally release it to the world ! 2020’s been a tough year so I wanted to finish it off with a dance bop to take us into a more hopeful 2021 ❤” Rina says of the song.
And, as she explained to Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Grimes is the reason it even happened.
“God, how did it start? Oh, Grimes, I think, was talking about me maybe to her friends. Which included BloodPop. Well, she actually texted me when my first EP came out, and was like, ‘Oh, my God. ‘Alterlife,” which is one of the songs in there, ‘is literally the best pop song ever’ or something. And I was just, obviously…I literally went to Sweden to go and see Grimes. So, it was wild. I was like, ‘I’m a Grimes stan.’ Well, so then she was just, ‘Oh, I’ve got this beat. Do you want to sing on it?’ And I’d never written on a house beat, more like a dance beat before. If you could tell, I don’t know how to talk about it. But a dance beat. So, I was like, ‘Lauren, Lauren,’ this girl who’s a songwriter, Lauren Aquilina who is an amazing songwriter. And she just released her new record as well. I love her so much. But she wrote it on the floor of my living room, in Earlsfield in London which is such a random neighborhood. And I was hoovering, as well,” she said.
True to the collaborator at hand, the song certainly feels like it lives somewhere in the same colorful universe out there as Chromatica, full of vibrant, throbbing beats and ’90s House-y vocals.
It’s surely no accident: “I’ve been listening to Chromatica. I mean, literally, my favorite record of Gaga’s, and this is such an unpopular opinion, but before Chromatica, it was Joanne. And that is such an unpopular…I don’t know, people hate on Joanne, but I love it. It’s so emotional. It’s so raw. I love it. Anyway, so I was just, ‘I can’t believe that he wants to work with me.’ And then, yeah, it just came together and it’s amazing,” Rina said on Apple Music.
“Come be my stranger in the dark / Don’t need nobody in my arms / Got my imagination running wild / It’s all that I can do / Lucid dreams, lucid dreams ’bout you,” she croons before blasting off into a euphoric beat break.
While it may not be as representative of the more genre-blurring, maximalist pop of the record, “Lucid” is still a fun and bouncy escape to add onto an already excellent debut.
And this is just a taste of what’s to come: the deluxe edition of the album comes with a bunch of goodies, including remixes, features and previously unreleased tracks “We Out Here,” which “highlights resilience and being true to yourself,” as well as “Bees & Honey,” which “serves future nostalgia and emphasizes the need to celebrate hard work.”
Plus, there’s even more coming.
“I’ve already started writing my next record, but in my head I can’t frame it like that, because then I put too much pressure on myself, and then I get myself stuck. So, I’ve been, ‘I’m just going to do singles next year.’ But I feel like from what I’ve been writing, there’s always already a clear theme and a clear sound. And it’s already evolved from the record. So, I’m excited, but I’m scared. I don’t know, I was just, ‘I will never write a record like my debut album,'” she also revealed on Apple Music.
What a (lucid) dream come true.
Sawayama is available in a gold vinyl.
This song is featured on the MuuTunes Spotify playlist.
You can also subscribe to MuuTunes on Apple Music.
SAWAYAMA: Deluxe Edition
Disc 1:
1. Dynasty
2. XS
3. STFU!
4. Comme des Garçons (Like The Boys)
5. Akasaka Sad
6. Paradisin’
7. Love Me 4 Me
8. Bad Friend
9. Fuck This World (Interlude)
10. Who’s Gonna Save U Now?
11. Tokyo Love Hotel
12. Chosen Family
13. Snakeskin
Disc 2:
1. LUCID
2. We Out Here (Bonus Track)
3. Bees & Honey (Bonus Track)
4. Love It If We Made It
5. XS (Live)
6. STFU! (Acoustic)
7. Bad Friend (Acoustic)
8. Chosen Family (Acoustic)
9. Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys) – Pabllo Vittar Remix
10. XS feat. Bree Runway – Remix
11. Bad Friend – Dream Wife Remix
Photo credit: Dirty Hit