Rina Sawayama returns with new anthem "This Hell"

"This Hell" is Sawayama's first outing since featuring on Pabllo Vittar's "Follow Me" last month, and is the first taster of her upcoming second album Hold The Girl.

The new song is produced by Paul Epworth, and was written by Sawayama, Epworth and frequent collaborator Lauren Aquilina.

"I had so much fun writing "This Hell"," Sawayama explains. "The past couple of years I've been listening to lots of female country singers and wanted to write a euphoric and tongue in cheek country pop song. Country music at its core to me represents comfort, brilliant storytelling and authentic expression of the writer's reality. I’ve been dreaming of working with Paul Epworth my entire career so I knew it was meant to be when we finished this song in a day. I put in as many iconic pop culture moments as I can, but the song is more than that."

She adds, "It’s an important song for me given the human rights that are being taken away from minorities at a rapid rate in the name of traditional religious beliefs, more specifically I was thinking about the rights being taken away from the LGBTQ community when I wrote this song. When the world tells us we don't deserve love and protection, we have no choice but to give love and protection to each other. "This Hell" is better with you."

Hold The Girl will follow her 2020 debut album SAWAYAMA.