Rina Sawayama reveals most of her second album was "written during lockdown on Zoom sessions"

After debuting a new song titled "Catch Me In The Air" at a Glasgow show over the weekend, Sawayama has discussed her follow-up to last year's debut album SAWAYAMA with Music Week, revealing that most of the tracks were "written during lockdown on Zoom sessions."

"I’m just trying to finish writing it, I’m working with some incredible people,"Sawayama said of her second album. "I’ve got a couple of songs with Paul Epworth. Stuart Price is working on a lot of the album. Most of the songs were started with me and Clarence Clarity, so it’s still got that core that Sawayama had."

She added, "I just want to write really big songs, songs that make me feel a certain way. All these newcomers have been incredible. So much of it was written during lockdown on Zoom sessions, which I hated. But somehow they yielded good songs. It will be out next year, hopefully."

Sawayama also spoke about having Elton John as a mentor, "He's given me so much guidance and helpful advice and just been there for me, we always call each other. And I’m on his new album [The Lockdown Sessions], which is incredible [a duet of Sawayama’s song "Chosen Family"]. I grew up with Elton’s music like everyone else, so it was crazy. The fact that he really loves the music and the lyrics, and was just happy to sing it as it was, that was insane."