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“Showing the creative process can be really exciting for people who, like me, had no idea how to do this,” she says. She’s also a savvy creator on YouTube, where she posts not just behind-the-scenes footage and performances but also guitar lessons and makeup tutorials, all branded as “RINA TV” with algorithm-friendly, vlogger-style titles like “How to make a MUSIC VIDEO in 5 STEPS.” On her 2018 tour, she offered special wristbands to audience members who had come alone so they could find one another and build community.

Like Gaga and her Little Monsters, Sawayama has been intentional about cultivating her passionate fan base, the Pixels. “If they said, ‘You need to cover ‘Chromatica I,’ ” - the first of the album’s instrumental interludes - “I’d be like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it!’ I’ll just sing the whole orchestra: dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum!” Sawayama won’t spoil what song she’s on, though as a longtime Gaga disciple, she was hardly picky. Sawayama has yet to produce any major hits, but her music has turned her into the rare artist equally adored by underground auteurs and A-listers like Elton John and Lady Gaga, who will feature Sawayama on her upcoming Chromatica remix album. Mugler bodysuit and bracelets, Richard Quinn bow, Christian Louboutin shoes, Omneque earrings, David Morris and Motley rings. “I always get asked: ‘Who are you listening to at the moment?’ I’m like, ‘Kelly Clarkson? I don’t know if you’ve heard of her? Um, Katy Perry’s first album?’ ” She stresses that her affection for these sounds is in no way ironic. “I love the chaos of that era,” says Sawayama, who in conversation is enthusiastic and quick to laugh, usually at herself. Time-stamping it all are influences from the Y2K days, back when Korn and Britney Spears vied for the top spot on MTV’s Total Request Live.

Throughout Sawayama, she pivots with ease from New Jack Swing to stadium rock to slinky club beats. Genre fluidity is essentially the norm today, but Sawayama takes the concept to dizzying new heights: She’s less interested in blending sounds than in pushing each to its extreme. She exuberantly changes gears from track to track and keeps the listener guessing where she’s going to go next.” “Her debut album is a clever and confident kaleidoscopic odyssey that zips and zooms through a compendium of pop music genres. “Rina is a pop-art chameleon,” says friend Elton John, a longtime fan who duetted with her on a new version of “Chosen Family” in April. Her material is often dark and deeply personal, but she wraps each song on Sawayama in the pageantry of pop music. transplant - her family emigrated from Niigata when she was 5 years old - who feels both protective of and disconnected from her culture.

On futuristic tracks like “Tokyo Love Hotel” and “Akasaka Sad,” she explores her relationship with Japan as a U.K. On “Chosen Family,” a shimmering, gospel-tinged ballad, she sings about finding solace in queer friendships, especially in the face of rejection from loved ones. Sawayama’s identities don’t just inspire her music - they permeate its DNA. (It appeared prominently on over two dozen best-of lists last year.) It felt like the foundation for a new kind of pop star: unabashedly queer, unapologetically Asian and completely unconcerned with genre conventions. “STFU!” became the lead single from 2020’s Sawayama, her debut album and one of the most critically lauded releases of the year.

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