Once “prisoner to my bedroom walls,” Rina Sawayama works through past traumas and emerges renewed and restrengthened. “To Be Alive” books Hold the Girl and witnesses Sawayama finally, fully, and unapologetically knowing “what it feels like to be alive.” Production works both in sweeping colors and scattered ideas, snatched through her cosmic vocal chords that don’t even seem human. “Open my eyes, feels like the first time,” she continues. She brandishes the pain now as a shield for whatever may come next. And for the first time, she can handle it.
Listen to “To Be Alive” below.