On ‘Hold the Girl,’ Rina Sawayama’s stadium sound obscures her signature appeal. Singer’s second album, Hold the Girl, is filled with cheekily clever hybrids that pilfered from Y2K pop and nu-metal. The riotous “This Hell” is one of the album’s more effective songs, about defying homophobes to readily swig Satan’s Apple Sourz on the path to “eternal damnation” The album is rife with ceaseless, attention-deflecting and attention-seeking attention-winning songs.Read Long Article
