Rina Sawayama live in brighton : an exhilarating performance

October 23rd, Brighton Dome : Rina Sawayama, the British-Japanese genre chameleon singer, captivated the Brighton Dome’s stage, the same stage where ABBA had their winning victory in the Eurovision (which Rina herself mentioned.)

The photo was taken by: me

The tour was held for her second studio album, "Hold the Girl," which Rina stated was inspired by her journey through therapy and her attempt to reparent herself. With that thought in mind, Rina created a space for catharsis in her concert and symbolically represented her journey through many aspects of her breath-taking performance.

The album itself included many energetic songs and dances across many genres, including country pop, dance pop, and ballads. The album's shift in momentum is perfectly replicated in the 90 minutes that Rina owns the stage.

Photo taken by me

The concert was divided into four acts and an encore, with each act having costume and set changes, giving the impression that Rina was telling a story as the genre and energy changed with the colours of the light on stage.

"Minor feeling" set the concert off as Rina made her entrance donning a full denim cowgirl outfit and a cape that whirled around her, giving her a majestic superhero-like appearance.

Photo taken by me

With every song that she performed, there was a thirst for more, and the hypnotising atmosphere was electrified by Rina’s backup dancers, Summer Jay Jones and Shola Riley, who managed to hypnotise the crowd as much as Rina herself did.

The vigour Rina exudes throughout the entire performance never wavers, and the encore song, "This Hell," has just as much force as the song she opened with and every song after that.

Photo taken by me

There’s no denying that pop princess Rina is worth the hype, and there is no doubt that as her popularity continues to grow, the crowd in Brighton will be the first to admit that it is truly deserved.