I had just discovered the beautiful and talented Rina Sawayama. I think there`s some diva potential on this lady. Just take a look of her self-directed video of “Where U Are”. Recorded on a shoe-string in co-director Ali Kurr’s bedroom, the video taps (with humour, as well as insight) into the track’s themes of female anxiety in the Digital Age.
Discussing the issues that inform the video, Politics graduate Ri says; ‘As much as ‘Where U Are’ is about online relationships with others, it’s also about the online relationship you have with yourself. We live in a culture of self-surveillance that makes us forget who we really are, and what we really should be doing with our time. We want to be where they are, where future-you will be, where past-you was, but not pay attention to where you are now. Ali & I were inspired by Essena O’Neill’s recent departure from social media, alongside artists such as Petra Collins and Arvida Byström, whose work deals with online female insecurity.”
There’s a touch more below, but the iridescent RnB of ‘Where U Are’ is actually a reboot of Jacko’s 70s hit ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’ (mercifully minus the harpsichord intro), & is the first track lifted from Ri’s forthcoming EP Alone Together (due later this year).
