Japanese-British singer/actress/model Rina Sawayama has fans in an uproar after divulging that over the last two years she's been hard at work on material for the follow-up to her acclaimed 2022 album Hold The Girl. Last month, the versatile singer spoke with Billboard on the red carpet of the Crunchyroll Anime Awards:
I started working on [the new album] around last August. I was gathering ideas, but now I've leveled up a nit. And I'm in the process of turning them into more complete songs. For this album, I really wanted to write more songs. I feel like I didn't write that many for the last one [2022's Hold The Girl], so this time I want to write more. I'm going to give it my all from here on out.
Rina Sawayama pic.twitter.com/9C8qIkgJs0
— MR AIRTIME (@Aubrey_Senyolo) June 30, 2026
Earlier today, Sawayama took to social media to give fans the full update on her recent exploits. Sawayama is currently on break from filming and training for the John Wick spin-off Caine, starring Donnie Yen. Fans will recall Sawayama made her big-screen acting debut as Shimazu Akira in 2023's John Wick: Chapter 4. Principal photography for the Yen-directed film began in April in Budapest, Hungary, and is set to continue this summer in Hong Kong. Sawayama also mentions an AppleTV series she shot last year that debuts later this year. The series, entitled Prodigies, is a rom-com from BAFTA-nominated actor/filmmaker Will Sharpe starring Sharpe and Emmy-winner Ayo Edebiri.
Sawayama also dropped details about her next album:
In between [shooting Caine and Prodigies] I've been writing music, of course. I've been writing music for about two years, which is the longest I've really spent on a record. So many trips around the world to record. I think I've recorded maybe 40 to 50 songs at least—maybe more ideas. That's been really fun.
While little is known about the new music, Sawayama says she's "recorded with lots of different producers. I was just trying to find the right person to work with, and I finally found my team. I've really locked in." She goes on to describe the extensive (re)writing process for this new batch of songs:
It's very forensic science at this point: I'm taking apart every single line and rewriting, putting harmonies, changing the harmonies, putting more harmonies on. It's just all the balance but that, to me, is what makes a song.
While her burgeoning discography has already covered an array of genres, this couple with the previous statement about having more of a hand in the writing suggests, at the very least, the possibility of her returning to the nu metal sound broached on "XS" and fully embraced on "STFU!," both from her 2020 debut full-length, SAWAYAMA. Let's be real: nu metal is really in right now.
Before finishing out the video—a GRWM focused on her personal makeup routine—Sawayama touches on the music one more time: "I've grown a lot as a person, and I think so has the music." While no further official details about the new album are known, it is expected to release later this year.
Check out the music video for "STFU!" below.
Sawayama's sophomore album, Hold The Girl, is out now on Dirty Hit Limited.
