Rina Sawayama Announces Debut Album, Shares Pulsing Club Track 'Comme Des Garçons'

London-based pop star announced on Friday that her debut album, SAWAYAMA, will arrive April 17th Dirty Hit.

She also shared a new single from the LP, “Comme Des Garçons (Like the Boys),” a club track that celebrates gay men and their rejection of traditional masculinity.

“When I was writing this song I wanted, on one hand, to lyrically explore the idea of people having to adopt negative male tropes to appear confident, whilst on the other sonically paying homage to the early 2000s dance tracks that made me feel confident,” she wrote in a statement. “The idea that the socially acceptable version of confidence is in acting ‘like the boys’, otherwise as a woman you get called a bitch — but in the club, we reclaim the word ‘bitch’ as a sign of ultimate confidence (‘yes bitch’, ‘work bitch’). I wanted to sit these two together and make a club fashion banger that makes you feeling like THAT bitch whoever you are.”

Sawayama added that her new album “ultimately is about family and identity. It’s about understanding yourself in the context of two opposing cultures (for me British and Japanese), what ‘belonging’ means when home is an evolving concept, figuring out where you sit comfortably within and awkwardly outside of stereotypes, and ultimately trying to be ok with just being you, warts and all.”

The singer released her RINA EP in 2017 and shared the single “STFU!” last November. She’ll be touring her new album in North America later this year, kicking off April 24th in Los Angeles and playing 11 shows before heading across the pond to tour in the UK. Presale begins Tuesday, January 21st and general on sale begins Friday, January 24th, both at 10:00 am local time.

Rina Sawayama, SAWAYAMA Tracklist

1. Dynasty
2. XS
3. STFU!
4. Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)
5. Akasaka Sad
6. Paradisin’
7. Love Me 4 Me
8. Bad Friend
9. Fuck This World (Interlude)
10. Who’s Gonna Save U Now?
11. Tokyo Love Hotel
12. Chosen Family
13. Snakeskin

Rina Sawayama North American Tour Dates

April 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
April 25 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
April 27 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
April 28 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
May 1 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
May 2 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
May 3 – Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club Theatre
May 6 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
May 7 – New York City, NY @ Webster Hall
May 8 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
May 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry at the Fillmore