Besting the already star-making Sawayama, the triumphant Hold The Girl is the sound of an artist taking their rightful place on the pop throne. Sawayama was born for this.
The album’s final three tracks feel superfluous, but Sawayama ultimately succeeds where Dr Frankenstein failed: her creation greater than the sum of its parts.
Rina Sawayama's second album Hold the Girl feels like a love letter to Sawayama's younger self, like a promise that joy is coming.
Her long-awaited Hold The Girl is a personal journal — a Saturn-return statement about moving out of her twenties and facing up to her past.
Hold the Girl is an excellent sophomore album from an artist who selflessly wears her heart on her sleeve to help others.
A grand attempt to capitalize on her recent brushes with the mainstream, Hold the Girl gives Sayawama’s fans space to process their own traumas and unravel toxic narratives.
Despite some bumps, Hold the Girl is full of passion and reflection, uninterested in holding back and unafraid to revel in the power of vulnerability and self-love.
Shiny, but inward-looking. Humorous, but deep and mature, Hold The Girl is the type of pop record the world so desperately needs right now, because it makes sense when many other things appear not to.
Rina Sawayama’s second LP, Hold the Girl, suffers from a lack of risk and is self-consciously conservative in terms of execution. It’s a bewildering anticlimax.
Hold the Girl, the second album from this Japanese-British pop superstar-in-waiting, does away with the screwy edges, bats away the quotation marks and, most egregiously, contorts Sawayama to fit her references, not the other way around.
Rina mostly lets go of her alternative edge on Hold The Girl.
A great pop album experience with bright lights and colors… but this is the first time I’ve cringed at a Rina Sawayama project. A couple of songs are really corny and not all there. The great moments are worth listening to this project for though
"Hold The Girl" is Rina Sawayama's second studio album after the acclaimed "SAWAYAMA" where her creativity and innovation were very praised.
In the same way that fans were disappointed with Charli XCX's more poppy proposal recently with "Crash", perhaps many will feel the same with this album. Rina takes a different proposal from her predecessor and embraces a personality of a true pop vocalist of the 2000s, such as Kelly Clarkson. The production is certainly ... read more
extremely front loaded
I was shocked from the reception of the record. I really couldn’t understand what could’ve happened for this to be such a step down. Even while listening to the first half of this record, I could understand why this could be a step down but I couldn’t understand why it would be considered bad or even mediocre.
That was all until track 7, where everything went downhill. Outside of “Frankenstein”, the second half has practically nothing ... read more
Facetiming the girlfriend so this review will be janky as hell
RINAAAA! STOP MAKING AMAZING MUSIC!!
Hold The Girl is a probably the most personal and emotion album by Rina! This is an album of growth and Rina coming to a love of herself. The last three songs really tie it together.
I think it has weaker moments than her other two projects but the highlights definitely make up for it.
I really like this album. I want more Rina.
Best: Frankenstein
Worst: Holy (Til You Let Me Go)
1 | Minor Feelings 2:00 | 78 |
2 | Hold The Girl 4:05 | 86 |
3 | This Hell 3:56 | 80 |
4 | Catch Me In The Air 3:35 | 76 |
5 | Forgiveness 4:20 | 76 |
6 | Holy (Til You Let Me Go) 3:19 | 80 |
7 | Your Age 2:54 | 77 |
8 | Imagining 3:32 | 83 |
9 | Frankenstein 3:12 | 85 |
10 | Hurricanes 3:22 | 77 |
11 | Send My Love To John 3:25 | 75 |
12 | Phantom 4:25 | 80 |
13 | To Be Alive 3:54 | 75 |
#2 | / | USA Today |
#5 | / | Rough Trade (UK) |
#6 | / | NME |
#8 | / | PopMatters |
#16 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#16 | / | The Independent |
#17 | / | DIY |
#20 | / | Loud and Quiet |
#22 | / | musicOMH |
#24 | / | Clash |