Sawayama was born on 16 August 1990 in Niigata, Japan. Sawayama lived there until the age of five, when her family decided to move to London, England, where she was raised and currently resides. She holds an indefinite leave to remain (ILR) visa in the UK. While studying politics, psychology and sociology at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Sawayama decided to pursue music and modeling. During her time at university, she performed in a hip-hop group called Lazy Lion with Theo Ellis from the indie rock band Wolf Alice. She graduated from the university with a degree in political science. In May 2020, Sawayama said that she was doing an online course at the University of Oxford. Sawayama began her solo career in 2013, with the single "Sleeping in Waking". In June 2015, she released a music video, directed by Arvida Byström, to her track "Tunnel Vision". In 2016, she released the single "Where U Are", with an accompanying music video co-directed by Alessandra Kurr. The single explored human interaction with digital media, with Sawayama explaining: "Online, you can present your best edited self [and] your overheating phone substitutes human warmth. Weirdest of all – you're together, but also very alone." The song has been described as "nostalgic greatness… ultra-sweet and shimmering pop", and "90s R&B pop perfection". In March 2017, her single "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" premiered on The Fader.[21] Sawayama described the genesis of the themes of the track as: "the digital world can offer vital support networks, voices of solidarity, refuge, escape. That's what 'Cyber Stockholm Syndrome' is about: pessimism, optimism, anxiety, and freedom."[21] In 2017, the singles "Alterlife" and "Tunnel Vision", a duet with Shamir, were released, followed by her debut EP Rina. Sawayama was then an unsigned artist, and Rina was released independently; she confirmed on Twitter that she worked for two to three years to save money to release the EP.The Guardian deemed the EP "bracing and modern", stating that Sawayama had proven "she can shepherd pop into the future, too". Pitchfork ranked Rina in its list of best pop and R&B albums of the year. In 2018, Sawayama released the single "Valentine" on Valentine's Day. The music video for album track "Ordinary Superstar" was released in June 2018. In August 2018, Sawayama released the track "Cherry", in which she explores her sexual identity. Sawayama embarked on her Ordinary Superstar Tour across the UK, the US and Canada in late 2018. In 2019, she performed as the supporting act for Charli XCX's tour across the UK. In August 2018, Sawayama came out during an interview with Broadly, declaring: "I've always written songs about girls. I don't think I've ever mentioned a guy in my songs, and that's why I wanted to talk about it." She identified as both bisexual and pansexual. In April of 2020, Sawayama released her debut album 'SAWAYAMA', mixing the genres of Nu Metal, R&B, Pop, Alternative Pop, Rock, and Electropop. In SAWAYAMA, Rina Sawayama speaks about "taboo" topics such as generational pain, microagressions, materialism, and even toxic masculinity. On 29 June 2020, she released a cover of the Grammy-nominated Lady Gaga song, "Dance in the Dark" (2009) as part of Spotify's Singles series. The song was recorded in Sawayama's home studio and is an electropop composition with production handled by Clarence Clarity, her version replacing the Europop sound of the original song with nu-metal-influenced electropop. In July 2020, she signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister Liz Truss calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT+ conversion therapy. In late July 2020, Sawayama made a public tweet about her ineligibility to be nominated for major British music awards, such as the Mercury Prize and BRIT Awards, due to the fact that she does not hold British citizenship. The hashtag "#SawayamaIsBritish" became trending on Twitter in the UK shortly after. Sawayama's movement gained major support from Elton John online, who wrote that he was "happy to hear that the [BPI] are reviewing the rules that led to Rina Sawayama's well-deserved album being snubbed from this year's [Mercury Prize] list of nominees. The BPI later changed the rules to allow anyone who had remained in the UK, including her, to be eligible. On 26 October 2020, Sawayama made her television debut performing the song "XS" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The following month, she released a song titled "Lucid", produced by BloodPop.On 4 December 2020, a deluxe version of Sawayama was released. Her main influences came from '90s and '00s acts such as Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Avril Lavigne, Hikaru Utada, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Evanesence, Limp Bizkit and Pink among others. In 2017, Sawayama was ranked in The Guardian's 18 for '18 list as well as Dazed's 100 list. She has used Lady Gaga's vocal training method, bel canto, an Italian operatic exercise, to gain more treble and make her voice breathy.

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