Rina Sawayama Wants Us To “STFU!” And It’s Probably Best We Listen

The lead single off the London-based artist’s next album is a righteous tirade against microaggressions.

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This isn’t a usual Rina Sawayama track. Well, to say Sawayama has a “usual” track would be a disservice. The artist recently has leaned into the pop scene with tracks like “Cherry” and “Flicker,” but songs like nineties R&B/techno “Cyber Stockholm Syndrome” show a history of variety and musical exploration. But still who could expect her new single “STFU” would be nu-metal?

“‘STFU!’ is a song about releasing the RAGE against microaggressions,” she wrote in a press release. “As a Japanese girl growing up in the West I dealt with an array of aggressors ranging from: sexual stereotypes…to people shouting Asian greetings down the street (nihao! Konnichiwa!), and finally to people doing ‘slit eyes’.”

And “RAGE” she channels. The track begins with an introduction more akin to the Halloween season—the video is a white man going through a rolodex of offense on a date with Sawayama—before she launches into a howl that propels the rest of the track. “How come you don’t expect me to get mad when I’m angry?” she sings as faceless screams decorate the background. “How come you don’t respect me? Expecting fantasies, leave our reality, why don’t you just sit down and…” Now enter the shut the fuck up’s.

Sawayama has been around for a few years and has even made an appearance on Mother Jones before. Previous tracks have explored a more bubblegum take on crushes and loves. But “STFU!” is a track for anyone who’s constantly had to deal with the never ending attack of microagressions. It’s a track that’s built to be blasted, and built to be screamed. It is nu-metal except, it’s not a white dude with dreds yelling this time. It’s Rina reclaiming her space and time, and inviting others to do the same.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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