“I wrote this next song because I was sick and tired of micro-aggressions. So tonight, this song goes out to a white man who watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast. He also owns my masters. I’ve had enough.”
So says alt pop superstar in the making Rina Sawayama in a fiery video taken from her Glastonbury set on Saturday night (June 24), in which the Japanese-British singer unleashes her rage while her band tease the opening notes of Korn's classic debut album opener, Blind. Sawayama is reportedly taking aim at The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, who has been in hot water over an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show earlier this year. During the appearance, Healy and the show's hosts did derogatory impressions of various Asian accents, while Healy also suggested that he watches the violent, racially-tilted porn site Ghetto Gaggers, acknowledging that the site's videos "brutalised" women.
The "masters" line is believed to be in reference to Sawayama being signed to Dirty Hit, a label at which Healy was once director (The Guardian reports that it has reached out to Dirty Hit for comment). Following Sawayama's tirade, her band kick into her nu metal-inspired track STFU!, taken from her critically acclaimed 2020 studio album, Sawayama.
In fact, Korn aren't the only nu metal legends referenced in the video: towards the end of the song, her band also drop the bridge from Limp Bizkit anthem Break Stuff, accompanied by Sawayama's take on Fred Durst's iconic "pack a chainsaw" refrain.
It seems safe to say that Sawayama has some bones to pick, and she's certainly found the perfect soundtrack. Watch videos from both nu metal moments in her explosive Glasto set below.
Rina Sawayama calls out 1975 singer, and former director at Dirty Hit, Matty Healy at Glastonbury over interpolation of Korn's "Blind" used as intro to her song "STFU" (2023)pic.twitter.com/bwAC6Caf1VJune 25, 2023
In 2021, Rina Sawayama spoke to Metal Hammer about the role metal has had in influencing her music. "My music is a blend of a lot of different genres, but I always find myself taking inspiration from metal," she explained. "Songs like STFU! and XS obviously have metal/nu metal influences, but even my earlier songs like [2017's] Afterlife do as well. I love matching pop production with crunchy guitar riffs and an epic solo."
The singer contributed a rollocking cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman for the metal legends' epic Blacklist project that same year.
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