Rina Sawayama Returns With Noir-Inspired "Bad Friend" Music Video

Rina Sawayama returns with a new music video for her standout single “Bad Friend”, from her eponymous debut album SAWAYAMA. The black and white noir-inspired visual was directed by Ali Kurr (who also helmed “STFU!” and “XS”) and finds the Japanese star transformed into a gentleman alone at a bar until it takes a violent turn. Rina shared her thoughts on the latest effort:

The “Bad Friend” video was one of the last videos we shot before UK lockdown with director Ali Kurr. We had so much fun making this, as it was my first time doing stunts and being in prosthetic makeup. The song is about the heartbreak of losing a friendship and realizing that you were the cause of the breakdown. When you hear the song this is not the video you imagine — but that’s exactly what we wanted. The music video is a reimagining of the themes in “Bad Friend” — of longing, loss, self-hate and ultimately self-love. Choosing a slow, film noir style focuses all the attention on performance and acting, which was definitely very daunting but I had so much fun making a video that is so wildly different from my previous videos.

Earlier this year, Rina shared her “Comme Des Garçons” dance cut and her upbeat bubblegum pop-inspired “XS”. Watch the full “Bad Friend” music video above.

In more music news, Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn performed his first live duet with fellow band-member 2-D on Jimmy Kimmel Live, giving an emotional rendition of their latest Song Machine hit “Aries”.