Rina Sawayama has announced that she has been in talks with the BPI and successfully changed the eligibility rules for the Mercury Prize and the BRIT awards. Last year, Rina revealed that she was not eligible to receive nominations for the Mercury Prize or domestic BRIT award categories because she is not a UK citizen, despite having lived in the UK for 26 years.
Rina announced in an Instagram post that following her conversations with the BPI, starting this year the eligibility clause will be expanded. Artists will now be eligible for nomination if they have been a resident of the UK for five years, even without British citizenship. The nomination will also be possible to any artist with a British passport or was born in the UK. Rina went on to thank her fans who helped raise awareness and starting the conversation.
She went on to say; “Without your collective voice, this wouldn’t have happened. In my 26th year of living in the UK I’m so proud that I can help make this systemic change for future generations, so that in years to come we can see a more diverse definition of British musical excellence.”
Rina raised this issue with Mercury last year after she released her debut album, SAWAYAMA, she was told that the rules would not change. The Japanese government does not allow people to carry duel citizenship, however, Rina has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, meaning she shares most citizens’ rights so she has kept her Japanese passport to maintain ties to her family who live in her country of birth, this includes her father.
At the point, Rina told VICE; “You get to a level when you don’t have to worry about your nationality and your status and whether you fit into this country. Things like that bring into sharp focus, like, whether I am even British.” She then added; “I fundamentally don’t agree with this definition of Britishness.”
Rina’s album SAWAYAMA was released on the 17th of April 2020 via Dirty Hit. The album included the amazing singles XS, Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys), STFU!, Chosen Family and Bad Friend. The album peaked in the UK Indie charts at number 8. The album was produced by Clarence Clarity and Sawayama herself, with help from Bram Inscore, Nate Company, and Nicole Morier, creating a wide range of sounds and genres across the songs. Speaking to Consequence of Sound, Sawayama said “Everything kind of picks up from different bits of the 2000s. I think music was so diverse then.”
