Electropop artist Rina Sawayama, who made headlines last month when she indirectly called out The 1975 frontman Matty Healy on stage at Glastonbury, appears to have taken another swipe at her label-mate.
Midway through her performance at NOS Alive in Lisbon on Saturday, Sawayama decided to bring up the controversies that have allegedly plagued Healy for months once more. “So I was thinking a lot about apologies,” she began, addressing the audience during the intro to her rage-fuelled single “STFU”. “It’s just funny how some people get away with not apologising ever… For saying some racist shit. For saying some sexist shit.”
This comes a little under a week after Healy’s monologue at Finsbury Park, where he expressed regret over choices he had made in the past, admitting there were some things he wished he could “take back”.
After thanking the crowd for turning up, Healy had launched into a sincere discourse about past mistakes: “I was always trying stuff. And some stuff I got right and some stuff I got wrong. But, do you know what? There’s a lot of things I’ve said, jokes that I’ve made that I would take back.”
Listen to Healy’s apology below:
The singer has been the subject of much controversy over the years, with the most recent accusations stemming from an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show in February, during which Healy took several ill-advised jabs at fellow musicians and laughed along to offensive jokes made by the hosts.
Sawayama, who is signed to the same label as the problematic frontman, first expressed anger at Healy’s behaviour during her set at Glastonbury, where she took the opportunity to condemn his podcast comments on the big stage: “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!”
Healy had previously served as director of Dirty Hit Limited, but stepped down in April. His heartfelt speech at Finsbury Park didn’t do much in the way of reconciliation, either, with Sawayama, decidedly unimpressed, calling him out a second time.
“Why don’t you apologise for once in your life without making it about your fucking self?”, the singer demanded to know, alluding to the latter half of The 1975 frontman’s apology in London.
As well as admitting regret over past actions, Healy had offered an explanation for his inclination towards making controversial remarks: “I really am only doing this because I want to make you guys laugh and feel good. That’s what my favourite art does and that’s what I’m trying to do. I get a bit excited.”
Watch Rina Sawayama call out Matty Healy a second time below:
Rina Sawayama calls out Matty Healy for the second time at NOS Alive Lisbon pic.twitter.com/7ObbLaNMTt
— lou(@l0ul0uthef00l) July 10, 2023
