​Rina Sawayama breaks free

Rina Sawayama's new video for her track Hold the Girl is part western, part sci-fi and part video game, as the artist is thwarted in her attempts to escape a a secluded house.

Directed by Ali Kerr through Partizan London, the promo sees Sawayama yearning to leave the prison of the prairie-set house and, at the start, she climbs onto the roof and throws herself off, only to be returned to the bedroom in which we first encountered her, like the save point in a video game.

Next she tries simply running from the house only for an invisible force to prevent her from going too far and which eventually, once again, sets her back in the bedroom. It's only when the house starts crumbling and Sawayama finds a secret door to another, more modern version of herself that her escape is made possible. "It was all about capturing the feeling of having the strength to leave a situation," says Kurr. "And then, when that initial adrenaline rush leaves you, all you are left with is the memory that can often leave you feeling even more alone." 

Hold the Girl is the latest in a long running collaboration between Sawayama and Kerr that includes the promos for XS, Bad Friend and This Hell.