Rina Sawayama talks candidly about being groomed and attending sex relationship therapy

Japanese-British singer and “John Wick 4” star Rina Sawayama is opening up about an experience she had at the age of 17 that she once thought was a relationship but she now realizes she was groomed. 

Speaking with the BBC World Service, Rina says it was through therapy and reaching the age of her abuser – a teacher at her school –  that she came to realize she was the victim of grooming: that, she says, informed her 2022 song “Your Age.”

Speaking with the outlet, she reveals that the inspiration for her album “Hold the Girl,” came from the work in therapy she’s done to unpack her experience of being groomed at 17.

"I was groomed," she says. "It was by a school teacher."

"Seventeen to me is a child. You're in school. If a school teacher is coming onto you, that's an abuse of power," she continues.  "But I didn't realize until I was his age."

“I remember distinctly how uncomfortable that made me, but I didn’t put the two and two together. And it was through this very intense form of therapy, which I feel so lucky to be able to have access to, that I was able to come to terms with that, and it completely broke my whole world apart,” she reveals.

“It came to light that, that was what was happening in my school, basically, it was a school teacher. I was so badly slut-shamed, that I developed so much shame around my sexuality, and lost completely my sense of self, I detached from my skin like inside, I don’t know how to describe it. But I just felt so afraid of things. And I’d have anxiety attacks.”

It was through sex and relationship therapy, she discloses, that helped her find the grace and compassion for her younger self.

"I would revisit my 17-year-old self, hold her close, and tell her that it wasn't her fault."

She also notes that “Your Age” and the album “Hold The Girl” drew inspiration from her journey through healing.

“Writing that album was one of the hardest things, but also when I finished it, it was one of the most incredible experiences. And now it makes me so happy when I see especially women or femmes in the audience connecting to it because I haven’t talked about this in specifics. I’ve just said it’s about a period in my life when I was younger, but I know the truth and when I look out to the audience, and I see femmes or women connecting to it, I’m like maybe you know what I’m talking about, maybe you’re feeling it right now.”

Some lyrics for “Your Age” include the angry refrain, “Why did you do it? What the hell were you thinking?” Rina came out in 2018 as pansexual and has stated that she is attracted to people regardless of their gender.  She tells the outlet that she hopes one day she can write a song that doesn’t involve the trauma she endured.

She also spoke frankly about the problems within the music industry for young artists who are signed at age 13 and thrust into adult responsibilities without the coping mechanisms of adults.

"There's a lot of people outside of the music industry, who don't know about the music industry," she says. "Recording artists don't have exit clauses between albums, for example. There needs to be some sort of overhaul, because currently it's very much benefiting music labels and record labels, and not artists."

"I have always wanted to lead with the truth, always," she reveals, "being transparent is important to me."

During this year’s Glastonbury festival, Rina had some choice words for Matt Healy of the 1975, who had a senior role at Dirty Hit, her label. She told the roaring crowd at Glastonbury that “a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast” owns her masters, adding, “I’ve had enough!”