Analyzing "XS" by Rina Sawayama
XS is one of the best 2020 songs for its pop-turning-rock nature. It’s unexpected to hear an intense guitar riff joined with the explosive drums after a soft, melodic violin begins the song. Lyrically, the song portrays the story of a person who is struggling with greed. “Hey, I want it all, don't have to choose,” and “And I’m taking in as much as I can hold,” are only a few of the lyrics symbolizing the issues this person is having. Rina has spoken out about the song, stating that she made a song to mock capitalism, as we are all currently dying in our world due to climate change. She states that the riffs are supposed to represent the horrid truth, but then switches back to 2000’s style R&B to symbolize how the world has just grown used to the fact that a great danger is coming, and just completely disregards it with material things. Another way to view the song’s nature and musical composer is how a person deals with greed. While singing about Calabasas, Tesla Xs, and buying zip codes at the mall, you notice that they are being sung while in the R&B setting. However, once the person’s greed starts to swell up again (As in the lyrics “I’m the baddest, and I’m worth it,” and “Want you to leave her,”), the metal guitar starts playing once again. Although maybe not Sawayama’s intent, it could go to show how greed processes itself. You begin to buy and have all these things, but greed will convince you to get more, or will convince you that the only way to be fully happy is for the singer’s love interest to leave the woman they are currently with. A beautiful violin melody being followed by a harsh, metallic guitar accurately presents the feelings one may have while battling with greed. Although the song does an amazing job depicting capitalism’s flaws, the music video also does wonders, and makes the message much more clearer. The video begins as a delivery driver carries a box of an orange gold liquid that is in a bottle that resembles those of VOSS™ (a water company that is considered higher end water), with a sticker that reads “RINA”. As the delivery driver does his thing, we open to a clip of a televised shopping channel, similar to HSN®. In walks a spokeswoman, ready to present the product to the public. The following clips are random shoots of the fictional channel, RINA TV, showing off other products, just as a shopping channel would. Happily, the two hosts of the show play around with the items. They play around with hand bags, jewelry, high heels, purses, showing the public what they are selling. As we continue through the video, the spokeswoman presenting her product RINA has come in the shot again. We find out that the magical liquid is an anti-aging serum that, when drunk, helps the consumer look younger and have better cell power. We find out the recipe this magic antidote is made of consists of 99% authentic 24k Gold and 1% Plasma. Just after, we cut to a dancing segment that showcases our spokeswoman and two other women. Although it might not seem important to note at the moment, it plays a bigger role near the ending of the video. Once the chorus reaches its midway point, the metallic riff plays, and our spokeswoman suddenly starts twitching robot-like, and she starts to twitch more regularly as we progress through the segment, almost as if she is malfunctioning in some way. The choreography also holds meaning, as in parts where the dancers must look shocked by the product, showing extensive enthusiasm. As verse two begins, we cut to what seems to be a laboratory, where the workers or scientists are watching the channel. A key moment to recognize is the disgust one of the employees has when she sniffs the serum, demonstrating that although it may smell and or taste completely awful, people will still buy the product because they are coerced into it. Right before another choreographed segment, our spokeswoman seems to be hurting, which we see for a split second before she’s back to dancing and showing off the product. As the women dance, it seems as if the spokeswoman is realizing something, and begins to dance on her own rather than the same moves as the ladies. This confuses the show’s hosts, and angers the two women, which makes the women open the serum, and spill it on the spokeswoman. As soon as the liquid touches her, sparks start to fly out, showing that she was a robot the entire time. She collapses and suffers while the women continue to dance as if nothing has happened. You can see the hosts are shocked by this and become frightened, as the spokeswoman (or maybe spokes robot now) is completely malfunctioning. This seems to make the hosts think there is something wrong with the product and leave the stage where they are being filmed. The bridge begins to play, and we cut to a dark and gloomy, green-lit room. Inside, there is an alien-like creature, with tubes stuck inside her. It’s shown that the serum actually comes from this creature, and is being forced into captivity for it. Obviously, she is in pain, and with the quick shots of the malfunctioning spokeswoman, to the suffering the creature is having, we cut to the final chorus of the song.We are shown the creature’s moments in the laboratory, as the serum is being sucked from her, and we see that our spokeswoman has finally broken down. Something that is interesting about the spokeswoman is that although she is obviously breaking down and is hurt, she cannot fully get rid of her plastic smile, and her fake enthusiasm still is persistent while presenting the product to the scared hosts. We are shown the spokeswoman being pushy and rude to the annoyed hosts, and she picks up all the bottles, and leaves. Our final shot presents a couple outside the studio drinking the serum. Outside in the dumpster, we also see the spokeswoman completely broken down, with sparks and wires coming out of her. As the man and the woman walk down the alley where the studio is located, we see the man drink the last bit of serum he has, and throw away the bottle, which lands on our spokeswoman, where she ultimately breaks down, and dies. The messages in both the song and the video had all come together to create an interesting story. The capitalist nature of the shopping channel adds more to the story when played with the song. The creature may represent either the working class that’s forced to work for the unfair wealthy, or may represent the terrible truth of climate change. As the creature suffers (in this case, we will say she represents climate change), the public doesn’t care. They don’t know about what’s going on, because they are blinded by the golden serum. Rina has stated that she too has turned a blind eye to climate change, but only because it makes her depressed thinking about it. The serum could represent Calabasas or the Tesla Xs that Rina sings about, or could also represent the nature of greed and ignorance humans tend to have. Nevertheless, it all works perfectly, the song and the video. Rina Sawayama is a lyrical genius, but also an example of perfect pop. She was able to recreate the sounds of R&B and clash them with a heavy rock riff, while still maintaining a pop song. The melody is catchy, the beats are memorable, and the music video ties it perfectly in a golden 24k bow. Rina Sawayama is criminally underrated, and it is a shame the song did not get the recognition it deserved. All in all, the song is a solid 10/10. Perfect pop anthem, while talking to the masses about important issues, and doing it in such elegance.
