Rina Sawayama responded to Sabrina Carpenter’s much-buzzed-about return to “Saturday Night Live” this weekend by providing some phrases of constructive criticism.
Throughout her “SNL” look Saturday, Carpenter drew from Japanese tradition whereas performing the music “Nobody’s Son,” off her newest album, “Man’s Best Friend.”
The 2-time Grammy winner wore a sequined kimono-esque high and was flanked by a troupe of dancers, who executed martial arts-like strikes.
Sawayama, who’s of Japanese and of British descent, shared her response to the efficiency Sunday on her Instagram tales.
“Big love to Sabrina but fellow artists creative teams… if we are clearly referencing a culture please can you do so with the research, respect and care it deserves,” wrote the singer, who made her large display screen performing debut in 2023’s “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
She additionally identified one very particular element that wasn’t culturally correct.
“Shoes on tatami is jail,” she added, referring to the sneakers worn by Carpenter’s dancers as they strutted throughout conventional Japanese ground mats.
In accordance with Japanese etiquette, sneakers and slippers are taken off earlier than stepping onto tatami mats, that are constructed out of rice straw and sometimes seem in areas put aside for praying and different cultural rituals.
Carpenter has but to answer Sawayama’s feedback.
The Asian theming of “Nobody’s Son,” nevertheless, wasn’t the one facet of her efficiency to make headlines, as she dropped two F-bombs after taking the “SNL” stage that made it previous NBC’s censors earlier than the present aired on the East Coast.
Over time, pop stars like Madonna and Katy Perry have additionally been known as out after referencing Japanese vogue and different traditions of their music movies and performances.
Maybe essentially the most egregious instance is No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, who was accused of cultural appropriation after adapting the avant garde kinds and angle of Tokyo’s Harajuku district for her 2004 solo album, “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.”
When Stefani was requested by Attract in 2023 if she’d realized something from her Harajuku days, the singer ― who’s Italian American and Irish American ― stirred controversy by asserting “twice that she was Japanese,” in response to the outlet.
