Japanese-British artist Rina Sawayama has urged creative teams to do more research on cultural references after pointing out some issues with Sabrina Carpenter‘s Japanese-inspired Saturday Night Live (SNL) performance.
Over the weekend, Carpenter became the latest artist and guest to grace the beloved comedy sketch show, where she performed two of her hit songs, “Manchild” and “Nobody’s Son”.
During her performance of “Nobody’s Son”, Carpenter sported a bedazzled karate gi, alongside back up singers and dancers who wore a similar outfit in a dojo-styled stage set.
Following the performance, Sawayama took to her Instagram Stories, calling out creative teams to do research and use respect when referencing cultures for their artist’s performances.
“Big love to Sabrina but fellow artists creative teams…,” the “Dynasty” songstress began.
“If we are clearly referencing a culture please can you do so with the research, respect and care it deserves.”
Sawayama then highlighted the main issue with Carpenter’s karate-inspired performance: the backup dancers and their attire.
“Shoes on tatami is jail,” Sawayama added.
Per Japan Living Guide, a tatami is a tradiitonal woven flooring made out of a combination of materials and woven igusa (rush grass) plant that has been used in Japan since the 8th century. It was originally used for sleeping by upper-class citizens. However, by the 16th century, it was used to cover entire rooms.
In Japanese culture, people must remove their shoes before stepping on tatami mats to prevent damage as well as to maintain its peaceful setting.
As for Carpenter’s performers, they were on the mat in some pretty fresh sneakers.
This isn’t the first time Sawayama has called out one of her fellow artists. In 2023, during her Glastonbury set, the “XS” singer called out The 1975’s Matty Healy for his past remarks about Asian people.
“I wrote this next song because I was sick and tired of these micro-aggressions,” Sawayama yelled before performing “STFU”.
“This goes out to a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast.
“He also owns my masters. I’ve had enough.”
At the time of writing Carpenter hasn’t responded to Sawayama’s message, nor has the creative team behind the performance.
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