RinRin is the musical project of Filipino-born, Perth-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Qarin Hipe, and over the past five years she's carved out a genuinely unique lane in the Australian heavy music landscape.
Blending pop-punk, nu-metal and kawaii influences into something she’s previously described as ‘if Babymetal and Bring Me The Horizon had a baby’, RinRin has gone from bedroom demos during the 2020 lockdowns to signing with UK label Year Of The Rat Records and touring arenas across six cities in China with Walk Off The Earth in 2024.
But beyond the success and the genre-hopping, RinRin has constructed an entire fictional universe around her music — a multiverse where different “variants” of her character exist across alternate realities, each reflecting real emotions and experiences.
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Her songs unravel dystopian narratives of survival, revenge and resilience, all wrapped in anime-inspired visuals and produced alongside Chris Lalic of Windwaker. Even the lighter moments have lore: recent single CORNDOG! exists as an in-universe “ad break” for a fictional cat-run restaurant called Purrfectly Fried. The worldbuilding is an extension of a lifelong habit.
“I’ve always loved drawing and making up stories. I used to do it for fun as a kid. I never really stopped until now,” she says. “Music just became another way to bring those ideas to life. Creating a semi-fictional universe lets me combine everything I love about music and art and express myself and my story in how I feel and view the world.”
She reckons the local heavy scene is still figuring it out. “I feel like kawaii metal and genre-bending stuff is still in its ‘huh?’ phase locally, but I think there are those in the metal scene that’re definitely open to it, especially in the younger crowd,” she says. “Live audiences here can still be traditional when it comes to what ‘metal’ is supposed to look and sound like, but once people are exposed to the new and they like it, the people commit hard.”
Australia’s social media ban for under-16s is something she’s thought about too, particularly when it comes to how the next wave of musicians will find their audiences. “It might slow things down at first, especially with social media is such a big discovery tool now. Honestly, I think it’s probably healthier for them long-term. When they do get access, they’ll be older, more self-aware, and way more intentional about how they use it; not to mention safer. I feel like that generation is going to absolutely cook once social media becomes a tool instead of their whole identity.”
As someone who grew up navigating Perth’s male-dominated metal scene as a young Filipino-Australian woman, RinRin is acutely aware of what her visibility means. She’s also refreshingly honest about the limits of her own knowledge. Asked about underrated local artists, she doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. “I don’t know enough bands to name names confidently. I feel like there’s a lot of talent here that deserves more eyes and I just don’t want to pretend I’m tapped into everything when I’m not.”
Her dream rider? “Lots of Kit Kats, sushi, Cool Ridge water (600ml specifically), and warm tea. I’m a simple girl.” The one thing she wants every punter to bring to her shows? “A fan. An electric or hand fan up is to them. I wanna make fan puns on stage.” The best live show she’s ever witnessed came courtesy of Japanese metalcore act Paledusk in Perth. “I watched the guitarist do these insane spinning kicks on stage and it completely fried my brain. It was chaotic and sick and made me want to go harder.”
RinRin
- Where: Bergy Bandroom
- When: 19 March
Tickets here.
