SANTOGOLD
Interview by Jaclyn Marinese
Photo by Craig Wetherby

For Santogold, things are really starting to come together as she leaps into a performance career that has already proven itself to be the path she was always meant to walk down. As a DJ I’ve performed on stage with Santi White and can honestly say I’ve been inspired by her. Her energy, attitude and ability to engage the crowd is amazing. She has an unlimited amount of beautiful and positive personal energy that seems to be overflowing and affects all of those that are lucky enough to be surrounding her.

White moved to New York in early 2005 after she lost her father and decided she needed to focus on her music. She started out as a songwriter, and has written with Lily Allen and Mark Ronson as well as for Ashlee Simpson. Currently she’s been collaborating with artists like Diplo, Spank Rock, and Switch and has performed on stage with good friend Amanda Blank as well. Her upcoming album entitled Santogold will be released on Downtown records in the US and on Atlantic in the UK. ’Sup caught up with Santogold in the studio while she was working on the final mixing of the album.

'SUP:How did you connect with Downtown?
I didn’t want to sign directly to a major in the States because I didn’t think they’d really know what to do with the album. I was already signed to Lizard King, part of Warner/ Atlantic, but the majors totally weren’t interested at all. It’s not like we were done but it’s also not like they were sniffing around. [Lizard King’s] deal was running out with Warner and then Downtown signed Spank Rock. It was a perfect scenario because I couldn’t really go outside of the Warner system anyway due to my deal [Downtown is distributed by Warner]. It was an ideal place because they have Spank Rock, Amanda Blank, Gnarls Barkley, Eagles of Death Metal, and they’d just signed Justice. All these artists I thought were interesting. And as far as Spank and Amanda we could all tour together and I couldn’t get out of Warner anyway so I was like, ‘perfect!’

Where did the name Santogold come from?
It was from this cheap gold infomercial that was around when I was a kid. It became a nickname because
I used to wear these big gold earrings that said Santi on ‘em. The big fly girl earrings. My friends started calling me Santogold. I brought it back ‘cause I remembered it and I thought it was cool.

Several articles on you have said you are a classically trained musician – is it true?
No, I was a music major in school at Wesleyan. One thing I read said that I play drums, bass, guitar and
keyboard or something [laughing]. I was really into ethnomusicology at school and the culture of music so
I took as many classes in that as I could. I also just got exposed to a lot of different types of music. But I wasn’t a performer, and I never wanted to be. My instrument was hand drums and I actually studied Haitian drumming styles and Cuban and West African. That’s what I studied.

When did the decision to become a performer take place?
I’ve always been a songwriter since I was a little kid. I used to write raps all the time and I did that until I was
a teenager. Then when I was about 15 I started playing guitar and then I bought some beat production equipment. I don’t think I ever thought I’d make music for myself to perform. It was more for fun – a form of writing. Poems and raps were the same thing to me. After I had been playing around on instruments a bit I started writing songs instead of raps. By that time I was working at Sony as an A&R assistant and I wanted to sign the singer Res for a demo deal. I did the deal for her and while making the demo I couldn’t find any good songs so I was like, ‘Sing these’ and they were the songs that I wrote. They ended up being the best songs for her. I had something in mind that I wanted her to sound like that I hadn’t heard anywhere and she was into it. At that point I was operating under the assumption that I wanted to own a record label. I had been interning at labels since I was in high school but then I realized I hated the business side and I left. I decided I wanted to be on the creative side. I spent the next time executive producing and writing her record. I quit Sony and I got Res a deal and brought some producers on and we did her record. That was early 2001.

It didn’t sound like anything else that was out at that time.
No, but it also wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to sound like either. I’m happy about that now because it would have sounded closer to my sound. I think it did reach more people. It was more digestible because of the soul influence it had. Anyway, it was really tough for me. I was really young and really inexperienced and that was the first time I had done any of that stuff. After that I decided I didn’t like writing for other people, but I didn’t want to be a performer either. I had started singing by referencing stuff. I knew how to sing. I was in chorus all through school and everything. And I had a solo in high school, which was so fucking embarrassing it was horrible. After that I was scarred and I never wanted to sing again. But after the Res stuff people were like, ‘Why don’t you sing? You can sing’. But I wasn’t sure. I was thinking I wanted to make something that sounded like what I had in my head. So I called my friend Chuck [Treece] and I was like,
‘Why don’t we record some songs and I think I’m gonna make a record but I’m never gonna perform’. He agreed and we did it. It took a while for me to be able to perform. Chuck was a great help. He was the drummer in my band Stiffed and he plays drums on all my records and he’s just amazing. He told me I had to perform. And once I started doing it, it was so much fun.

What is the difference between writing for someone else and writing for yourself?
It’s very different. But when I was doing the Res record it was different from how I write for other people now.
It was my first thing and it was kind of like writing for myself. I was so attached to that project. I put so much into it. More than I’ll ever do again because you don’t need to be that connected to something when you’re writing it for someone else. It actually made it harder for everyone. When you’re writing for somebody extremely pop – you can’t say hardly anything. You have to keep it very simple. You have to maintain this very plain balance. Not too much intention, not to little intention. You have to be right in the middle. When I write for myself it’s like art. It’s fun and it’s not work and it’s not formulaic and there are no rules.

Who are the producers on this album?
John Hill and I did most of it. I’m not sure how it’s going to end up because we keep adding shit. But it started out that me and John were just writing and producing together. And then I got a song from Switch, Diplo, Radioclit and Disco D worked on one with John and I. Then Switch and Sinden did a “You’ll Find A Way” remix. Now I don’t know what’s going on but I might be adding a couple of more songs.

Do you do any production yourself?
Well I don’t produce beats at all. I usually write on bass and guitar and on my keyboard. But for this record it happened so fast that a lot of times I’d get presented ideas and me and that person would just build on it. Maybe I’d write a horn part or sit there and add some keyboard stuff.

There are a lot of expectations on women to look a certain way in this business but you’ll always perform in your sneakers and everyday outfits.
[Laughing] Yeah, I mean it’s a workout. Why should I put on some crazy shit? And first of all I cannot wear heels. They hurt me and I hate them. I mean they’re really pretty and I’ll wear them in photo shoots because I think they are pretty. But it just doesn’t make any sense. I’m the type of person that as soon as I walk in my house I take off my clothes from outside and I put on the most comfortable, sloppy, ugliest shit ever. I wear matching ugly pajama outfits and granny scarves [laughing]. The uglier the better. And I really think that’s fun.

But you’re also really into fashion.
Actually I’m really, really into fashion. I find clothes fun. I love animal prints and different patterns and colors. I don’t like to really match. Not like awful clash, but you know, it’s like putting together art – it’s composition based. You don’t want to have the same color equidistant on a page, you want to have little dabs for this and that. I use the same sensibility for when I dress. You pick all the things you like and then you put them together according to your mood. I’ve had so many people just tell me, ‘You have to look sexier on stage.’ I’m like, ‘Have you seen the photos of me performing?’ I’m definitely not gonna be up there with my tits hanging out. I wear sneakers and I wear pants because I jump around and I sweat. It’s like are you gonna go to the gym in heels? I don’t think so. It’s a physical activity so I dress accordingly. I do try to wear bright colors because you’re little on a big stage and its fun if people can see you and sort of feel the energy. So I try to wear stuff that I feel carries the energy of what I’m doing or feeling on stage.

How was it opening up for Björk at Madison Square Garden?
Well her booking agent called my manager and she had heard me. At first it was just supposed to be the MSG show but they added Atlanta and Montreal. Björk is really sweet and cool and real. She was so supportive. She was so excited. For the whole show at Madison Square Garden she stood right there and watched me and was like, ‘That was awesome!’ At the end of her show she shouted out my birthday and said happy birthday. Since then its become a crew. She’s had Spank Rock open up for her before and M.I.A. It’s become a fun group. She told me, ‘I heard your shit on myspace and I illegally downloaded it’ [laughing].

You are in a relationship with the artist and pro snowboarder Trevor (Trouble) Andrew. How has that relationship impacted or complemented you?
Having Trevor around has complemented my life. The thing about Trevor and I is that somehow we formed
a relationship outside of and separate from all of this. He was already a pro snowboarder when I met him and I was already in Stiffed. He wasn’t a musician then. We moved to Philly and didn’t go out very much and were completely domestic. Our whole relationship formed outside of any scene. For the first year of our relationship all we did was go on vacation. It was pretty amazing. I had so much free time cause I was doing Stiffed, and he was an off-season snowboarder. I had some things to do but it wasn’t like now. Then my dad got sick and Trevor was like a fucking rock for me. Then we moved to NY together. There have been so many different phases of our relationship and it’s taught me a lot. I just feel like he and I have a very real relationship that’s based on real shit. And he’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. We have so much fun doing all kinds of stuff. It’s nice to have something that you can touch that’s constant and real and separate from all the hype and all the madness outside. And I think that’s what relationships are supposed to be.

What are your hopes for the album?
I just hope it works properly and that the most people possible are exposed to it and hear it. I hope it’s well received. I want the most people to know and like my music. There’s a lot of stuff that comes along with that that I don’t want, but I want that most importantly. So whatever happens I’ll just deal with it because I really, really want it to be important.