Santigold's trailer is small. Tucked away in a backstage corner of the Parklife festival in Sydney, the portable room nestled amongst so many others like it gives no indication of the cultural phenom tucked away inside. Santi White: Ex-A&R for Epic Records. Ex-punk rock singer. Singer/songwriter/producer — her notch on the public consciousness via 2008 solo debut Santogold still resonating today (the proof here in the huge crowd that turned up to see her perform just hours ago) — collaborator with the likes of Diplo, Wu-Tang, Mark Ronson, N.E.R.D, Beastie Boys, Basement Jaxx and a whole bunch more. And if she's seemed quiet over the last little while, she won't for much longer: with a new album in the can, her next release and career move will be orchestrated by none other than Jay-Z's empirical entertainment company Roc Nation. Tonight she sits between a tub of Coronas and a plastic white lawn chair.
In person Santi White is disarmingly honest, pretty, vivacious and quick to smile. Which makes her headstrong responses and fierce but thoughtful assertions all the more engaging. Besides the tiny room hosting TheVine, tubs of beer, White, a small dresser and a couple of chairs, we have her head-shaven, cross-armed minder silently guarding the door -- his impression being that we're not leaving, as much as his preventing the interview being interrupted. Over a heated and intimate conversation we discuss this Parklife tour, the difficulty of her much-anticipated forthcoming record (once suspected to be due out in 2011, but...) and how modern life — and music — is rubbish.
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TheVine: You seemed really pleased on stage today?
Santigold: I did? Well I'm a fucking faker! [laughs].
And that's the end of the interview.
No, we had horrible sound on stage. But when the audience is good, you kind of get through anything. Because you don't want to let them down. You might be mad and you look out and they're like, 'Yeah!', and you're like 'God.'. They were a really good audience.
We had great sound this whole tour, [but] that guy [today]...I don't know what his problem was. He didn't know how to do stuff. At first it wasn't that bad, but my mic kept feeding back. And he turned me down so I couldn't hear. So I went around [to him] and I was like, 'Turn me up just EQ out that feedback.' And he was like, [moron voice] 'ORKAY'. But he didn't know how to do that and from there it just fell apart.
How's this Parklife tour been around Australia for you?
It's been really great. It's been an easy tour because we had two shows at the beginning and then five days off. Three shows in a row is a little bit hard for me, especially flying the same day [as the show]. But we had so many days off. We went to see the koalas and kangaroos and it was my birthday one day and I went shopping and it was kind of an easy tour. And it was also fun because we're travelling with all the other bands and stuff, so it's nice. You get to go and watch other people's show and hang out a little bit.
You're record came out in 2008. Is this tour here also a bit of a test here to see how people have stuck with you?
Well I don't know. I guess I should be thinking of that but I just kind of assumed they would [laughs]. But, the test for me is for myself. Just getting these new songs that we've added in the set tight, cause this is like a warm up run. So it's good for us to get these songs good, and then I've got a whole bunch more to learn. But it's nice to just get going. Half my band's new, so it's really just like our own test.
I think that the reason it's been so long since I put out my last record — because I spent a long time touring, I toured for two years after that record — I feel like when you actually put in the time touring, you get real fans. It's different than if you pop out a single [or a] hit, and you're like 'Heeey'...and you have that one single but you don't really have no fans. I feel like you spend the time with your fans, you get loyal fans.
Do you think that live experience has influenced the mindset of the music you're making now? And knowing with a new level of popularity, that you'll tour it for another three years?
No I won't [laughs]. Never again! It was too long! It was hard, I burnt out at the end of that tour and I lost my voice so many times. It was really gruelling.
I don't know, I don't think the touring [I did] necessarily influenced the [new] record I made. It's two different head spaces. When you go out and do the live performance of the show, it's almost like a completely different opportunity to do a whole different side of the art. Making a record is really introspective for me. And I try not to think too much about the reception of it. Especially during the real creative processes of it. Once you have the body of work and you're choosing what can go on there, then you can think about it a little bit. But, it messes you up. If you think too much about how it's going to be received while you're making the record.
Has there been any kind of those stumbling blocks with the record you're making at the moment?
The whole process was a stumbling block! It was really hard the second time.
How come?
Well I think the main thing that I did wrong was to expect that it was going to be easier than the first time. And to expect that I had already figured out how to do it. [But] everything was different. Even the times that we live in are different; the internet is different; the record labels are different and people like different music. So what I learned this time was that you can't really have expectations. You've got to approach each time like it's new, and you're kind of going to get your ass kicked. And then you've got to just like, be up for it you know? And also, I didn't work with some of the producers who I really expected to work with a lot. [That] didn't really gel this time.
Were they going to be similar to those on Santogold?
Yeah. Starting the record, we went to Jamaica with the same crew, like 'C'mon guys let's go to Jamaica!' And I got one song out of that trip. A two week trip! That was disappoining.
But it's good because i learned a lot during this process and ultimately I think I have a great record. I'm really happy with it. And I'm happy with the process as well, because I think this year or this last year — two years [laughs] — I think I've grown as a person, I've gotten a lot stronger and a lot more grounded. And I think that's what my record ended up being about. And, about how fucked up the world is right now, and all the crazy things going on, and how confused I am about that. It's a really crazy time, you know. And I feel like everybody's feeling it. In different ways. I mean, the earth's going through all this kind of stuff, we're having earthquakes and hurricanes in one week in New York. And there's floods and earthquakes all over the world. And then people are feeling that [inside]. So many people are going through really crazy, hard transitions.
Do you feel like that's the kind of stuff you need to talk about?
Yeah. I do. And that's the kind of stuff that I ended up talking about [on the record].
A festival like Parklife is interesting right now because it's moving away from a strict dance festival and incorporating other genres. Do you feel like you know where you fall in a cultural sense?
No. I don't know where I fall and I don't understand people's taste anymore. Because I think so much of the music that's out is horrible. It's horrible, and I don't get it and I don't get the people that like it [laughs].
But with that said, I think everything in the world is a pendulum. And I think we're so far to the bad side, that I'm not afraid of anything. I don't care if we get so streamlined and so bad — because it's pretty close, to the worst. If you ask me. And you're asking me [laughs] — that it can only get better. It might get worse, a little bit before it gets better. But music is so bad right now. Culture is so bad right now. I mean, look at like all the celebrity shit — these celebrities who are celebrities because of nothing. And the obsession with it, anyway. And no-one can look like a normal person any more, and everyone has fake everything. And music is by artists who aren't artists at all. And the same five producers [just] do everything — I'm talking mainstream here.
So the fact that there is a festival like this is wonderful. Because it's a little bit more like music for music lovers. But that's not mainstream anymore. I do have faith that the people who are doing this right now, the people who are here -- these are the people who will be making music, even if music makes no money at all and they're doing it completely for themselves. These are the people who love music. And I think for the people like us, it doesn't matter — I mean, it matters because our lives get a little harder — in the sense that, we're not going to stop making music that we think is good. So, whether the audience gets smaller before it gets bigger, doesn't really matter.
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