Santigold Talks New Album 99¢, Making a Living as a Musician in 2015, and Working With Dave Chappelle
Photo by Christelle de Castro
Last week, Santigold announced the January 22 release of her new album 99¢, the follow-up to 2012′s Master of My Make-Believe, and dropped a new single called “Can’t Get Enough of Myself“. Pitchfork chatted with Santi White about the album, her experiences as a new mom, the streaming arms race, her guest stint on “The Office”, potentially collaborating with Dave Chappelle, and much more. Update (11/11 4:44 p.m. EST): Zeds Dead worked with Santigold on her new album as well, according to the artist’s representatives.
Pitchfork: What experiences inspired you during the making of this record?
Santigold: I usually work with so many different producers, and a lot of time there’s a lot of producers working on one song. I end up being the one in the middle, pulling it all together, and it’s really hard. Touring can be hard after a while, so I was burned out after the end of the last record and tour cycle. I was like, “All right, I’m going to keep doing this , but it can’t feel like this.”
I had a baby, and that obviously is a whole other experience and emotional place, and then to come make music right after that experience, I just wanted to have a fun time. I had been working on music, very very slowly.
I wrote and recorded “Outside the War” and “Run from the Races” while I was nine months pregnant. Coming out of that, I was like “Woo-hoo, fun times!” And then I was working with all these new producers, which usually I’m very nervous about working with new people. I can be kind of shy and awkward going into those situations in the beginning, but I really opened myself up to it this time. I just wanted fresh energy, and it ended up being great.
Pitchfork: Did you have any common ground when working with the various producers on this record? [Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Hit-Boy, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, Patrik Berger, Justin Raisen, Sam Dew, John Hill, and Doc McKinney all contributed production to 99¢.]
S: I didn’t. That’s what was so fun about my project. When I go with different producers and they’ve thought about what they want to do, I think they feel a little bit more free, because they know almost any sound will work on my record if we pull it together properly – so they don’t feel so limited. I’ll go in with like, Rostam, and he’ll be like, “I want to do some really old school Jamaican style old reggae,” and I’ll go in with Justin Raisen, and he’ll be like, “I want to do some old Slits punk rock shit.” It’s fun for me to jump around.
Pitchfork: What was the collaboration process like with iLoveMakonnen? [He guests on the track "Who Be Lovin Me"]
S: He just came in and was like, “I got this idea”, and just laid it down in one take. And then I got all intimidated, and I was like, “I’ll work on my part later, okay?”, and then got back to him months later with my part. And then we did the video, we did a video together. It was so much fun, he’s really good, he’s got great melody sensibility, really catchy lyrics. I’m always amazed that people just throw down stuff that’s so accessible so quickly and easily.
Pitchfork: A lot of the lyrics on 99¢ involve commentary about how everything and everyone is a product and we’re being constantly pitched or solicited.
S: The whole way that people interact with each other, the way that people write, the way that people view themselves, the way that people think about themselves or how to present themselves or the way that people deal with each other, the way that people meet people and date, I mean literally, what is that thing called? Tinder? You’re literally swiping to find dates!
Pitchfork: Several of your songs have been featured in commercials. How do you reconcile that with the album’s themes?
S: I don’t know if it always wasn’t an option for music – you’re not going to get crazy play on radio if you’re making any kind of music that’s not fitting into cookie-cutter alternative or cookie-cutter mainstream pop. And the goal is, it would be great if I could bust through and open those doors up, you know, but the reality is, I make a lot of my money from licensing and touring, and that’s how I make a living, especially since people are not buying music anymore. They’re streaming, they’re doing Spotify, which I don’t make any money from, hardly.
Pitchfork: What’s your take on the streaming debate?
S: I think it’s totally fucked up. I know that as a listener of music, people really enjoy it, and I get it, and seriously, I tried to withhold for a long time. It’s nice to have access to everything at once. Who knows where we’re going to end up? I don’t know where we’re headed with storage and having access to things that’s not dependent on something else existing, but it’s very convenient.
But as an artist, as a songwriter, it’s really hard. And people don’t realize that – you know, they want to keep getting great music and they want to keep getting real music that takes time to make, where the turnaround is probably slower than a lot of pop where you just throw records out every year. It’s different, and you have to be able to, just like any career, you have to be able to sustain yourself while you’re doing it, you know?
I think there should be better deals, honestly, and I think that there should be better deals cut where the artist actually gets some money from that. Right now I think the labels have worked out deals with those companies so they’re getting enough money. But because the labels had to figure out what to do also, because when records stopped selling, they were sinking as well. But then they did these deals that cut the artist out. The artists aren’t making a lot of money from their music getting played, so we have to figure out other ways to do it and that’s the reality of the music business now.
Pitchfork: After that amazing guest spot on “The Office”, do you have plans to do any more acting?
S: Oh my god, I love doing acting. I had so much fun, and I was getting so into it and then I got pregnant. And then I was like, rushing to get this record out, so I paused it. But I definitely plan to get back to it, it was just getting good for me.
Pitchfork: Do you like doing comedy, or would rather do drama?
S: I love comedy, I love comedy… I think I’m funny! [laughs] I’ve been told by people very close to me that I’m not that funny, but I’m actually goofy – but I think I’m funny, and I like doing funny stuff. I don’t mind being goofy either, I don’t even mind being the one who the funnier person plays off, that’s cool with me.
I just had dinner recently with Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
Pitchfork: Oh, cool!
S: I know, that was an amazing dinner. But Dave and I were talking about trying to do something together in the future, that would be so fun.
Pitchfork: That would be amazing.
S: Yeah, I know, I hope it really happens.
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