Interview Santigold: “It’s a very narcissistic time”

With no apparent new album to hawk - just a magnificent gingham outfit modelled on a fried breakfast, and an urge to throw a welcome back party - Santigold made her return to the UK earlier this year at Latitude. Behind the scenes, though, the Philadelphian has been quietly working on the follow-up to her 2012 record ‘Master of My Make-Believe’. In one loud, brash, typically larger than life statement, she returned with lead single ‘Can’t Get Enough of Myself’. “Ain’t a gambler but honey I’d put money on myself,” she announces over tootling flutes, and squelching, bouncy castle basslines. It’s verging on cock-sure, if not entirely straight faced.

“I think it’s a little bit sarcastic,” laughs Santi. “It’s silly. You can take it two ways; I can’t get enough of myself, I’m still confident. Or, you can take it as a comment on this era where everyone is constantly selling themselves, constantly obsessed with themselves.” she expands. “It’s a very narcissistic time. It’s one thing that people don’t even watch the concerts any more,” she goes on, laughing, “they just want to capture it on their phones. You play to a sea of phones. It’s a whole other experience now” she hoots. “Now they don’t watch the show, they turn their backs to the show! They take a picture of themselves in front of the stage.”

The fast-forward change in how rapidly we consume things is at the centre of Santigold’s third album, ’99¢’. On the artwork she’s packaged herself up as a shrink-wrap product, on sale for a cut price. It is, Santi says, a clear nod towards the ways that rapidly developing technology affects her place in the world as a musician and artist. “It’s something you really need to pay attention to and understand,” she agrees. “I grapple with it, trying to get my head around it. What I love is art, this is why I’m doing this,” she adds. “Quickly you realise that there’s so much more to it, and it’s very much about you as a product. It’s a big issue I think about all the time.”