Santigold

<p>Santigold is an artist who exists at the cross-section of punk, dub, new wave and indie pop. Long frustrated with attempts like these to classify her style, Santi has always been a proud outlier among the restrictive categories used to divide music.</p> <p>Santi’s anti-establishment bent was in part a reaction to working as an A&amp;R for Epic Records’ black music department. Frustrated with what they categorized as “urban music” in the early aughts, Santi left her job, went home to Philly, and started a punk band called Stiffed. After honing her chops for a few years as a lead singer, Santi released her debut solo album, <em data-stringify-type="italic">Santigold</em> in 2008. The album’s lead singles “Creator” and “L.E.S. Artistes” were a revelation when they came out, and led to Santi headlining tours around the world and even opening shows for Bjork, Coldplay, Jay-Z and the Beastie Boys.</p> <p>Now with three other albums to her credit, including last year’s soul-stirring <em data-stringify-type="italic">Spirituals</em>, Santigold is celebrating the 15th anniversary of her debut release. And today she’s expanded her artistic endeavors to include a podcast called Noble Champions where she mines the creative life with friends like Olivia Wilde, Questlove and Yasiin Bey.</p> <p>On today’s episode Leah Rose talks to Santigold about the unique path she took to build her solo career. Santi also shares why she decided to cancel her tour last year with a heartfelt public letter that shared insight into the financial and emotional toll of touring post-pandemic. She also recalls finding out that she was included in a list of influential black female artists on Beyonce’s “Break My Soul” remix.</p> <p>You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Santigold songs <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/52QRNpxhyUJScC2A8RnlD0?si=78d3ee3d6a454c63">HERE</a>.</p> <p>Take the Pushkin Audience Survey and receive a code to redeem a free audiobook: <a href="https://bit.ly/3pAAQxZ">https://bit.ly/3pAAQxZ</a></p><p>See <a h