We All Believe in Santogold

J.I. would now like to indulge in some NME-style hyperbole – Santogold is just the greatest thing ever. She’s smart, she’s adorable, and her record is an exercise in how to do genre-hopping right. The album, which was released yesterday, has been in constant repeat on our iPod, and even though we’re seen her twice before already, we were squirming in our seats waiting for her show at New York’s Virgin Megastore yesterday.

Taking the stage half an hour late to a packed house, Santogold did not disappoint. Flanked by her two sexy-Farrakhan backup dancers, she kicked off the set with “LES Artistes,” the B-Side to her original “Creator” single. She slammed through the super-upbeat “Say Aha” and dubby, “Shove It,” then paused to introduce her new DJ, a Brit who had never visited New York before. She then false-started “Anne,” stopping a few seconds in to pick up forgotten tambourines, exclaiming “I do this every damn time!’

At this point, the audience was pretty much eating out of her hand. Santogold is cute as all hell, and behind all the giggles and little girl voice, she’s smart and tough and a seasoned music business vet and songwriter. J.I. was excited to see her in the latest issue of Teen Vogue; after years of ditzy teenagers, she’s the cool older sister young women need.

After “Anne” and “You’ll Find A Way,” and J.I.’s favorite, “Unstoppable,” Santogold stopped to thank the audience. She got all choked up, saying she’d had a rough week (rumor has it that she lost a close friend in a car accident last week) and that she couldn’t believe the day of her record release was finally here. She closed the show with “Creator,” her theme song. She truly is a creator, thrilling in making it up, and what she’s doing is putting her on a lot of radars.