Santogold aiming to glitter with first album

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LONDON (AFP) - Santogold, a brash American singer, has worked with a host of big names ranging from Timbaland to Ashlee Simpson but she is now aiming to make a name for herself with her debut album.

"Santogold" fuses dub, electro, hip-hop, punk and new-wave to create a pop record that many experts say will catapult the Brooklyn-based artist to prominence.

A wide range of producers and collaborators including electro DJs Switch and Diplo and breakbeat pioneer FreQ Nasty feature on the record, which evokes a wide range of styles.

"I think there's some songs that could be classic songs. It's different from what's out there, especially in the pop realm," Santogold, real name Santi White, told AFP during a stay in London this week.

The Philadelphia-born artist previously sang with punk band, Stiffed, but changed direction after it split.

"Diplo introduced me to Switch and FreQ Nasty and we ended up doing "Creator" together. Then I was like 'Oh! I can just do everything on this record,'" she recalled.

Santogold's uncompromisingly single-minded style was demonstrated during recording when she felt that her vocals were being over-produced.

"I was like 'what are you doing? No, no!' I really made sure everything held true to this one vision and didn't lose the grimy, raw quality that comes from my punk background," she said.

On top of Timbaland and Simpson, Santogold has also worked with Lilly Allen and good friend Mark Ronson.

She is irritated however with people's assumptions that because she is an American black solo artist that she should be an R and B performer.

"I don't like R and B, I would never record R and B because that has nothing to do with me. I think it's funny that people keep asking me if I like R and B because I'm black it's like 'so why aren't you R and B?' Why is it so shocking?"

Santogold is wary about the number of artists clamouring to work with the minority of "superstar producers" in the pop world.

"We have to be careful because it ruins the diversity of the musical landscape," she warned.

"You've got to bring yourself to the project and have that as the main element, otherwise you get a bunch of artists who aren't artists at all, they're like puppets. Pop puppets!"

The world of celebrity has claimed many victims, but Santi is adamant that she will not become another casualty.

"If you're going to get in the spotlight then you've got to be ready for it and I think a lot of people aren't really together in themselves first. It is something that's a little concerning but I'm a really grounded person so I'm not going to do drugs.

"I don't like going to parties and I don't drink. I'm really into daytime activities like hiking, snowboarding and I like paintball, fun stuff.

"The press is just hype. I appreciate things are going really well and I've just made a record that I think is really good, I'm really confident of that. That's the whole point, to have longevity thanks to something that's worth listening to," she said.