99 Cents is the third studio album by Santi White, aka Santigold. The title and the cover of the album suggest a store with cheap Chinese stuff, vacant and banal. Santigold got her reputation as an alternative and substantial response to the question How should a pop star sound and look?
Her music was an amalgam of ska-punk roots, Caribbean motifs and modern r’n’b. Everything else was pretty much pop that suffused the globe during the past thirty years. The title of the album can be scrutinized as a self-ironic comment on eclectic expression, plus aspersion towards cheap nature of modern pop music.
The first song on the album is the best track on the album – Can’t Get Enough Of Myself. Seductive and catchy rhythm with a tasty mixture of sounds and harmonious back vocals. It is a life story of a modern celebrity. It is all about selfies, posing in front of paparazzi. It’s all about empty fame. My brand is vainglory, says Santigold while singing about losing touch with reality through vanity.
When we get to the third track on the album, ironic distance is erased. Banshee is a typical club banger with pimped chorus celebrating the importance of having a good time. The song strongly reminded me of Katy Perry. Then I looked for the credits and saw that one of the writers is Cathy Denis, mostly known for penning Can’t Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue, I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry, and Toxic by Britney Spears.
The mediocre track is followed by obscure Chasing Shadows. The song forces the listener to stop to find the meaning in the chaos. Deeper and darker sound also characterizes Walking in a Circle and Outside the War. The main role in Outside the War is played by abrasive industrial guitar.
Second part of the record offers a spectrum of 80s Madonna with Rendezvous Girl and Who I Though You Were. My favorite track is Who Be Lovin Me featuring iLoveMakonnen in which we hear a dialogue between a man and a woman who are trying to keep up their love life while being on the separate sides of the planet.
99 Cents is dancing between mainstream ad underground. It seems like Santigold does not have any intention to choose a side.
