Santogold is no stranger to the press these days. She’s been featured in magazines all over the continent. Most importantly, she’s also been invited to perform at Rock the Bells alongside some of the greatest hip hop acts ever.

Her album is one of the few that I’ve seen that managed to get Five Stars in Toronto’s Eye Weekly. Santogold (whose real name is Santi White) has apparently had the (un)fortunate occurrence of being nicknamed the new M.I.A. Though she definitely doesn’t sound anything like her. To get a sense, here’s a track of Santogold’s called Les Artistes.

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I’m not too sure what else to say about her except the fact that I’ve become quite the fan. I think she’s incredibly talented, even if I’m not a fan of tons of her music. In that way, I guess she is like M.I.A. Both are acquired tastes. But you won’t regret trying. To give you a better sense of who she is, I’ll leave you a quote from the Eye Weekly article.

“The songs here slide naturally between urgently skanking salvos (“You’ll Find a Way”), effervescent arena-pop anthems (“Lights Out”), deconstructed rhythmic electro (the “Firestarter”-ish “Creator”) and awesomely bass-heavy rock ‘n’ soul. White is a shape-­shifting volcano of a vocalist, a more technically gifted version of Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde.”

[Update: May 20]

It’s a good thing we didn’t try to call her “hip hop” or “r&b” or anything, because she’s come out in a news article to call those who compare her to hip hop as being racist.  She claims she made a pop record, and that’s it.  In my mind, it’s idiotic to call people racist for bringing up these comparisons, considering she’s been invited to headline at major hip hop festivals and also since her album is definitely being marketed by her label with certain comparisons being made.