Dehyper: Santogold

Dehyper is a feature that highlights bands and albums that don't really match up to their growing reputations.

On today's mix...
Santogold - Santogold (2008)

Some comparisons are unavoidable, so in the spirit of the summer box office season, I'd say Santogold is Two-Face to M.I.A.'s mad genius Joker. There's a lot more CGI and a lot less personality. At best, the entire act is a superfluous confection; at worst, it threatens to reduce a once promising new direction for the form into a shtick as vapid and empty as the one it's meant to replace. But to stretch the Two-Face thing out further, Santogold does have another side to her--and it's this side that's thankfully finding success.

Let's start with the ugly, though: the first half of this album is awful. The first six tracks here range from empty soundtrack fodder like "Say Aha" and "My Superman" to full-on stylistic abominations like "Shove It". It's like hearing M.I.A. as interpreted by the Police and Avril Lavigne, and it's not a happy sound.

It's a shock, then, when she suddenly drops the whole awful act on track seven and delivers "Lights Out", an irresistible, sexed-up ballad that sheds the M.I.A. pose for something more like Cyndi Lauper, delivering what may well turn out to be the mainstream crossover track of the year. It's a track that melts away so much of the awfulness that preceded it that it's easy to warm to the remainder of the album. Though "I'm a Lady" is the only other track to follow in the airy footsteps of "Lights Out"--it's a knockout as well--tracks like "Starstruck" and "Unstoppable" at least rise to the level of Kala B-side. And closer "Anne" isn't particularly memorable, but it also isn't obnoxious.

Though Santogold would so clearly like to be an edgy groundbreaker like the friends she so closely apes, it's when she embraces her commercial-ready roots on songs like "Lights Out" and "I'm a Lady" that she really sparkles as much as that glitter's she's vomiting on the album cover promises. Given the money she's making off "Lights Out", let's hope Santogold chooses to pursue the path of mainstream pop in the future rather than spending more time salting M.I.A.'s terrain.

4/10