Santigold is a singer, songwriter, and producer. She’s put out 4 albums since 2008, and she’s been featured as a collaborator on songs with Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Diplo, and more.

In this episode, Santi takes apart her song “Ushers of the New World,” from her 2022 album Spirituals.  She made it with collaborators she’s worked with before, including Grammy-winning producer Rostam, and producer Ricky Blaze. She told me about how she tries to channel her gut instincts, and how she wanted to transform some of the darkest feelings of 2020 into something galvanizing.

You can buy or stream “Ushers of the New World” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Psymun, producer
Squamish, British Columbia
Disparate Youth
Nina Simone
Marvin Gaye 
Queen Latifah
Salt’N’Pepa 
Fela Kuti
Vampire Weekend (listen to their episode of Song Exploder here)

 

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King Princess is the project of Mikaela Straus, a singer, songwriter, and producer from Brooklyn. She’s a platinum-selling artist, and she put out her second album in July, 2022. The last track on the album is the song “Let Us Die.” Rolling Stone called it “the banger of the year.” In this episode, Mikaela breaks down the song, along with two of her collaborators on it: co-producer and co-writer Ethan Gruska, and multi-Grammy winning producer Mark Ronson. You’ll hear the original voice memo that Mikaela recorded, and the demo she made with Ethan. And you’ll hear the drums recorded by the late Taylor Hawkins, the legendary drummer of Foo Fighters and Alanis Morissette, who passed away earlier this year

You can buy or stream “Let Us Die” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Mission Sound, Oliver Straus’ Studio
Shawn Everett (listen to Shawn on the Perfume Genius episode)
Reuben Cox, Old Style Guitar Shop

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Panic! At the Disco is the Grammy-nominated project of Brendon Urie, who originally started it as a band with his high school friends from Las Vegas in 2004. In the eighteen years since, Panic! At the Disco has won American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, iHeartRadio Music awards, and more. In August 2022, Brendon released the seventh Panic! at the Disco album, Viva Las Vengeance. The title track hit #1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. In this episode, Brendon tells the story of how he, Grammy-nominated producer Jake Sinclair and Oscar-nominated songwriter Mike Viola all got together to make the song “Viva Las Vengeance.”

You can buy or stream “Viva Las Vengeance” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
‘Army of the Dead’ (zombie movie)
Rob Mathes, arranger
The Cars