Santigold breaks down how "Like Keepers" wraps serious messages about environmental collapse and social responsibility inside a pop song. She argues music can slip ideas past people's defenses through catchy hooks, and criticizes the industry for abandoning cohesive albums while naming artists like Fever Ray and Frank Ocean who still do it right.
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Yeah, I feel like I'm about to burp. I'm like, uh. Keepers, it's a weird one because I feel like it is the most pop-sounding song on the record, but it's got, yeah, it's got a serious message. I think music is amazing in its ability to, first of all, appeal to so many different people at once. I mean, it's really universal. So if you can write a song that, that can be about something that might make people think about something, I think that's great, especially if you can do it in a way that's accessible so it's still sound— still got a hook that's gonna get in your head, and before you know it, you're singing something that might make you think about something, which is great. I think that we're living in a really crazy time where, you know, there's like dead birds falling from the sky and there's like dead fish washing up on the shore, and there's nuclear explosions and oil spills. And meanwhile, I think there might be like 20 shows about housewives right now. I mean, it's just a really weird world that we're living in right now, and I think the song "Like Keepers" is just trying to say, you know, where are we going? Is this where we want to go? And we need to take some responsibility for where we are. There's a lot of songs that I like that are out right now. I just think that there are not that many whole records that are that great, unfortunately. Either there's like a couple songs that are really good and the rest aren't that good, or there's a song that's just great and then the rest sounds kind of almost just like it the whole way through. But I really like that Beach House record. I don't know if it's necessarily breaking any, you know, ground musically, but it's a great record. It's one of my favorite records in a really long time. And that Fever Ray record from back, that was a beautiful record also. There's songs that I like, like that Frank Ocean song "Swim Good." I think that's a great song. Blood Orange has a song called "Schooled," which I really, really like. I like some really crazy rap songs like 2 Chainz. I know you guys don't really know 2 Chainz out here, but it's really good. The song's called "Spend It." It's like, "I'm ridin' round, I'm gettin' it." It's really good. It's mine, I spend it. Bend it.
