Wine and Cheese: Lykke Li and Santigold
Lykke Li and Santigold prove themselves to be perfect complements creating new sounds within the realm of alternative pop.
It’s your dream collab. The artists you add back-to-back to the queue. The pairing you can’t get enough of. You know they sound good together, but why? Welcome to Wine and Cheese, a series investigating the why and telling you all about it.
Written by Lauren Cook
Photos courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan and PAPER
I first came across Santigold’s music in 2012 like most of the general public did, when her song “Disparate Youth” dominated both the airwaves and charts. I was introduced to Lykke Li about a year later, when I discovered her song “Possibility” from the “Twilight: New Moon” soundtrack. Around this time, I had just created my Spotify account and was beginning to really develop my music taste for the first time. For me, both of these artists hold personal nostalgia, but their similarities go much further than that. They’re both phenomenal female artists who experienced similar come-ups and have dominated the indie pop and electronic dance music community ever since.
Both artists debuted their first albums in 2008, a year that year saw major commercial success for alternative artists. Let me take you back — this was the year that Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes both debuted their first albums. MGMT’s “Electric Feel” was blasted at every party and festival, and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” had everyone singing enthusiastically about robbery. It was arguably the best time for indie artists to break into the scene, and both Lykke Li and Santigold were able to amass great praise.
Photo courtesy of Zimbio
Upon first listen, it is clear that Santigold and Lykke Li’s music styles are different from each other. Lykke Li’s first album, Youth Novels, provides listeners with sweet airy melodies, and each lyric is a youthful take on love. The instrumentation is minimalistic and acoustic. In contrast, Santigold’s self-titled debut album is much more gritty. The beats are heavier, and the album itself covers a wide array of genres, from reggae to dancehall to punk rock. But when you take into account their singing styles, it makes sense that their music complements each other.
About a year after their debuts, both singers were featured on the N.A.S.A. track “Gifted,” holding down the song’s hook together. In this song, it is apparent how both voices mesh with each other. They take turns singing the melody and harmony, and at times, it’s hard to tell who is singing what. While both of their voices are unique, they both possess a je ne sais pas so that anyone who enjoys Santigold’s vocals can appreciate Lykke Li’s, and vice versa.
Artwork for “Gifted” by N.A.S.A featuring Kanye West, Lykke Li, and Santigold. Image courtesy of Anti-
Of course, as both artists have grown, their sounds have shifted from album to album. In Lykke Li’s case, she has departed from her melodic love-filled chirps for a darker and more forlorn tune. Santigold continues to experiment with genres, but each album feels like she’s distancing herself from her punk rock roots in favor for more reggae and dancehall beats. Both have created albums that focused in on more trap pop beats at some point in their careers. Interestingly enough, both of these albums had production by Rostam Batmanglij, a former member of Vampire Weekend, which also experienced success in the 2008 alternative boom. For Santigold, this was her third album: 2016’s 99 Cents. Despite its dark message about the harms of consumerism, the album has an extremely upbeat sound, making anyone want to dance. Lykke Li’s latest release, 2018’s so sad so sexy, also has a trap pop sound, but it’s more explicitly despairing. It’s still danceable, but there’s a more in-your-feelings sound to it. The trap pop nature of both of these albums makes it easy to alternate between the two and never feel out of place.
Lykke Li and Santigold might be striving for different things with their lyrics and musical styles, but they share a similar sense of vocal power. Any song sung by one could easily include supporting vocals from the other. Their sounds are much more like puzzle pieces than complete opposites. Whether you need to sad-sway to Lykke Li's melancholy or bop around to Santigold's energetic beats, listen on.