Santi White a.k.a. Santigold is all smiles on stage. This Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has enough charisma to hold a crowd for hours. Watching her on stage, there’s no mistaking her love of making and ultimately sharing music. The chorus of Santi’s massively popular grime-meets-dancehall single “Creator” sums it up well: “Me, I’m a creator / thrill is to make it up.”

With Santi’s performance at Lollapalooza’s PlayStation stage she gave us plenty to look at, from her and her band’s golden gear to her and her back-up vocalists’ occasional throwback dance moves. The visual stimulation though worked hand-in-hand with her vivid, genre-hopping sonics, which feature a consistent bass-beavy foundation.

While Santi worked with electronic-based producers such as Diplo and Switch for her 2008 debut, Santogold, it was good to experience her songs with a full band backing her. When the Brooklynite took us through all her hits, both indie rock-leaning (“L.E.S. Artistes”) and riddim-driven cuts (“Creator”), her youthful fans were visibly and vocally grateful. I think what also sets Santi apart from some of her peers is that you can tell she actually cares if her audience is having fun. Even when her DJ played a snippet from Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em’s “Turn My Swag On,” it was all done to keep the party moving.

The feeling I got from the set was less of a concert and more of a block party vibe. She may not be jumping into the crowd, but she eliminates the gap between her and her fans by being so approachable with her personality and conscious of what moves an audience at the right moment. But as much I as I appreciated hearing multiple hits from her debut, I was also left eager to her what this creative force was up to next. Given the great feedback from her debut, I can’t imagine she’ll leave fans hanging too long.

Words and photos by Max Herman