Santigold announces fourth album with new single "Ain't Ready"

"Ain't Ready" is the second track to be shared from Spirituals, following last month's "High Priestess", and is teamed with another short video directed by Frank Ockenfels.

Santigold said of the new outing, ""Ain’t Ready" is a song I started with Illangelo. Dre Skull and Sbtrkt came on board to help bring it home, another true collaboration of such distinct and amazing talent. It was one of those songs where as soon as I opened my mouth the whole melody just poured out. There were no words but all the emotion was there. To me, the song sounded full of struggle and perseverance. It sounded like a battle, and I wanted the production to sound tough, to mirror that grit. I struggled to find the right lyrics at first, but when I got them right, and I started singing them one night in my studio alone, I cried. This song was my own battle song. It’s about taking the hits that life brings and getting back up. It’s about change and moving forward. It’s about faith and vision. And it’s about stepping into your own power."

Spirituals will be Santigold's first album since 2016's 99¢, but will follow her 2018 mixtape I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions.

The new album was largely recorded in the 2020 lockdown. Santigold said, "All of a sudden there I was with three small children out of school—just-turned-two-year-old twins and a six-year-old—I was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and changing diapers from morning to night, with three little kids coming in and out of my bed throughout each night like musical chairs. I was losing touch with the artist me, stuck in a part of myself that was too small. I felt the other parts of me were shrinking, disappearing."

"Recording this album was a way back to myself after being stuck in survival mode," Santigold continued. "It wasn’t until I made the space to create that I realised I wasn’t only creating music but a lifeline."

She added, "I’d never written lyrics faster in my life. After having total writer’s block, they started pouring out. I decided to create the future, to look towards where we are going, to create beauty and pull towards that beauty. I need that for myself, but it’s also there for whoever else needs it."

Tracklist:

1. My Horror
2. Nothing
3. High Priestess
4. Ushers Of The New World
5. Witness
6. Shake
7. The Lasty
8. No Paradise
9. Ain't Ready
10. Fall First