Artist Profile: $aint
Photo Credit: Makeda Abiol
Artist Britney Santo, stage name $aint, listens to punk but loves High School Musical. She experiments with trap music and soul but identifies as a singer-songwriter. She has the voice of a jazz angel but cannot be tied down to one genre. She approaches life as a series of moments, but appreciates looking back in time.
In other words, she is a true chameleon—an experimenter in music and life, respectively.
I met $aint at a jazz night at 929, a Manhattan bar and lounge. $aint’s friend, Joelle Bensaïd, was performing classic jazz songs as well as original compositions. Bensaïd invited $aint up on stage to sing the classic jazz song “Misty” in the style of Ella Fitzgerald. The two artists know each other through their studies at Parsons School of Design at The New School. Despite this training, $aint insists she isn’t typically a jazz singer.
“When I sing jazz I cosplay,” $aint says. “It’s so funny that you found me at a jazz club.”
Genres in general are unimportant to $aint: she rejects them and embraces the freedom that comes with exploring all kinds of music. The newest single, “cheeky,” has the smoothness of Olivia Dean, with an element entirely her own. This similarity is no accident, but a byproduct of her listening at the time.
“Whatever artists that I listen to at that moment automatically kind of seeps into what I’m writing.”
Her best friend and producer, Tyler, also factors into how the music turns out.
“Whatever style [Tyler]’s kind of in, and whatever style I’m in kind of meet together, and then it becomes whatever it is.”
One aspect of $aint’s music that ties it all together, despite the genre-shifting and experimentation, is an element of self-awareness. The most popular song on her Spotify, “RUFFINO,” is named after a sparkling wine $aint used to drink and had “too much of” on the night the song was written. She talks about that time in her life with a genuine honesty and vulnerability that I find inspiring. That honesty allows her to listen to her old music and relive her past.
“Sometimes I go back to remind myself who I am, ‘cause you get so caught up living your life that sometimes you kinda forget. I was listening, and I was like, ‘this moment in time, you’re so not there anymore.’”
$aint seems to approach life like she does music. Like with genres, $aint has a sense of balance that leaves room for complexity. Life can be difficult, and even on days where everything is going wrong, there are a few good moments that put everything into perspective.
“I’m actually in that kind of moment right now, where, you know, things are a little shitty, but then something beautiful happens, and I’m like, ‘oh shit, thank you.’”
$aint’s friend calls these the “in-between moments.”
“Those moments are the most beautiful, because you don’t look forward to them. They just happen to you.”
$aint’s future music follows a similar trajectory.
“I think the genre now is, like, I'm just trying to blend everything, right? [Tyler and I] talk about it all the time where we're just trying to pick and choose everything we love and make it into whatever it is in the record…that's where I'm at right now in my artistry is, like, how do I take this song, take that song, and take that song, and then make it into my song? It's like cherry-picking, you know, from your favorite fruits and making your favorite fruit basket.”
After being on a break, an album is not too far off, but there’s a lot to write and sort through before an album can be made.
“I’ve matured a lot. My musicality has gotten a lot better. My skills have gotten a lot better. I have lived a lot of life in the past couple of months, and I have a lot of things to say. I have a lot of realizations and epiphanies about life and the way that I view the world.”
$aint’s tendency to sit with a project means it’ll take time.
“One thing about me is I’m not in a hurry. Even when I’m walking the streets…everybody’s walking really fast, and I walk fast if I’m late. But I really like to take my fucking time.”
This slow thoughtfulness seems inherent to $aint’s music, and the way she interacts with the world. It’s a strength, and she recognizes it as such.
“I think it’s gonna be quite a while for me to release an actual body of music, and I think that it might be really, really great. I just have a feeling.”
$aint’s music is available on Spotify. Follow her at @ayoimsaint to keep up with her latest shows and performances. There is plenty of great work to come, made in the in-between spaces.
