Karima Santi: “Arizona”

Short attention spans and TikTok sensations. That’s one of the biggest pairings in modern media today. So you can’t really blame younger creators for taking the quantity-over-quality approach and just cranking out singles, essentially playing a numbers game for potential traction. But let’s be honest. You’d rather hear something from a patient perfectionist than an enthusiastic opportunist, right?

That brings us to Karima Santi. Santi’s spent her life developing into a prolific songwriter, but found herself at the tail end of her twenties with only one single on streaming to prove it, a revelation that she wasn’t getting any younger, and a desire to take action instead of wondering, “what if”. Ever since, this Nigerian-Austinite’s honed in on a relationship with stalwart producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith to further flesh out Santi’s very best and package them together as a cohesive formal introduction.

And that takes the form of Karima Santi’s debut EP, Queen of Regret, out September 13th. A six-song reckoning with the problematic perfectionism that’s prevented so many from hearing Santi’s talent, Queen of Regret is a measured acceptance of human flaw, intrinsic to the type of vulnerable indie rock Santi’s always excelled at. So while physically visiting the state itself doesn’t sound all that appealing in the midst of another summer heatwave, the EP’s latest lead single “Arizona” transports you to Queen‘s immense emotional landscape and earns its place among other great women indie rock compositions with location-based song titles, like Mitski’s “Valentine, Texas” and Maggie Rogers’ “Alaska”.

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