Santi Forget: Authenticity Scales Better Than Polish

At the center of Santi Forget's North Star is a gradual shift—like that moment when you drive for a long time and the static settles in your chest; it doesn’t happen all at once but rather quietly.

Toronto no longer feels like a place to escape to. It feels like home again, and the concrete now feels warmer and has different tones when you walk along the sides of the roads. The air carries memories and bits of ash from the locations of past experiences.

Santi Forget was born into two different cultures (Canadian/Peruvian background), and she uses both backgrounds to make music that seems to have a purpose—90s funk with indie rock elements, and she is able to naturally switch from English to Spanish in her song lyrics. The North Star song is not simply a song but is also something much greater, it is a place to gain perspective again, after almost losing interest in each other.

When you listen to a live band, you hear the sounds of living musicians and their breath. The notes have space. The guitar notes sit on your ear. The drumbeat doesn’t rush. You can feel the chemistry of that connection; it is not about being perfect together. Authenticity expands much more effectively than polish as the way you create in a live band.

She tells the story of a city through the small pieces—thrift stores, bike lanes, late-night hangouts, etc.—to help you build an emotional map to find your place in this world. You will see references to her past but also as she builds the foundation of her identity.

Nostalgic, yes, but not frozen. More like recalibrating where you are going at that moment.

And somehow within all the noise, all of the concrete, all of the dirt, there is clarity.