‘Nine Inch Nails is inappropriate for a Christmas party’: St Vincent’s honest playlist

The art-pop star was raised on Pearl Jam, wants Jacques Brel played at her funeral and thinks Iggy is sexy. But which song would she interrupt a haircut for?

‘Nine Inch Nails is inappropriate for a Christmas party’: St Vincent’s honest playlist

The first single I bought
It was a cassingle – it’s crazy that that term didn’t take off – from the first Pearl Jam record, one of the B-sides: Dirty Frank. Pearl Jam meant everything to me when I was 10 years old. I remember reading in the fan magazines at the time that apparently it was about Eddie Vedder’s stepdad, who was a jerk. [Sources today say it was written about Pearl Jam’s driver, while on tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers – Ed] They compared him to Jeffrey Dahmer in the song. But it’s kind of funky.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
My Name Is Not Susan by Whitney Houston. The gist of the song is that she’s found out about a philandering partner, but it’s so funny to me: my name is not Susan! Yeah, well, no one’s name has been Susan since, like, 1948. That’s no offence to Susans, it’s a beautiful name, it was just not particularly common. It was a strange name to pick. I think a lot about that choice. It also doesn’t really rhyme. I mean you could be Susan, choosin’, bluesin’, boozin’. I got the bluesin’ because you’ve been boozin’ with Susan?

The last song I streamed
The Chic ballad, At Last I Am Free. It breaks my heart. It sounds a little namedrop-y but I was recently talking to Nile Rodgers; he’s just such an angel. I got to ask him about his life, and some of my favourite records that he’s made, including this one. It is such a beautiful song.

The best song to play at a party
Closer by Nine Inch Nails [with the refrain: “I want to fuck you like an animal / I want to feel you from the inside”]. I just think it’s so good – it grooves so hard. I was once DJing at some kind of Christmas party, like a corporate thing. And at this nice little Christmas party, I was like: “Oh, I know. I’ll put on Closer!” I was just not thinking. A couple of minutes in, the client came up very politely and said: “Can we please change the song? It’s a little inappropriate for our Christmas party.” Like, OK, fair enough! My boundaries are not your boundaries.

The song to have sex to
I Wanna Be Your Dog by Iggy Pop [and the Stooges]. Oh my God, it’s so sexy. It’s so base, like, it’s actually dangerous. Iggy is dangerous. High stakes are sexy.

The song I’d want for my entrance music
Kamikaze by PJ Harvey. I have so many PJ Harvey songs I love, I couldn’t pick a favourite, but that one – it just starts off and you’re IN. It’s an interesting song to listen to, production-wise, because I think of that song as being very heavy but the drum approach is actually almost a jazzy breakbeat – that’s a boring answer, that’s dork shit! But it is a beautiful light touch on the cymbals.

The song I want played at my funeral
There is a song that makes me cry uncontrollably, without fail: Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas. It makes me cry sort of uncontrollably, beyond all conscious thought, down to the basement of my stomach. But I think it would be funny to play at a funeral because I wouldn’t be there. I’d be like: sorry! Peace! When people say they want My Way at their funeral, what a fuck-you to their friends and family: “I was a bastard, and I’m unrepentant.” It’s not really the way you wanna go out, is it?

The song I can’t help singing
I was getting a haircut the other day at 8.30am, getting my hair washed at the bowl, and Haitian Divorce by Steely Dan came on and I was just like: “I’m singing this. I’m singing every word, I’m singing every solo. I can’t help it. I know that you’re washing my hair and I really appreciate that and I’m going to tip you, but I’m really sorry, I have to sing.” I’m a massive Steely Dan fan, I’m so happy to hear them anywhere.

My current favourite song
I can’t watch Euphoria because it makes me feel like a perv, but Yeh I Fuckin’ Did It, by Labrinth [from the show’s soundtrack]. The production is so cool: it’s dangerous, a little scary sometimes, a little atonal. It’s very exciting. I listen to it in my studio on big speakers, because it sounds so good.

St Vincent tours the UK, 22 to 30 June, including the Friday main support slot on The Other Stage at Glastonbury.