Whigfield is the stage name of Sannie Carlson which became famous worldwide for her smash hit Saturday Night. In this exclusive interview she tell us a bt more about her life as Sannie and some stories about The Whiggy World.
Ciao Sannie! It is a real pleasure for me chatting with you, I feel a bit nervous!
C’mon…it’s not a big deal!
Well..Whigfield is Whigfield…and I -live everyone in 1994- used to make the dance routine along Saturday Night…
Everyone but me! hahaha
hahah that is so true! I always noted you never danced “like us”! It feels funny to talk to you in Italian (the original interview was in italian), how it comes you speak my language so feel?
I first move to Italy in 1991 and lived here until 1994/95 then I moved to Spain where I lived for 10 years and then I moved back to Italy and never left…
How many languages do you speak then?
5/6
When you write songs which is the language you prefer to use?
Generally I prefer writing in English as it is the most musical but I wrote half of In-Grid Mama Mia album in French and wrote some songs in Spanish too for a project with Soncini.
Your last album, W, has been released after a 10 years gap between the previous one 4; the impression I’ve got is that you wanted to rest the project Whigfield for a while…
Yes, I decided to move to the the other side of the music industry, writing & composing for other artists. Whigfield is the performer side of me while Sannie is the creative one. I like to separate the two worlds: Whigfield is like a dress that i wear outside but at the same time I feel constantly close to my fans, The Whiggy World is like a family!
An international family I would say! You count fans worldwide…
All around the globe – Japan, Australia, Brasile etc- there are always been releases therefor we traveled a lot…
I read on your Facebook that you are working to new projects, do you wanna tell us something about it? Whigfiels related or something else?
A bit of both but I would prefer not saying much about it just because I prefer talk about things when they are sealed and dusted, but I can tell you that is music for the club but less cheese.
Nooooo! I LOVE Cheese Whigfield!
Hahah I’m far too old for that!
Well..you are not in your 20s anymore…but let’s face it: you look HOT these days!
I eat healthy – lot of raw vegetables- and i regally exercise doing fitness or pilates
I hear you, to me cardio.fitness has become essential for my inner balance
Exactly, last year I’ve done lot of pilates and it did help to stretch my muscles
Let’s talk about W, an album that I genuinely loved. It is very difficult to find a pop-dance album that sound great from the start to the end…
Thank you. We decided to come out with W after we realized that we had so many unused demos so we thought to put those we liked the most together. As you might know there are two different edit version of W: the first was a bit of collection of those demos, the Extra Version has been supervised by Gigi Barocco who gave the final touches we thought it would need.
What I really loved about this is album is how the lyrics are very simple but at the same time very deep…
I always write about my own sensations, they can be either something i actually experienced or something that I just imagine like in a movie…
Jeg Kommer Hjem is the perfect example of what I was talking about:
I wrote that song a night that I started to feeling a bit homesick and I started to think about those years when I was traveling a lot and having this feeling of “finally going back home” whenever I was traveling back home. It’s a kind of a love song to Denmark, that is why i kept those verses in Danish.
I always play the Battini Version of the song (the ballad version) whiner I drive back home at night. I really do love it…
I’m glad you love that version!
How it comes there are so many version of W available?
hahaha once someone told me that the only version missing was the On Reverse one hahahah
Have you ever been approached for Eurovision?
Few times both as singer and as writer but the tune it never felt right to me. Last years I have been approached by Denmark but they gave me just one week notice and I preferred to decline the invite.
Are the new projects always linked to Larry Pignagnoli?
No, this time around they are going to be my own projects
Not many people know that you have collaborated using other stage names with Benny Benassi on some of his hits
Yes, it’s true. I wrote some lyrics for him and for some of his projects. I have very fond memories of those days. It was exiting to see how that big success exploded
I would imagine that even the Saturday Night success took you by surprise….
None of us had expected that to happen. In the beginning it was a project that nobody wanted. It took more or less a year and half before something moved…
It I recall correctly, it all began in Spain.
Yes! Can you imagine that my record company was a small record shop in Valencia where those two guys who used to run it had all these visions about it!!!
Lately you have been a special gust on the G-A-Y stage in London
yeah…my same night Icona Pop also performed and the next week Lady Gaga was on the very same stage and stripped…
In my 8 years spent in London I used to be an habitué at G-A-Y where Saturday Night, with the dance routines, was still a must…
Brits kind of “adopted” me an for many years I’ve been part of their pop culture…In fact have few more gigs planned there…but I often go there just to visit.
How do you explain to yourself the close bond between The Whiggy World and the gay one?
I really can’t say; perhaps are the melodies…but this also happens with -and there is NO way i want to put myself on the same level of..- artists like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears… I never analyzed why this happen but I will surely ask to my best friend, who is also gay, what he thinks about it.
I think tho phenomenon should be study; for example, before i came out with the world I used to listen to music that none of my straight friends would listen to; once I came out and I stared to get in touch with other gays I discovered that “I wasn’t alone…”
Yep! I think we DEFINITELY need to study this! hahahha
During the first years of your career you sold tons of records…
You also need to take in consideration that those were the days during which you needed to sell at least half of a million record to go platinum! Not like those days where you just need a few copies sold…
Especially in Italy…
Let’s juts not go there…
One last thing I need to tell you: before I reach 40 (I will be 39 july 3rd this year) I have decided reward myself with a music video (and possibly a single). If you agree, I’ve opted for a cover version of C’est Cool…
Of course I agree! hahahaha
You need to know that I’m taking singing lessons and we have based those on C’est Cool hahahah
Well you deserve the story behind this song then: you need to know that it didn’t came out as I planned to. In the very beginning in my mind it was supposed to recreate the Saturday Night formula but during the production it all got lost on the way; you know, when few different people work on a tune the original vibe can get lost. On top of it you need to take in consideration that if you get back to an idea you had a month earlier you might not be in the same frame of mind as when you started it all.
Oh Thank you! I love these stories about songs and how they are born! Would you like to add something else?
I would like just to add that I hope it would stop raining!!!!!
“It can’t rain all the time” as they say in The Crow
hahaha True!
Thank you a lot, Sannie. It has been a real pleasure talking to you!
The pleasure was all mine and I wish you a very good rest of the day.
You can follow Sannie/ Whigfield on Facebook clicking here and on Twitter here.
DISCOIGOR 
Bella intervista!!! Complimenti davvero!! ❤️❤️
grazieeee :))))