Interview: Whigfield gives us a taste of Suga

Queen of Saturday night, Whigfield, aka Sannie Carlson, is back with a brand new banger, entitled SUGA. Our editor, Bobby Townsend, had a chat with her:

Hi Sannie. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Where does this interview find you, and how are you doing, during these strange times? Are you staying safe and well?

I’m based in Milan. I’m doing just fine, trying to keep busy doing things like promoting my single, cooking, cleaning and Netflix. A bit like everyone else, I think.

Congratulations on your new single, Suga! It was originally released anonymously. Why was this, and why did you then decide to instead release it as Whigfield?

I wanted to test the terrain a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve released anything as Whigfield. In the past few years I’ve been releasing house music under my birth name Sannie.

Can you tell us a little about Suga and its themes and subject-matter?

I’ts a bit like girl power taking over in a usual male dominating world. Nothing serious 🙂

You first came into the public consciousness with the mega hit, Saturday Night, back in the early 90s. Suga has a very different feel, musically. Is this the kind of music you always wanted to make?

I think every song has its era. Saturday Night was the kind of music that was working in the 90’s. I’ve always tried to follow my heart in what I want to hear coming out of the studio. Every moment is different. Some days I just feel like doing happy stuff and that’s how Suga was born.

Saturday Night must have cast a long shadow over you in the past 28 years. How have your feelings towards the song changed in that time? Have you gone through periods of loving it, hating it, etc? And how do you feel about it now?

I feel honoured and very lucky to have been fortunate enough to get such a breakthrough. Of course there have been days where I’ve had to perform it several times and honestly felt it was going a bit on my nerves. But now it’s just good fun.

Do you still perform it live, along with your other big pop tunes from back then and your later tunes? If so, how do you segue between your old stuff and the newer stuff?

I’ve been touring nonstop doing both festivals and clubs, and people seem enjoy when I mix up the performance with the old and new material.

Is Suga the first of more new material? Is there, for instance, an album on the horizon?

I don’t think there’s a market for an album. I prefer just releasing singles. I might do an EP later on, I’ve got some new ideas for the next tracks.

If you could go back to the early 90s and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?

Enjoy it more and get some more sleep 🙂

Finally, tell us something that we would be surprised to learn about you…

I’m actually quite funny 😀

…

Keep up to date with Whigfield on Facebook.

Interview by Bobby Townsend.