"Saturday Night" | ||||
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Single by Whigfield | ||||
from the album Whigfield | ||||
Released | 1992 [1] | |||
Studio | Labelle | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:40 | |||
Label | Extreme | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Larry Pignagnoli | |||
Whigfield singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Saturday Night" on YouTube | ||||
Alternate cover | ||||
"Saturday Night" is a song by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield,fronted by Danish-born Sannie Charlotte Carlson. [2] [3] It was first released in 1992 in Italy and 1993 in Spain through Prodisc. Throughout 1994,it was released across the rest of Europe and experienced worldwide success. The song was written by Italian producers Larry Pignagnoli and Davide Riva and produced by Pignagnoli. In 1995,the song was included on Whigfield's debut album, Whigfield .
The single entered at number one on the UK Singles Chart,making Whigfield the first artist to enter at the top in the UK with their debut single,dethroning Wet Wet Wet's 15-week chart-topper "Love Is All Around". As of October 2015,"Saturday Night" has sold a total of 1.18 million copies in the UK. [4] It also reached number one in Germany,Ireland,Spain and Switzerland,and it became a top-10 hit in Austria,Denmark,France,Iceland,Italy,the Netherlands,Norway and Sweden. In Spain the single spent 11 weeks at the top position. Outside Europe,it peaked at number three in Zimbabwe,number 19 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and number 78 in Australia.
NME magazine ranked "Saturday Night" at number 15 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994. [5] It was also nominated for Best Single,while Whigfield was nominated for Best New Act on the 7th annual Smash Hits Awards in 1995. [6]
Whigfield (AKA Sannie Charlotte Carlson) studied fashion design in Copenhagen and went to Bologna in Italy where she worked as a model by day and as a PR girl for clubs at night. One of the club DJs,Davide Riva,was part of a music production duo. He persuaded her to work for them. She then visited Italian producer Larry Pignagnoli in his studio,he hired her to perform "Saturday Night" and they chose the name Whigfield. Larry Pignagnoli already had success with Spagna in the late 1980s and early 1990s before he produced "Saturday Night" with Whigfield. With lyrics written by Pignagnoli in three days,the duo did over 20 takes,then they spliced the best bits together. [7]
Reviews categorized "Saturday Night" as a melodic bubblegum-influenced pop-dance and Euro-pop track. [8] [9] [10] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update compared it to "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". [11] "Saturday Night" includes a rave-tinted rhythm section,and a house piano at its fade-out. [8] [12] According to Whigfield,"Saturday Night" is "like a nursery rhyme,with lyrics about what girls do when they're getting ready to go out,and about getting hot when they’re out dancing." The "Dee dee na na na" was initially done as a joke,before they incorporated it as an initial hook. [7] They chose to release the song for its simple,upbeat and club-ready nature,titling it "Saturday Night" to reflect that. [7] The lyrical subject led Simon Cowell to compare it to Rebecca Black's "Friday",stating that they are "what we call a 'hair-dryer song';a song girls sing into their hair dryers as they're getting ready to go out". [13]
Initially,no record companies were interested in publishing "Saturday Night". After it was played frequently in the Spanish radio show World Dance Music,interest in the song began to increase. [14] The first label to pick up the song was a small label,Prodisc in Valencia. It was first released in Italy in 1992, [1] then became a number-one hit in Spain at the end of 1993. [15] [16] In the summer of 1994,it became a hit with British holidaymakers on the continent,leading to a huge demand for the track in the United Kingdom. Whigfield was signed for the UK in February 1994 by Christian Tattersfield and Ben Kahn who run London offshoot Systematic. The label decided to delay the release in order to capitalise on the inevitable buzz built up among British tourists returning from summer holidays in mainland Europe. [17] The single was not released in North America until February 1995.
"Saturday Night" was released in the UK on 5 September 1994,and went straight to number one - dethroning Wet Wet Wet's 15 week chart-topper "Love Is All Around" on 11 September, [18] despite that single increasing its sales from 65,000 the previous week to 104,000,when "Saturday Night" entered at number one with sales of 150,000. Whigfield was the first act to enter at number one in the United Kingdom chart with her debut single. [19] It stayed at number one for a total of four weeks selling 680,000 in the process,went on to become the second best selling single of the year,and has sold a total of 1.18 million copies. [4] "Saturday Night" is also the 15th biggest-selling single by a female artist in the United Kingdom. [20] It also was a No. 1 hit in Germany,Ireland,Spain and Switzerland,and a No. 2 hit in Denmark,France,Iceland,Italy and Norway. In Spain,the single spent a total of 11 weeks at number-one. [21] Additionally,it reached the top 10 also in Austria (4),the Netherlands (7) and Sweden (9),while it was a top-20 hit in Belgian Flanders (14). Outside Europe,it peaked at number-one on the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada,No. 3 in Israel and Zimbabwe,No. 19 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States and No. 78 in Australia.
"Saturday Night" was well-received by professional critics,both contemporaneous and retrospective pieces labeling the track as "irresistible","catchy",and "infectious". [11] [22] [10] [23] [24] Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that it "is a giddy pop/dance ditty that has already saturated radio airwaves throughout Europe. It also has gotten early spins on crossover stations in Los Angeles,Chicago,and Nashville—and rightly so. The tune has a simple,but killer hook that is matched by a jumpy,rave-coated rhythm section and chirpy female vocals." [8] Another Billboard editor,Mark Dezzani,declared it a "teen anthem". [25] Chris Heath from The Daily Telegraph felt it's "pleasantly annoying",saying,"It's pop music. Don't be too cool to enjoy it." [26] David Balls from Digital Spy noted its "feelgood Euro beats and memorable dance routine". [27] Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger complimented it for being "one of those iconically simple pop hits" and for its "resistibility". He also added that the song is "charmingly unassuming,thanks mainly to Whigfield's matter-of-fact performance. If you do stick around,your reward is a lovely bit of house piano heading for the fade. But this song is never pushy. It's Saturday night. Whigfield is having a great time." [12] A reviewer from Music Week called it "delightful frothy pop", [28] and Stephen Meade from The Network Forty considered it as "exciting". [29] NME named "Saturday Night" a "much misunderstood dancefloor classic", [30] while Gavin Hills from The Observer praised it as "wonderful". [31]
The official music video for "Saturday Night" was directed by La La Land [32] and filmed in London. It features numerous different scenes of Whigfield standing in front of a mirror,getting ready to go out on Saturday night. She's blow-drying her wet hair,before she braids it and puts on make-up. In some scenes,she flips through pictures of different men and selects one of them,which she kisses and attaches to the mirror. In the video for her next single,"Another Day",the same image appears,this time in a frame. Other scenes also show the singer trying to decide which clothes to wear,before she goes for a black singlet. The video was A-listed on Germany's VIVA in September 1994. [33]
There is a dance routine which is commonly performed to the song (particularly at parties and nightclubs in the United Kingdom), [34] the origins of which are uncertain. [35] Some suggest that it began as an aerobic routine created by a gym instructor to accompany the song at a holiday resort,and followed the song back to the UK. [35] The dance does not appear in the music video for the song,however it was performed by backing dancers during Whigfield's performance on Top of the Pops on 15 September 1994. [36]
Whigfield stated in an interview with Justin Myers for the Official Charts Company,"I remember I did some promotion in this place north of Madrid and when I was doing the track [I] saw everybody doing this thing and they all jumped at the same time. I hadn’t even known about the dance until then... I still remember the dance,but I didn’t do it. I thought it was kind of nice that it was just the people doing it." [35]
Two claims of plagiarism were made. It was alleged that the track ripped off both "Rub a Dub Dub" by the Equals and "Fog on the Tyne" by Lindisfarne. Both claims were dismissed. [19] [7]
The Guardian ranked "Saturday Night" number 91 in their list of "The 100 greatest UK No. 1s" in 2020. [37] NME ranked it number 15 in their list of the "50 best songs of 1994". [38] Smash Hits nominated the song and act in the categories for Best New Single and Best New Act on the 7th annual Smash Hits Awards in 1995. [39] The song was played in the British TV series Everything I Know About Love (2022–present). [40]
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Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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France (SNEP) [82] | Gold | 250,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [83] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Norway (IFPI Norway) [84] | Gold | |
United Kingdom (BPI) [85] | 2×Platinum | 1,180,000 [4] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Italy | 1992 | 12-inch vinyl | Extreme | [1] |
Spain | 1993 |
| Prodisc | [15] |
Germany | 24 January 1994 | CD | ZYX Music | [52] |
United Kingdom | 5 September 1994 |
| Systematic | [86] |
Japan | 21 January 1995 | CD | Avex Trax | [87] |
Whigfield is an Italian dance act fronted by Danish singer,former model,songwriter and record producer Sannie Charlotte Carlson,known by her various stage names including Whigfield,Naan,or simply Sannie. She is best known for her 1993 single "Saturday Night",which became an international hit the following year.
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in December 1977 by RSO Records as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The band co-produced the song with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004,"Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004,it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song.
Alfredo "Larry" Pignagnoli is an Italian record producer,composer and musician.
"Right in the Night (Fall in Love with Music)" is a song by German electronic music duo Jam &Spoon,released by JAM! and Dance Pool as the second single from the duo's second album,Tripomatic Fairytales 2001 (1993). It is a Eurodance song with elements from progressive and vocal trance. It is based on "Leyenda" by the classical composer Isaac Albéniz and features vocals by American vocalist Plavka,with lyrics by Nosie Katzmann. The flamenco-styled riff in the song is played by duo member Jam El Mar,who was trained as a classical guitarist.
"Another Night" is a song by German Eurodance and pop music project Real McCoy. The single is featured on their hit album Another Night (1995),which was the American release of the project's second album,Space Invaders. The song was written and produced in Germany by Juergen Wind and Frank Hassas (Quickmix) in 1993 under the producer team name Freshline.
"You Should Be Dancing" is a song by the Bee Gees,from the album Children of the World,released in 1976. It hit No. 1 for one week on the American Billboard Hot 100,No. 1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart,and in September the same year,reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Soul chart. It was this song that first launched the Bee Gees into disco. It was also the only track from the group to top the dance chart.
"Run Away" is a song by German Eurodance and pop music project Real McCoy from their album Another Night (1995),which was the US version of their second album,Space Invaders (1994). The song was produced by music producers Juergen Wind and Frank Hassas (Quickmix) under the producer team name "Freshline". It was first released in Germany in July 1994 by Hansa. "Run Away" reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100,where it was certified gold,and number six in the United Kingdom. A music video was produced to promote the single,made especially for the European market,directed by Swedish-based director Matt Broadley.
"Wild Night" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is the opening track on his fifth studio album Tupelo Honey. It was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2022,the song peaked at #1 on the radio airplay chart in Canada.
"Another Day" is a song by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield,fronted by Danish-born Sannie Charlotte Carlson. It was released in August 1994 by X-Energy,ZYX Music and Systematic as the second single from her debut album,Whigfield (1995). Written by producers Larry Pignagnoli and Davide Riva,with Annerley Gordon and Ray Dorset,the song was the follow-up single to Whigfield's 1994 hit single,"Saturday Night",and peaked at number seven in the United KIngdom. "Another Day" also became a top-10 hit in Canada,Denmark,Finland,Ireland,Italy,Norway,Spain,Switzerland and Zimbabwe. On the Eurochart Hot 100,it reached number nine.
"Close to You" is a song by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield,performed by Danish-born Sannie Charlotte Carlson and released in August 1995 as the fourth single from her first album,Whigfield (1995). It was her first ballad and a top-20 hit in Denmark,Ireland,Spain and the United Kingdom. On the Eurochart Hot 100,it reached number 67.
"Sexy Eyes" is a song written by Annerley Gordon,Alfredo Larry Pignagnoli,Davide Riva and Paul Sears and performed by Danish singer Whigfield. It was released in March 1996 as the seventh and final single from her first album,Whigfield. It became Whigfield's first top-10 hit in Australia,becoming the 19th-highest-selling single for 1997.
"Big Time" is a song by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield,which was fronted by Danish-born singer Sannie Charlotte Carlson. It was written by Annerley Gordon,Alfredo Larry Pignagnoli,Davide Riva and Paul Sears and produced by Pignagnoli and Riva. The song was released in July 1995 by X-Energy Records as the fifth single from her debut album,Whigfield (1995). For the British market,the song was released as a double A-side single with "Last Christmas",a cover of the English duo Wham!,and reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. In other countries,"Big Time" peaked within the top 10 in Canada and was a top-20 hit in Denmark,Italy,the Netherlands and Spain.
Whigfield is the debut studio album by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield which was performed by Danish-born Sannie Charlotte Carlson,released in June 1995. It features Whigfield's biggest hit single,"Saturday Night",which reached number one in several European countries.
"Think of You" is a song recorded by Italian Eurodance project Whigfield,which was performed by Danish-born Sannie Charlotte Carlson. It was released in May 1995 as the third single from her first album,Whigfield (1995),and scored success on the charts in Europe. The single reached number seven in the UK and was a top 10 hit also in Canada,Denmark,Iceland,Ireland,Italy,Lithuania,the Netherlands,Spain and Zimbabwe. On the Eurochart Hot 100,"Think of You" reached number four.
"Dreamer" is a song by Italian house group Livin' Joy,written and recorded by Janice Robinson and produced by brothers Paolo and Gianni Visnadi. Originally released in August 1994,it was re-released in 1995 by MCA and topped the UK Singles Chart at the number one spot that May,ending 1995 as the UK's 40th-biggest-selling single of 1995. In the United States,it went to number-one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. It was a sleeper hit on pop radio,but finally managed to peak at number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 75 on the Cash Box Top 100.
"Rock My Heart" is a song by Trinidadian-German musician Haddaway,released in March 1994 as the fourth and final single from his debut album,The Album (1993). It was written and produced by Dee Dee Halligan and Junior Torello. Like the previous single "I Miss You",the song was a hit in several countries,particularly in the UK,Germany,Finland,Switzerland,Ireland and Belgium,where it reached the top 10. In Israel,it peaked at number one for two weeks. "Rock My Heart" shot into the Eurochart Hot 100 at number 17 on 9 April 1994 and peaked at seven four weeks later.
"Baby Baby" is a song by Italian band Corona,released in February 1995 by ZYX Music as the second single from their debut album,The Rhythm of the Night (1995). The song,written by Francesco Bontempi and Antonia Bottari,was originally a hit in 1991 for Italian project Joy &Joyce as "Babe Babe". Both tracks were produced by Bontempi under his Lee Marrow guise. It was very successful on the singles charts around the world,peaking at number-one in Italy,and on the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada. In the UK,it peaked at number five for two weeks. Two different music videos were produced for the song.
"The Rhythm of the Night" is a song by Italian Eurodance group Corona. It was released as their debut single in 1993 in Italy,then elsewhere the following year. The song is the title track of the group's debut studio album,The Rhythm of the Night (1995),and was written by Francesco Bontempi,Annerley Emma Gordon,Giorgio Spagna,Pete Glenister and Mike Gaffey. It was produced by Bontempi,and the vocals were performed by Italian singer Giovanna Bersola,who is not credited on the single and does not appear in the music video. The woman who appears in the video is the group's frontwoman Olga Souza. The video was A-listed on Music TV-channels,such as Germany's VIVA. The song was a worldwide hit in 1994,peaking at number-one in Italy,and within the top five in most of Europe,while in the US,it fell short of the top ten,reaching number eleven on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100.
"Don't Give Me Your Life" is a song by Italian dance music group Alex Party. It is produced by Italian producer brothers Paolo and Gianni Visnadi with DJ Alex Natale,and was released in February 1995 by UMM and Systematic as the first single from the group's first and only album,Alex Party (1996). The vocals are performed by British singer Robin 'Shanie' Campbell,who also wrote the lyrics and melody. The song peaked at number two in the UK and number five on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US. It also topped the Club Record category at Music Week's 1995 Awards. Today,it is widely regarded as one of the biggest dance anthems of the 1990s. Idolator ranked it number 21 in their list of "The 50 Best Pop Singles of 1995" in 2015.
"Whiggle in Line" is a song by Italian group Black Duck,released as their only single in December 1994 by Flying South Records. It is an electronic Eurodance style take on "Saturday Night" by Danish/Italian act Whigfield. Produced by Davide Riva and Larry Pignagnoli,the producers of the original track,it has an added ragga rap element and slightly different female vocals to the original,which is performed by British singer and TV host Carryl Varley,who also used to front Italian band Jinny. The single was a notable hit in several countries,peaking at number 11 on the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart and number 20 in Denmark. In the UK,it reached the top 40,peaking at number 33,but on the UK Dance Chart it fared better,reaching a respectable number 12. It also enjoyed modest airplay in the US.