The name Anne Lilia Berge Strand is a mouthful, which probably explains why the 26-year-old Norwegian pop singer/DJ simply goes by Annie.

After she released "Heartbeat" last year, the catchy bubblegum-pop song quickly got swept up in the blogosphere. Then, Pitchfork Media, the online indie-music guide, named "Heartbeat" its No. 1 single of 2004--long before Annie's proper album release.

On June 14, Annie finally dropped the full-length "Anniemal," a collection of upbeat, disco-infused tracks fronted by breathy, sometimes-sweet, sometimes-sad lyrics in the vein of Kylie or Madonna. In fact, it was a sample of Madge's 1982 "Everybody" that helped put Annie on the map. In 1999, she and then-boyfriend, producer Tore Kroknes (who would die shortly thereafter from a rare heart disease at age 22) sampled the tune in "The Greatest Hit," which quickly stormed the clubs--at least in Europe.

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Metromix caught up with Annie in Glasgow, Scotland, where she and her band opened for indie-pop mood rockers Saint Etienne.

We hear you were in the studio the other day; what are you working on?

We recorded three new songs in two days. They don't have names yet, to be honest. The only thing I know, all of them are quite different. One song was made about a ferret; we were inspired by a fan of mine who lost her best friend, a ferret.

Lost, like in that it died?

I think it died, so we wrote a song for it. I wouldn't say it's a sad song. The other two songs are poppy.

Your song "Come Together" sounds like it was inspired by '70s porn music.

[Laughs] It wasn't inspired by porn music! It was actually very inspired by a track called "When You Touch Me" by Taana Gardner. It's kind of the same thing: It starts slowly and turns out to be a weird disco track. It's one of the greatest songs I've ever heard.

In "Chewing Gum," you sing that chocolate is better. Why?

[Laughs] It has a better taste, and you sort of remember it longer. Chewing gum fades away in your mouth. Chocolate, even if it disappears, you still remember it.

How'd it feel when Pitchfork named "Heartbeat" their best song last year?

I was very shocked, to be honest. So many of those people who were on the top 10 list I was a really big fan of, like Jay-Z and Kylie  but I was No. 1! For me, that was really strange. It's not like I don't believe in what I'm doing, but still, it was so extreme. I'm working really hard for this. It's all I do every day and night.

Do you think that the indie kids are over you now that your album's finally coming out?

Yeah, I guess so. There are these people  I remember when I first started making music, I was only releasing, like, 500 copies. Then I got signed to Loaded, and like 5,000 copies [were released] on vinyl. Then there were all these people who were like, "Uch, you're so commercial; I'm not listening to you anymore." What can you do?

Royksopp produced you after turning down Britney. Did that make you laugh?

It wasn't like they were like, "We're not working with her; we're going to work with you!" I know them really well; they're good friends of mine. If you think of it in the big picture, it's quite absurd. She's such a big star.

Originally published June 29, 2005.

Ari Bendersky is a metromix special contributor.