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Photo by Bellah Mae

Evidence of cooking are all over WHIPPED CREAM's immersive and excellent new album, HOME WAS ALWAYS ME. It's recipe of sweet and sugary rhythmic melodies, the broken eggs of romantic lyricism, and, of course, a dose of dance gluttony in the form of calorically-dense beats. We’ve been club voyeurs of this artist's amazing ability to turn up the heat on the dance floor, and on this latest effort we’ve been enthralled by the depth, variety, and cadence of her production and songwriting. This is dance music that spins you into introspection, perspective, and a tummy-filling feeling of joy, a truly gathering inducing release that we can’t wait to see in full effect live. Generous in spirit and with her time, WHIPPED CREAM joined us in studio a few weeks back to spill the deets on her amazing past, this record and what it takes to be a beast of a producer:

OnesToWatch: So, my first question is, who are you?

WHIPPED CREAM: My name is Caroline. My artist project is WHIPPED CREAM. I produce all kinds of music, but right now, I'm mostly making dance music. 

Why whipped cream? 

Why not, whipped cream?

Health concerns, maybe? 

I don't know. Whipped cream is really good. When I first started my project, I was going to go with Caroline, but I found it really hard to market and brand because there's so many records with the word Caroline in it. And at the time there were no artists with the name Marshmallow or Slushy. And I wanted a name that people would think of year round, but not market it as a food group. Just have a nice commercial name. So I went with it and it's all about the art. It's kind of a juxtaposition. 

What does an all-whipped cream diet look and feel like? 

An all whipped cream diet, sonically, has a palette of all sorts of music.
Some music from when I was a child, to even now, bringing in R&B and cinema I'm inspired by, and food, I eat very healthy…

Why music? Was there anything else competing for your creative endeavors?


Honestly, no, never. Since I was a child, I have loved music. Even when I was a few hours old, my dad put a radio beside my bed and he claims that's why I have my career because he just always had music on since I came out of the womb. When I was a kid, I loved art. I loved painting. I loved music. I grew up with a lot of Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Chemical Brothers. It was kind of a Madonna all over the place. Then, I was a competitive figure skater from the age of 11 onward. I skated to music. I made the CDs at the ice rink for the competitions and always just picked a song I heard on the radio in the car. I had good taste, I will say. Good ear. It was always just in me. 

I feel like figure skating's having a revival moment now because of Alyssa Liu. 

It's incredible because when I was skating, there was nobody like her. She represents authenticity and is rebelling and she's so authentically herself – with her hair, the way she speaks, the way she moves, the way she eats. It's so inspiring, because I felt a lot like her in the sense of how she's expressing herself. You didn't get to have tattoos. They judge you on your hair color. They judge you on how much you weigh, and a lot of us had eating disorders, including myself. So to see somebody as the gold medal champion, someone that young and who loves music so much, fuck, it's awesome.

She picked lots of OnesToWatch tracks. My team was so excited. But back to you.
How did you go from figure skating to music? 

I didn't want to stop skating. I had an accident and I broke my ankle, and then I tried for the next year to get my stuff back and I just wasn't happy anymore. I wasn't skating at the exact level. I couldn't be the best. So I felt unfulfilled. I was done. So I quit and I had no idea what I was going to do. 

Oh, wow. 

I had not a single ounce of thinking I was going to do what I'm doing right now. 


When was this? 

Late teens. I was so lost. All I knew was skating. I hardly went to high school because I was super passionate about skating. It consumed my whole life. I moved to this little farm and trained with this special Olympic coach because I skate opposite from most skaters. I'm a left-handed skater. So 10% of us actually jump a different way than most. But then I broke my ankle. It didn’t work out. A year later, I was working at a call center saving money and I was going to just travel. I went to Australia. I'd never been anywhere. My friend pretty much dragged me to this music festival called Sasquatch. They were like, you love music, you have to just go and experience it. I argued that I couldn’t afford it. That week, they called me and they got me a ticket. So I get to the festival and it changed my life. No drugs, no drinking. I saw this act there called Active Child, who’s an electronic live performance act. It's mostly one guy in the band. But that changed my life, that set. It was at a rickety old stage. There was like 30 people there. After seeing that, I was like, hey, I think I'm going to go home and learn to produce music. Two years later was when I could actually produce music. 
It took a long time. But I actually quit my job. 

I love this. This is an amazing story. 

It just happened like that. 


So learning to produce, what were your first steps? 

YouTube was like my best friend. I grew up on a little island, and there were not a lot of people, nevermind women. I didn't know many people that were doing this. This was a long time ago, over a decade ago. I was so angry and upset and so depressed because I wanted to know how to make music, but I had no effing idea. So I had to just lock in. I was so broke for three years and I asked my parents if I could move back into their basement. I did not see any friends, nobody, and I just watched YouTube. Any songs that I was inspired by, I’d figure out how they made it. I started on Ableton.

Grownup stuff. 

My dad's super techie. He's 75, he built one of the first computers, fixed computers his whole life. He loves all computer stuff. I was blessed to have him. 

So walk me through the timeline. You're now three years into this, and then WHIPPED CREAM comes to light. 

Yeah, so my first few DJ shows were under Caroline and it was fake it till I made it. I bought an S4 controller. It was like 500 bucks. And I went to my local club, maybe Facebooked him or something, and claimed to be a DJ, which I wasn’t. There was a big DJ playing, and I asked to support him. And the club owner said sure, I'll pay you 50 bucks. I was astounded that I got paid. I only had a week, but I put all my songs together and it was probably awful to be honest with you, but everyone was so excited and it felt amazing. And that's how my career started, though. I just put myself in places. But the thing is, you can only fake it till you make it for so long. I actually had to learn my craft and work on it. I came up through making edits on SoundCloud. I owe a lot of my early success to SoundCloud because I grew up listening to lots of R&B and early 2000s rap. I found a community online that make Jersey Club music. That's how I started, making Jersey Club edits. 

Love it. So when you write a song, do you have a process? Is there a go-to methodology for you? 


Well, now that I'm singing on my records, it's so much more personal because I like to write on the spot. Back in the day when I wasn't singing, it was more of a thing where I would think of a word or something I'm feeling and start the record and just go get samples and manipulate audio that way. But now that I'm singing, the process can be so different. I'd say for my album, most of the songs started with a melody on a piano and then whatever I was feeling that day or going through my Apple notes. I do most of my writing in notes and I'll do it in random places. I'll be with my manager in the car and have a thought of something. Then when I'm in the studio, I'll bring all my thoughts back up. I always need something to spark it, though, like a sound or a melody. I like to go and sample hunt and that's how I write music. 

Love it. Let's get into your most recent project. What was the inspo? How did it all come together? 

This album, HOME WAS ALWAYS ME, is the first album I've ever released. 

Congrats! 

Thank you, thank you. I'm very proud and excited about it. I have released a lot of music in my life, like a lot. A lot of EPs and storytelling, and for whatever reason, I never did an album. I would cap it at six or seven songs and just title it an EP. Then, maybe two years ago, I was sitting in the car listening to some of my favorite albums, and I was like, why have I not created an album? Everyone on a road trip, they're not listening to EPs. They're listening to albums. I just had this moment of, what the fuck have I been doing? 

I want to ask, if I could interject, were you deliberate in keeping things as an EP? 


No, right now sitting on my hard drive, I probably have six albums worth of music. I make music all the time. I have a lot of different albums, too, as a producer. I get so excited because I can make anything. I respect people who have their sound and they do their thing. Me, I'm a little different where I’ll try anything. I'm sitting on a country album and I'm sitting on an R&B album and I could do an opera project if I wanted to. I wouldn't be singing, but I'd bring on opera artists. I'm very inspired by cinema.
I'd love to do a movie album one day. Hans Zimmer meets Travis album. And that's what can confuse people, but also, I'm starting to bring in fans that just get me. It's like puzzle pieces.
It's really exciting. It's taken me a long time to get here and I think the more albums I can release, the more people I can impact with what I'm doing and maybe inspire people to just try. You don't have to fit inside a box. 

I think the best artists don't fit inside a box. Unless they do what they do really well, obviously. You're a living side project. Everything is part of you. 

Totally, yeah. So this album, it's what I'm doing right now. It's what I represent right now. 

How fresh are these songs? 

I'd say the 80% of the album was made in the last year and a half. 

Okay, so pretty fresh. What are your ambitions for your first album? Given you've been doing this a little bit, what do you hope it unlocks? 

Oh, that's a great question. Honestly, already, it's surpassed my expectations and it's not out yet. I didn't really have any expectations, to be honest. I'm so excited to get to put out a full body of work. It's 14 songs. I don't even need people to connect with it. I just want them to think about themselves or life or the world when they hear it. But it has connected with a lot of people. We've dropped a few singles now and some of the messages and energy I've received and doors that have opened have been really amazing. I just hope I can continue to make music for the rest of my life. I would like one of the songs to perform really well and that could open up that global door for me so that I can live freely and continue to create without stress of other things in my life. That would be awesome.

I did want to go back to the title. What does it mean to you? 

So one of the lead singles is called “It's Time to Go Home.” And the album is called HOME WAS ALWAYS ME. So originally, I was going to name the album Cream World because my name's WHIPPED CREAM. But given some extra thought, I didn't love that name. WHIPPED CREAM's enough. We don't need to be doing Cream World. I wanted to create a name for an album that felt very much me and like wherever you are, your home is you. The message on the album art in itself and why I chose to be completely nude on the art is that I'm playing a character, as if Eve didn't bite the apple. I felt like that a lot during my career. 

You're free from original sin. 

Yeah, just being myself. I know what I'm doing, and I'm not hurting anybody. People can judge female producers on how they look, whatever, blah, blah, blah. I don't make it my whole story or message, but my art will just do the talking and we'll just keep working and enjoying. 

I love this. So you decided to take the Garden of Eden with you wherever you go. That's poetic. If you could put together your dream lineup, where you can perform with anyone, who would it be? 

Oh, my gosh. I would love to do this, by the way. Let's start with some of my favorites. I would do Jamie XX, James Blake, Frank Ocean, Florence Welch, Active Child. I would do Kanye West. 

Controversial. 

It's okay. I would do Drake. I would do the Marias. I would do Billie Eilish. Tyler the Creator, Rihanna. ASAP Rocky definitely. He's one of my favorite artists living right now. I love him. Skrillex, too. And WHIPPED CREAM. 

Stacked lineup. A van load of your friend show up your front door hungry.
Can you whip up a meal? And what would it be? 

Well, it depends if they're vegetarian or not, but if they are, I could do a vegetarian spaghetti. You wouldn't even tell that the meat is not real. 

What’s the recipe?

Olive oil, a shit ton, red wine in the sauce. Garlic, oregano. The actual tomato sauce, though, it's not homemade.
I'm going to go to the grocery store and get my favorite. I don't know what it's called, but I know it's a green one with all the veggies. It's got like 12 grams of fiber. And then I would go get them their little vegan meat. Aldente spaghetti depending on what they want, like the fat one or the angel.

This sounds so good. When and if you need to relax, how do you achieve that?

Going home. I live in the middle of nowhere, in the forest, in a cabin. I like going home and having a cup of coffee or going on a walk around the waterfront. I've been really lucky.
I've been able to go around the world and meet all these cool people. But I also just like reading a book or meditation, going to my yoga class, being outside. I’m very chill. 


Is there a place in the world you have not been that you want to go to? 


Oh, yeah. I would love to go to the Philippines. I would like to go to Jamaica. India would be really cool. 

Great. What's a mistake you've made and why are you glad you made it? 


One thing that I'm still actively practicing is knowing when to let go. I held onto things that were no longer aligned with who I am. There's nothing wrong with letting go of something or someone that can come back into your life at some point, but knowing when it doesn’t serve you anymore is what’s important. It can drag you down. Both in life and in business. I'm a loyalist. I hold on forever. But you have to know when it’s not meant for you. 

It's hard. Last couple of questions. I would love a non-music recommendation, something you would put a friend on to. 


Exercising every day. Walking is the greatest thing. If you can go on a 45 minute walk, whether it's on a treadmill or just walking around your neighborhood, I highly suggest you do that. If you can move your legs, I highly recommend it. It changed my life. 

With or without headphones? 


100% with headphones on.

So many artists suggest to go on a walk. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's studio life. 

It's probably us sitting at our desks all day. 

A lot of people say to do it without headphones on though.  

Oh, really? See, for me, I like driving silently. But for whatever reason, and this is ever since I was a kid, and maybe I have some deep rooted insecurity, but whenever music's on, I feel super confident. I walk more confidently with it playing. 

I love that. I’d also love a music recommendation. 

I love Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, she's just fucking incredible. I look up to her sonically a lot. I really like Sevdaliza, too. She has a song, “Human,” and she did a crazy, super cinematic and weird and awesome music video. I'm really happy for all the success she's been having lately because it took her a long time. It's inspiring for me because she's very in depth, but she's also playing the game right now with her pop records and I'm studying it. I'll also shout out this really small artist that's fucking lit, Marah. She's the coolest. She's a DJ and she’s one of my favorite female producers. She's actually from Vancouver and she is on the come up with bass music. Kind of reminds me of early XNG, Skrillex. She works hard. If you're reading this, you should check her out. 


Last, I want to end on your words, anything you want to share or say, advice, counsel? Some people say hi, Mom.

No, I'm deep. I can't say hi, Mom… Hi, Mom and Dad. I love you. I do love my parents a lot. I really couldn't be here without my parents. They're fucking dope. I'll do it for my parents.
My parents had me later on in life. They have been so supportive – whether I was figure skating, quitting figure skating, telling them why I don't know what I'm doing, I'm going to go to this music festival. They've been so supportive. If you don't have supportive parents and you’re reading this, just know that what you're doing makes a difference and it doesn't matter if you have the support from family or not. I know what it's like to lose family over working on something and being successful and it sucks, but if you're not hurting anybody and you love what you do, keep sharing your gift with the world. 


Beautiful. Thank you so much. 

Thank you!