Agnes Carlsson, a winner of “Sweden Idol” five years ago, has hit both the U.S. mainstream and dance scene in a big way with her smash single, “Release Me.” MTV News had the opportunity to sit down with the young starlet as she made her WMC debut in Miami.

“‘Release Me’ was the third song I wrote in my life, and to hear and see that a lot of people just really like the song and the music I do is amazing,” she said.

Undoubtedly, thousands of conference-goers became far better acquainted with the diversity and range of the Swedish sensation as she packed in a whirlwind week full of appearances and performances. She also took the stage at some of Miami’s biggest parties with the likes of Estelle and Kelis.

“I’m going to be in the U.S. for one and a half months,” Carlson told us while sitting poolside at the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach. “I have a lot of promotions and interviews because a lot of people know my single but they don’t know me, so I think it’s important for people to get to know who I am.”

For the “Sweden Idol” champion, her success has been a lifelong dream, but also fear that she admits to overcoming during her days as an “Idol” contestant. “I’ve always been singing, but before I did ‘Idol,’ I had only performed one time solo on stage,” she said. “So everything was really new for me and I was pretty nervous in the beginning.” After the inevitable butterflies of the spotlight passed, Agnes conquered the competition, and can now offer some sound advice to future “Idol” contestants both stateside and in Europe. “One thing a lot of people do wrong is to take a Whitney Houston song and try to sing those songs [as those artists would],” Carlsson said. “You should not do that! If you’re going to choose ‘I Will Always Love You,’ do something totally different to it!”