Saara Aalto | |
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_20180508_EuroVisionary_(cropped).jpg) Aalto at theEurovision Song Contest 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Saara Sofia Aalto (1987-05-02)2 May 1987 (age 38) Oulunsalo, Finland |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels |
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| Website | www |
Saara Sofia Aalto (born 2 May 1987)[1] is a Finnish singer, songwriter andvoice actress. In 2012, she came second in thefirst season ofThe Voice of Finland.
In 2016, Aalto finished as the runner-up in thethirteenth series ofThe X Factor UK, which gained her international recognition.
In 2018, she represented Finland in theEurovision Song Contest 2018, in which she qualified for the grand final and finished in 25th place. Aalto became a judge onX Factor Suomi during the same year. In 2019, she participated onDancing on Ice and finished in third place.
Born inOulunsalo, Finland, Aalto grew up in a musical family and received piano lessons from pianist and pedagogue Olga Maslak, born inOdessa,Soviet Union.[2][3] Aalto wrote her first song at the age of five. Her grandfather is painter and documentary directorEeli Aalto and magicianSimo Aalto is her uncle. In 1998 at age 11, she won theKotka Maritime Festival song contest for children with one of her own compositions. Aalto also won theCharlotte Church[4] international singing competition, organised in US, in 2003 with her own composition.[5][6] Aalto represented Finland in theGolden Stag International Song Contest inRomania in 2004. She went to theMadetoja secondary school for music, where she graduated in 2005. After graduation, she moved toHelsinki to study music at theSibeliusAcademy, and at the same time also studied singing in the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory.[7]
In 2007, she participated inTalent Suomi ("Talent Finland"), finishing in the top three.[8]
In addition to her singing career, Aalto is also an actress, having starred as Dorothy and Pfannee in the Finnish production of the musicalWicked and asMary Magdalene inJesus Christ Superstar.[9][10] From 2008 to 2011, she appeared in theHelsinki City Theatre musicals, first as Kelsi inHigh School Musical on Stage! and itssecond installment, and then inWicked.[11]
Aalto took part on two separate occasions in the selection process in a bid to represent Finland in theEurovision Song Contest. She participated in the qualifying rounds in Finland forEurovision 2011, placing second toParadise Oskar who went on to represent Finland. She received 40.7% of the public televotes, compared to 46.7% for Oskar.[12] Aalto's recording was released as a single by Yume Records, a self-released record label she founded together with Teemu Roivainen in 2011.
Her second bid to represent Finland was forEurovision Song Contest 2016 through the competitionUuden Musiikin Kilpailu, again placing second.[13] Although winning the public vote, she was disadvantaged with the judging vote going to the eventual winnerSandhja who went on to represent Finland with the song "Sing It Away".[14][15]
Following her performance of "Blessed with Love" for qualification in Eurovision 2011, that December she was involved in the Santa Claus Season's Greetings Song Contest, where she sang "Ai De Zhu Fu", a Chinese (Mandarin) version of her Eurovision song "Blessed with Love".[16][17]In November 2012, Aalto was guest vocalist atRobert Wells's highly successful showRhapsody in Rock[18] at Shanghai Daning theatre.[19][20] Following a successful performance in Shanghai in May 2013, opening for Spanish tenorJosé Carreras and singing several songs in Chinese, Aalto returned to the city to duet with tenor Han Peng at the Closing Ceremony of theShanghai International Film Festival in June 2013, broadcast to over 800 million viewers in 10 countries.[9][21]
Finding great reception from Chinese audiences, in July 2013 Aalto went on to release a full album destined forMainland China and other Chinese markets also titledAi De Zhu Fu. On the album she performed nine of the album's 13 tracks inMandarin language.
Aalto participated inseason one ofThe Voice of Finland. In the blind auditions, broadcast on 6 February 2012 on the Finnish commercial television channelNelonen, she performed "Taking Chances" fromCeline Dion with all four coaches,Elastinen,Lauri Tähkä,Paula Koivuniemi andMichael Monroe turning their chairs. She opted to be part of Team Monroe.
In the Battle Round on 17 February, she was confronted with team competitor Anna Inginmaa, both singing "True Colors". Coach Monroe opted for Aalto to go to the next round. In the live show on 23 March, she sang "Barracuda" and was saved by Monroe after failing to get enough votes from the public. She followed it up with the French language "Je suis malade" fromSerge Lama and was safe after the public vote. In the semifinals with her rendition of "Over the Rainbow", she qualified for the finals held on 20 April where she sang "I'm Gonna Be Strong" fromFrankie Laine and an original song titled "My Love". She placed second to winner Mikko Sipola.[22]
Aalto auditioned for thethirteenth UK series ofThe X Factor in 2016 in front of attending judgesSimon Cowell,Louis Walsh andNicole Scherzinger, singing a cover ofSia's "Chandelier", which earned her three yeses from the judges.[23] At Bootcamp, she performed "On the Radio" byDonna Summer and was sent through as part of the over-25s category, mentored bySharon Osbourne, who was not present at her audition. At the six-chair challenge, she performed "I See Fire" byEd Sheeran and was sent home by Osbourne who stated a lack of connection. However, after the crowd chanted to bring her back, Aalto was given a second chance and performed "Je suis malade" bySerge Lama, which caused the crowd to turn on her, while Scherzinger criticized her song choice, stating "we ain't in France". Osbourne then asked Aalto to leave.
Aalto was brought back as Scherzinger's wildcard pick for the over-25s category and therefore went to judges' houses. She was chosen by Osbourne to proceed to the live shows after performing "The Winner Takes It All". In week 1 of the live shows, Aalto finished in the bottom three alongside Freddy Parker and duo Bratavio, after performing "Let It Go". As Parker was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto faced a sing-off against Bratavio, where she performed "Alive", and was saved with only Walsh voting to eliminate her. The following week, she sang "River Deep – Mountain High" and finished again in the bottom three, this time alongside Ryan Lawrie and Parker. As Lawrie was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto performed "Run" in a sing-off against Parker. Walsh and Osbourne voted to eliminate Parker while Scherzinger and Cowell, who had the casting vote, voted to eliminate Aalto. The result went to deadlock and Aalto was saved as she had the higher public vote. In week 3 she performed "It's Oh So Quiet" coming 2nd in the public vote, and in week 4 Aalto sang "Bad Romance", placing 3rd in the public vote. In week 5, Aalto finished in the bottom three for the third time alongside Sam Lavery and groupFour of Diamonds, after her rendition of "Sound of the Underground". As Lavery was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto performed "Who You Are" in a sing-off against Four of Diamonds, and was saved with only Walsh voting to eliminate her. Voting statistics revealed that Aalto would have never been in the sing-off had there been no lifeline vote since she was the third least voted on the main vote all three weeks. Her following performances were "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" in week 6 placing 2nd and "My Heart Will Go On" in week 7 again placing 2nd. In the quarter-final, she sang "The Winner Takes It All" and a medley of "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", topping the public vote for the first time.[24] Following the eliminations of Relley C in week 3 andHoney G in the quarter-final, Aalto became Osbourne's last remaining act in the competition.
In the semi-final, she sang a medley of "White Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and "Chandelier" as her second song, topping the vote again reaching the final, where on 10 December she performed "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", the latter as a duet withAdam Lambert, again topping the public vote. With the elimination of the group5 After Midnight she was in the top 2 alongsideMatt Terry. In the final on 11 December, she performed "It's Oh So Quiet" and "I Didn't Know My Own Strength". In the ensuing public vote, she placed as the runner-up to eventual winner Matt Terry with 40.4% of the votes.
| The X Factor performances and results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Show | Song choice | Theme | Result |
| Auditions | "Chandelier" | — | Through to bootcamp |
| Bootcamp | "On the Radio" | Through to six-chair challenge | |
| Six-chair challenge | "I See Fire" | Eliminated; re-instated as a wildcard | |
| "Je suis malade" | |||
| Judges' houses | "The Winner Takes It All" | Through to live shows | |
| Live show 1 | "Let It Go" | Express Yourself | Bottom three (9th) |
| "Alive" | Sing-Off | Saved (Majority vote) | |
| Live show 2 | "River Deep – Mountain High" | Motown | Bottom three (9th) |
| "Run" | Sing-Off | Saved (Deadlock) | |
| Live show 3 | "It's Oh So Quiet" | Divas & Legends | Safe (2nd) |
| Live show 4 | "Bad Romance" | Fright Night | Safe (3rd) |
| Live show 5 | "Sound of the Underground" | Girlband vs. Boyband | Bottom three (6th) |
| "Who You Are" | Sing-Off | Saved (Majority vote) | |
| Live show 6 | "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" | Disco | Safe (2nd) |
| Live show 7 | "My Heart Will Go On" fromTitanic | Movies | Safe (2nd) |
| Quarter-Final | "The Winner Takes It All" | Louis Loves | Safe (1st) |
| "Diamonds Are Forever" / "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" | Contestant's choice | ||
| Semi-Final | "White Christmas" / "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Christmas | Safe (1st) |
| "Chandelier" | Contestant's choice | ||
| Final (Saturday) | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | New song | Safe (1st) |
| "Bohemian Rhapsody" (withAdam Lambert) | Celebrity duet | ||
| Final (Sunday) | "It's Oh So Quiet" | Song of the series | Runner-up (40.4%) |
| "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" | New Song | ||
In a press conference in December 2016, Aalto revealed that she works with the joint effort of ROAR Global and Global career management companies,[25] and that she has signed a five-album recording deal withSony Music UK and Sony Music Finland.[26] In October 2017, Aalto announced she had left Sony Music forWarner Music Group. In a statement, she said: "I was honoured I was signed to Sony. But later I felt like they weren't the right team. When I met the people at Warner they were very excited about my style and making me into this big theatrical artist."[27] On 7 November 2017, it was announced that Aalto wouldrepresent Finland in theEurovision Song Contest 2018 inLisbon, Portugal.[28] The three bidding entries were released by Yle and Saara Aalto, along with an accompanying music video.[29] Aalto was a judge on the second series of theFinnish version ofThe X Factor, mentoring the girls. Aalto could not attend the finale night ofThe X Factor Finland due to her commitments with Eurovision, so Terry represented her instead, but her category's last girl, Tika Liljegren, was crowned the winner, making Aalto the winning mentor.[citation needed] Aalto announced in March 2018 via social media that her first album under Warner Music Group,Wild Wild Wonderland, would be released on 27 April 2018.[30]
In 2019 Aalto participated in theeleventh series ofDancing on Ice. She was partnered withHamish Gaman, and after reaching the final, she and Garman finished in third place.[31] Aalto's songDance Like Nobody's Watching was the official song ofPride in London 2019.[32][33] That same year, Aalto founded her own record label titled No Fear Music. It was under that label she released herFairytale – International EP.
In September 2020, Aalto announced the release of her single, "When the Sun Goes Down", a collaboration with British drag queenBaga Chipz. She was also revealed to have parted ways with Warner Music in spring 2020.
In the fall of 2021, Aalto played the lead role in the musicalWe Will Rock You inHelsinki, Finland.[34]
Aalto was in a nine-year relationship with singerTeemu Roivainen [fi] which ended in 2013.[35] The two continued collaborating in music.
Aalto later began a relationship with a female fan, Meri Sopanen, who worked as a personal trainer and life coach;[36] she has since identified as alesbian.[37][38][39] Aalto and Sopanen became engaged on their second anniversary in August 2016,[40][41] and moved to London in January 2017.[42] The couple married in April 2020,[43] with Sopanen adopting Aalto's surname, but due to theCOVID-19 pandemic they were not able to hold a wedding ceremony and moved back to Finland in the spring of 2020. In the fall of 2021, the couple had a temporary home in Spain before returning to Finland in November.[44] They celebrated their wedding in Italy in June 2023.[45]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [46] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Blessed with Love |
| — | |||||||||||||||||
| Enkeleitä – Angels |
| — | |||||||||||||||||
| You Had My Heart |
| 43 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ai De Zhu Fu |
| — | |||||||||||||||||
| Tonight (withTeemu Roivainen) |
| — | |||||||||||||||||
| Wild Wild Wonderland |
| 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Fairytale – Joulun taikaa |
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Fairytale – International |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [46] | FIN (Air) [46] | ICE [47] | SWE Heat. [48] | |||||||||||||||||
| "Blessed with Love"[a] | 2011 | — | — | — | — | Blessed with Love | ||||||||||||||
| "You Had My Heart" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | You Had My Heart | ||||||||||||||
| "You Raise Me Up" (with Teemu Roivainen) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | Tonight | ||||||||||||||
| "No Fear"[b] | 2016 | — | — | — | — | Wild Wild Wonderland | ||||||||||||||
| "Monsters"[c] | 2018 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| "Domino"[c] | — | 18 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Queens"[c] | — | 12 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "DANCE!!!"[49] | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Dance Like Nobody's Watching"[50] | 2019 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| "Starry Skies" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – International | |||||||||||||||
| "Tähdet, taivas ja sä" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – Joulun taikaa | |||||||||||||||
| "Koska et oo täällä enää" | — | 41 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "When the Sun Goes Down" (withBaga Chipz) | 2020 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||||||||||||||
| "Every Christmas Day" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – International | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Sydämesi tyhjä huone" (Teemu Roivainen featuring Saara Aalto) | 2015 | Sydämesi tyhjä huone |
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "My Love"(The Voice Performance) | 2012 | Non-album singles |
| "Enkeleitä" | 2013 | |
| "Reach the Stars"[d] | 2014 | |
| "Feel Vegas" (with Teemu Roivainen featuring Big Spender) | 2015 | |
| "Let It Go"[51] | 2019 |
| Title | Year | Other Artists | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Art of Forgiveness"[52] | 2015 | Jonna | Sound Mind |
| "All I Ask of You"[e] | Waltteri Torikka | Sydän |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Tale of Despereaux | Princess Pea | Finnish version |
| 2010 | Alice in Wonderland | Alice | |
| 2011 | From Up on Poppy Hill | Umi | |
| 2012 | Brave | Soloist | |
| 2012 | Rise of the Guardians | Tooth Fairy | |
| 2013 | Frozen | Anna | |
| 2015 | Frozen Fever | ||
| 2017 | Olaf's Frozen Adventure | ||
| 2019 | Frozen 2 | ||
| 2024 | Wicked | Glinda |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–present | Bubble Guppies | Molly | Finnish version |
| 2011–2014 | Pokémon | Iris | |
| 2012–present | Winx Club | Musa | |
| 2015 | Hey Duggee | Norrie | |
| 2015 | Rocka-Bye Island | Lee | |
| 2016 | K3 | Kylie |
| Year | Award | Category | Results | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Iltalehti | Finnish Person of the Year | Won | [53] |
| 2017 | Vuoden Positiivisin Suomalainen | The Most Positive Person in Finland | Won | [54] |
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
