Sara Forsberg | |
|---|---|
 Forsberg performing in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Born | Sara Maria Forsberg (1994-05-02)2 May 1994 (age 31) Jakobstad, Finland |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Genre | Music |
| Subscribers | 1.12 million |
| Views | 148 million |
| Last updated: 12 December 2025 | |
Sara Maria Forsberg (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈsɑrɑˈmɑriɑˈforsbærj][dubious –discuss]; born 2 May 1994), formerly known professionally asSAARA,Smo,Smoukahontas, orSmokahontas, is a Finnish singer, songwriter,YouTube personality, and television presenter. As a singer, Forsberg was signed toCapitol Records in 2014 and released her debut single "Ur Cool" in April 2015, which went on to become a top ten hit in her home country of Finland. She left in early 2016 after disagreements with the label and her producer.[1] Forsberg has continued to release music as an independent artist in affiliation withUniversal Music Group. As of November 2017, her YouTube channel has more than a million subscribers and over 100 million views.[2]
Forsberg was born on 2 May 1994 inJakobstad,Finland. Her father was born inSweden.[3][4][5] Her native language isFinnish, although she spoke mainly English in the first six years of her life as she lived abroad with her family; due to her parents' careers asBaptist missionaries, she moved frequently as a child, living inTexas for five years and the United Kingdom for a year, before returning to Finland permanently.[6][7][8][9] Forsberg spent a few years in a music academy inJakobstad and later studied to become a chef before embarking on a singing career.[10][11]
In October 2023, Forsberg revealed that she was bornintersex and had been diagnosed withSwyer syndrome as a teenager.[12] Earlier in 2016, she revealed she hasbreast implants.[13]
Since her video "What Languages Sound Like to Foreigners" was posted on YouTube on 3 March 2014 on her channel Smoukahontas Official (which subsequently has been changed into SAARA), it has been seen over 20 million times as of June 2018. Her ability to mimicaccents and speech melodies of different languages, which included Japanese,Estuary English, American withCalifornia accent, Swedish, French, Arabic and Spanish, using mainlynonexistent words, was praised by media in a number of countries.[14][15][16][17][18]
In the first sequel, she re-impersonated some of the languages from the initial video and added new ones, including "Something African" and "Scottish". In another sequel, her "One Girl, 14 Genres" video, a number of musical genres were mimicked.[19]
In July 2014, it was revealed that Forsberg had signed a record deal withCapitol Records withRodney Jerkins acting as her executive producer. Capitol Records chairman and CEOSteve Barnett said that the only artists that he had the same feeling about other than Forsberg wereAdele andSam Smith.[20] She is the first Finnish person to be signed to a major American record label.[21][self-published source] Her debut single "Ur Cool" was released on 21 April 2015 and became a Top 10 single in Finland. In February 2016, Forsberg left Capitol Records. She told in her YouTube video that the producer Jerkins had left Capitol Records and she was left stranded, contractually not being allowed to work without him. Owing to the unwillingness of the producer to let her out of the contract, Capitol Records agreed to terminate her contract and let her go create freely again. Saara also said in the video that she felt bad promoting a single she absolutely hated.[22]
In April 2016, Saara's manager Johannes Ylinen announced that Saara had signed with Universal Music Group, with which she would continue releasing music independently.[1][23] Forsberg released her debut EPHello I'm Saara on 27 May 2016. The EP's lead single, "The Urge", was released in June 2016.[24]
In 2017, Saara published three singles: in February, "Permission to Love"; in March, "Superpowers"; and in October, the single "All the Love ft. Jillionaire".[citation needed]
On 2 May 2018, her birthday, Saara released her second albumAlmost Acoustic EP with four new songs and one remix. On the same day she also had her first YouTube live concert.[25][26]
Forsberg also writes music for other artists. In July 2015, it was revealed that Forsberg has writing credit for the K-pop bandGirls' Generation song "You Think" in their albumLion Heart. The song charted on Billboard's digital song list at nr. 3 September 2015.[27] In 2016, Forsberg co-wrote the song "My Heart Wants Me Dead" byLisa Ajax forMelodifestivalen 2016, as well as the song "Drip Drop" byTaemin from his second solo albumPress It.[citation needed]
In June 2015, Forsberg was featured on the song "Vauvoja" by Finnish singerKasmir. The song went on to reach number-one on the Finnish downloads and airplay charts.[28][29] In the summer of 2017 Saara was featured on the song "Can't Buy Love" by THRDL!FE.[30]
In April 2014, Forsberg signed a development deal with production/distribution company Omnivision Entertainment/My Damn Channel.[31] In May 2014, Forsberg relocated toLos Angeles to perform on a YouTube channel affiliated with My Damn Channel called "WestToastTV" in addition to maintaining her own personal channel.[32][33]
In October 2014, it was revealed that Forsberg has a small role in the Hong Kong-Chinese-American filmSkiptrace directed by Finnish directorRenny Harlin.[34]
In December 2015, the news broke that Forsberg had spent the last 18 months working withLucasfilm and was the creator of an alien language used inStar Wars: The Force Awakens.[35] In July 2016, it was revealed that Forsberg had created another alien language for a Hollywood film, this time for the filmStar Trek Beyond, in which she has also a minor voice role as an alien named Kalara.[36]
In 2016, Forsberg worked as a judge on the fifth season ofTalent Suomi, the Finnish version ofGot Talent.[37]
On 5 February 2017, a new Finnish game show calledKaikki vastaan 1 ("Everyone Against 1") began airing live on Sunday evenings on the Finnish network,Nelonen TV, with Forsberg as a co-host. The first season ran until 9 April 2017. Also, in February 2017, Forsberg began hostingRemotely Funny, a British game show onCBBC.[38]
In 2018, Forsberg went on appearing on Finnish TV, in spring on the contestPallon ympäri ("Around The Globe"), where she has been travelling around the world by performing tasks as one of the three competitors.[39] She has been told to go on co-hosting again the studio contestKaikki vastaan 1 in autumn 2018.[40]
Forsberg was interviewed on BritishBBC Radio,[41] Finnish public radioYle[42] and Swedish TV[43] in which she confirmed that she was contacted by a producer fromThe Ellen DeGeneres Show.[7] For approximately 180 seconds, she was a guest on the show on 7 April 2014 and she took home a tripod and a camera as a gift fromDeGeneres.[44] The trip was documented in a short series titledSara Goes LA which was produced by Finnish broadcaster MTV and has also been published on YouTube since.[45]
Forsberg announced her new clothing line FRSBRG in May 2015 and advertised it to her Finnish viewers with a number of well known celebrities from her home country.[46] It was planned to be released in November the same year.[47]
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [48] | |||
| 2015 | "Ur Cool" | 10 | Non-album single |
| 2016 | "The Urge" | — | Hello I'm Saara |
| "Honey" (featuringRich the Kid) | — | ||
| 2017 | "Permission to Love" | — | Non-album single |
| "Superpowers" | — | ||
| "All the Love" (featuringJillionaire) | — | ||
| 2018 | "Sangria" | — |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [48] | |||
| 2015 | "Vauvoja" (Kasmir featuring Saara) | 2 | Non-album single |
| "Whatcha Waitin On" (Tay Jasper featuring Saara) | — | Non-album single | |
| 2017 | "Can't Buy Love" (THRDL!FE featuring Saara) | — | Non-album single |
| Year | Song | Album | Artist | Cowriters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "Vauvoja" | N/a | Kasmir feat. Saara | Kasmir, Hank Solo,Jonas W. Karlsson,Mikko Kuoppala |
| "You Think" | Lion Heart | Girls Generation | Cho Yoon-kyung, Dante Jones, Brandon Sammon, Denzil "DR" Remedios,Ryan S. Jhun, Jussi Ilmari Karvinen | |
| 2016 | "My Heart Wants Me Dead" | Collection | Lisa Ajax | Anton Hård af Segerstad,Linnea Deb,Joy Deb,Nikki Flores |
| "The 7th Sense" | NCT 2018 Empathy | NCT U | Timothy "Bos" Bullock, Tay Jasper, Adrian Mckinnon, Michael Jiminez,Leven Kali | |
| "I Just Wanna Dance" | I Just Wanna Dance | Tiffany | Timothy "Bos" Bullock, Michael Jiminez, MZMC | |
| "Starlight" | Why | Taeyeon andDean | Lee Seu-ran, Jamil "Digi" Chammas, Taylor Mckall, Tay Jasper, Adrian McKinnon, Leven Kali, MZMC | |
| "Drip Drop" | Press It | Taemin | Park Sunghee,Jamil Chammas, Tay Jasper,Jonathan Perkins, Michael Jiminez, Leven Kali, MZMC | |
| "Keep On Doin' | Free Somebody | Luna | Le`mon, JQ, Bae Seong-hyeon,Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad,Joy Neil Mitro Deb,Linnea Mary Han Deb | |
| 2017 | "Rookie" | Rookie | Red Velvet | Jamil "Digi" Chammas, Leven Kali, Karl Powell, Harrison Johnson, Russell Steedle, MZMC, Otha "Vakseen", Davis III, Tay Jasper |
| 2018 | "RBB (Really Bad Boy)" | RBB | Kenzie, Timothy 'Bos' Bullock, MZMC | |
| "Nega Dola" | One Shot, Two Shot | BoA | JQ, Kang Eun-yoo, On-gyul, Hyun Ji-wo, BoA, Afshin Salmani,Josh Cumbee,Yoo Young-jin, AFSHeeN | |
| "Countless" | The Story of Light: Epilogue | SHINee | Jeon Gandi, Jamil "Digi" Chammas, Adrian McKinnon, Tay Jasper, Leven Kali, MZMC, Yoo Young-jin | |
| 2024 | "No Clue" | Walk | NCT 127 | Mike Daley, Mitchell Owens, Wilbart "Vedo" McCoy III, Tay Jasper, Adrian Mckinnon, Michael Jiminez |
| 2025 | "Style" | Focus | Hearts2Hearts | Mike Daley, Mitchell Owens, Adrian McKinnon,Kenzie |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Herself | Guest |
| Sara Goes LA | Herself | Reality show | |
| 2014, 2015 | Posse [fi] | Herself | Talk show (seasons 1, 2) |
| 2016 | Talent Suomi | Herself | Judge (season 5) |
| Skiptrace | Natalya | Movie | |
| Star Trek Beyond | Kalara (voice) | Movie | |
| 2017 | Kaikki vastaan 1 | Herself | Co-host (season 1, 10 episodes) |
| 2017–2018 | Remotely Funny | Herself | Host (35 episodes) |
I'm only 63.8% Finnish? Well, actually, no, that makes sense because most of my dad's family is originally from Sweden.
Båda hennes föräldrar är finskspråkiga, även om pappan är född i Sverige. [Both her parents are Finnish-speaking, even though her father was born in Sweden.]
Mä lauloin pari vuotta musiikkiopistossa Pietarsaaressa, mutta se jäi sitku mä muutin toiselle paikkakunnalle. [I sang for a couple of years in a music institute in Jakobstad, but didn't pick it up again after moving away.]
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