Saara Aalto is the person, who could be named as Finland’s new national hero. During 2016, she became known all over Europe for her talent and success. In February, Saara participated in the Finnish national Eurovision preselections, Uuden musiikin kilpailu (UMK) and finished second with her self-written “No fear”.
During the autumn, Saara became known not only in Britain, but all over Europe as a successful X Factor UK contestant. Saara’s journey lasted until the very end, and this time ending up on the second position is probably the best possible result for her. Saara has signed recording deals with both Sony Music Finland and Simon Cowell‘s Syco, which is part of Sony Music UK.
Saara’s first homecoming concert on the Senate Square in Helsinki
In the middle of her busy X Factor weeks, Saara surprised everybody with her homecoming visit to Helsinki. The wonderful outdoor concert took place on the 5th December, just prior to the Finnish national day. Saara was greeted by 10 000 fans – not to count in all the fans who arrived to the airport to see her!
The event was exceptional, as it was produced on the terms of the X Factor show. The Brits had brought their own television crew to film the performance and the reactions of the audience. The beautiful surroundings – the Helsinki Cathedral and Christmas lights – provided a worthy background to Saara and gave Finland a lot of promotion, as the clips were shown on tv during the X Factor final.
Dressed in a white show fairy outfit, Saara was accompanied by the X Factor host Dermot O’Leary. She performed four songs: her own “No fear”, “Let it go” (from the movie Frozen), “Chandelier” by Sia and “The winner takes it all” by ABBA, after which the show ended with fireworks.
The homecoming show at the gay night club DTM in Helsinki
Just nine days after the amazing X Factor final, on the 20th December, Saara flew back to Helsinki and was ready for a press meeting at the hotel Kämp and a small gig at the gay night club DTM. The club is not normally open on Tuesdays, but this time, it kept the doors open for Saara’s “real homecoming” event and was filled with excited guests.
Saara was happy to give an hour-long interview and she also answered many questions from her fans. We got to hear some interesting details about her X Factor time. One of her costumes – that she wore during the 6th week while performing “No more tears (enough is enough)” – included very sharp spikes of glass mirror. During the rehearsals Saara got onto the stage wearing the suit and high heels. That moment, Saara’s mentor Sharon Osbourne and the production team got horrified and decided that the suit was simply too dangerous for Saara to wear; if she fell, the mirror spikes would pierce her throat! After the rehearsal, Saara noticed that the spikes had already made her arms to bleed. The costumiers had to remove the mirror spikes and sew them back to the suit differently. “Actually, every week, all my outfits were really dangerous!”, Saara concluded.
Saara performed two songs, both originally hits of the 90’s, which she had sung on the X Factor stage: “Oh it’s so quiet” by Björk and “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey. She asked all her fans to use the new #nofear2017 tag for anything courageous we would be doing this year.
Watch the full interview at DTM below (in Finnish):
Saara’s visit to northern Finland
Saara comes from the northern Finland, near the city of Oulu, where she visited right after Christmas, on the 28th December 2016. Thousands of people gathered to the market square in Oulu despite of the – 10° C temperature and cold wind, to hear Saara sing some of the familiar X Factor songs.
The city of Oulu recognized Saara’s work by awarding her with a stipend, which was worth of 5000 euros. The sum can be compared to a award received by an Olympic winner, but has not been given to any artists or musicians before. This clearly shows how highly appreciated Saara now is in her home country.
Saara talked a lot about how she learned music at her former school, especially the piano lessons. In high school, she attended the music class, and it was then she discovered that she wanted to be a singer and not a classical pianist.
New Year’s Eve celebrations
In 2017, Finland will be one hundred years old as an independent country, and the centennial celebrations started on New Year’s Eve. Not surprisingly, Saara was one of the artists invited in the festivities that took place in central Helsinki. About 100 000 people gathered around the Kansalaistori Square to see the show with many well-known Finnish artists. Saara performed “Chandelier” and the whole show was broadcasted live by Yle.
Watch the performance on Yle Areena (link expires 30th January 2017): http://areena.yle.fi/1-3909808
Saara was also a star artist at Casino Helsinki’s New Year show. She gave a wonderful performance of three songs together with the live band Osmo Ikonen Swings.
After all the celebrations, Saara returned to London in early January and has started working on her new music. She has even hinted about a double album! Saara will be touring in Britain for the X Factor Live tour during February and March.
Saara’s next bigger event in Finland will be the upcoming mega concert titled “In My Wildest Dreams” at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki during the Easter holidays, on the 15th April 2017. Many Eurovision fans can remember the arena as the location where the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was held.
Saara has shown us that she’s got the talent, the voice, the charm and the determination – and now when the stars are on her side, we are looking forward to more surprises and wonderful music from her in the future.
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