Only a few days before the semifinal rehearsals for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest started in Lisbon, Finland’s representative Saara Aalto released a new album full of dancepop tunes. The album, titled Wild wild wonderland, was released on 27th April, and the following day Saara attracted a large number of fans to meet her in the Forum shopping center in Helsinki.
Saara’s new album is a wonderland of dance tunes
The new album naturally includes her ESC song “Monsters”, as well as the two other songs, “Domino” and “Queens”, from the Finnish national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) 2018. Several songwriters have collaborated writing the songs with Saara. The song with a Finnish-language title, “Hän” (meaning he/she) is nonetheless sung in English and is also a collaboration with Joy and Linnea Deb.
Saara’s album went straight to number 1 in Finnish charts. It has also charted in Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and Belgium so far.
Saara has already gotten lots of positive reactions from her fans regarding her album. Some of the listeners want to name it the pop album of the year! Saara is overwhelmed by the positive international reviews where the album has been compared to the music of Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Whitney Houston. Saara hopes her album will open the road to other Finnish artists to create international sounding music.
Saara is asked about her favourite song on the album – or a song she finds particularly special.
– This album is my baby, and giving birth to it was rather painful. Therefore I love each and every one of the songs in their own way. “Don’t deny our love” is a special song to me. It has the message that love is worth taking the risk and not to be feared of.
Nearly all of the songs on the album are uptempo songs. Saara thinks it has to do with the phase she has been living recently, with so much going on at the same time.
– Everything is possible right now and there is a lot of energy in my life, that’s what you can hear in the songs as well, Saara says and looks like she is about to start dancing right away.
The only ballad on the album, “Dance like nobody’s watching”, was also originally an uptempo track. When Saara was playing it on the piano, she felt that with its lovely melody and lyrics, the song could work as a ballad.
A big show and thousands of crystals on the Eurovision stage
Saara is not yet nervous about her performance in the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest.
– I haven’t had the time to get nervous yet. On Sunday I’m on the Finnish X Factor, performing “Monsters” there as well. After that, when I’m travelling to Lisbon, I can start getting excited about the rehearsals. It’s a huge stage, so it’s going to be quite wooow, Saara explains.
– Eurovision has been my dream for 20 years, so this is really the dream come true for me. I’ve always portrayed myself on the Eurovision stage with a big show, so that’s what it’s going to be. People have really loved the video of me doing the piano version of “Monsters” in 34 languages, and have been asking for me to perform that version at Eurovision. But you can perform with a piano anywhere, but you can’t build a big show everywhere. The Eurovision stage is made for spectacular shows, so I want to make use of that – whether you like it or not, Saara laughs.
Saara has previously revealed that there will be something really special in her performance that nobody else has done yet. What is it?
– I will be wearing 11 000 Swarovski crystals, she says and gets a huge applause.
– My hair will be on a ponytail, a bit like right now. But I won’t be doing my hair myself for Eurovision, she giggles.
Saara thanked for all her fans for the support and continued signing cd covers, posters and fan cards and having photos taken with her fans. In addition to the cd, there was new fan merchandise for sale: t-shirts, a poster, a bag and Saara’s book No fear in English and Finnish versions. All these products and more can be bought in Saara’s own webshop, the No Fear Shop.
On the cd booklet notes, Saara thanks all the people who have helped her, and says:
I have proven to myself, and hopefully to all of you, that everything is possible. — The songs on this album are stories of finding your strength and courage. I hope they can help all of you find your wild wild wonderland.
Listen to Wild wild wonderland on Spotify:
Video: Saara meeting her fans and signing her new album
Video: Interview with Saara (in Finnish)