Saara Aalto

Saara Aalto (2018)

Saara Sofia Aalto (born May 2, 1987 in Oulunsalo , Oulu , Northern Ostrobothnia ) is a Finnish singer and voice actress . She represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon with the song Monsters .

Life

Aalto grew up in a musical family and concentrated on music as a child. Her piano teacher was the pianist and pedagogue Olga Maslak. Saara wrote her first song at the age of five. Her close relatives include the painter and documentary director Eeli Aalto and the magician Simo Aalto. In 1998, at the age of 11, she won the children's song competition at the Lake Festival in Kotka with one of her own compositions. Aalto also won the Charlotte Church International Singing Competition , organized in the United States in 2003 . She attended the Leevi Madetoja music school , where she graduated from high school in 2005. After graduation, she moved to Helsinki to study music and singing at the Sibelius Academy . At the beginning of 2017, she and her partner moved to London , England .

Career

Aalto became particularly well-known in public for her cover version of Let It Go , the theme song of the Disney film Frozen , which she sang in a total of 15 languages ​​and then uploaded to YouTube . The video currently has over 4.5 million views.

The Voice of Finland and Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu

In 2012, Aalto took second place in the first season of The Voice of Finland . In 2011 and 2016 she also took part in the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2017 (UMK), the Finnish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest, and came fourth and second.

X-Factor

In 2016 Aalto took part in the British X Factor . After she was eliminated in the “Six Chair Challenge”, she was brought back into the “Auditions” with a wildcard. Aalto reached the finals, finishing second behind Matt Terry .

In 2018 she was one of the four jurors in the second season of the Finnish edition of X-Factor . Aalto looked after the group of women under the age of 25. On May 6th, candidate Tika Liljegren , supervised by Aalto, won the season.

Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Aalto came in penultimate place (25th) in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. In a press conference on November 7, 2017, the Finnish television Yle announced that Aalto had been selected internally as the Finnish representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 . A preliminary decision was planned ( Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2018 ), as in previous years, but the rules for the preliminary decision were changed: Aalto presented a total of three songs. The audience in Finland decided 50% with which of the three songs Aalto should represent Finland at the ESC. The other 50% came from an international jury from European countries, as in 2017. As in the previous year, the preliminary decision took place in the Espoo Metro Areena .

In 2019 she took part in the eleventh season of the British figure skating show Dancing on Ice .

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

You Had My Heart   FI 43 22/2013 (1 week) Wild Wild Wonderland   FI 2 18/2018 (8 weeks) Fairytale - Joulun taikaa   FI 10 47/2019 (4 weeks)

Singles

Monsters   FI 14th 7/2018 (1 week)

Albums

• 2011: Blessed with Love
• 2011: Enkeleitä - Angels
• 2013: You Had My Heart
• 2013: Ai De Zhu Fu
• 2015: Tonight (with Teemu Roivainen)
• 2018: Wild Wild Wonderland
• 2019: Fairytale - Joulun taikaa

Singles

• 2011: Blessed with Love
• 2013: You Had My Heart
• 2014: You Raise Me Up (with Teemu Roivainen)
• 2016: No Fear
• 2018: Monsters
• 2018: Dominoes
• 2018: Queens
• 2018: DANCE !!!

Web links

Commons : Saara Aalto  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Saara Aalto: Saara Aalto - Let It Go (Frozen) Multi-Language, 15 languages. September 4, 2016, accessed November 7, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Finland: Saara Aalto To Eurovision 2018 - Eurovoix . In: Eurovoix . November 7, 2017 ( eurovoix.com [accessed November 7, 2017]).
3. ↑ Love Island's Wes and Grease star Didi Con join Dancing on Ice , October 5, 2018, BBC News
4. ^ Chart discography Finland