Saara Aalto

At 36 years old, Saara Aalto has this physical status:

Saara Sofia Aalto (born 2 May 1987) is a Finnish singer, songwriter, and voice actor.

In 2012, she came second in the first season of The Voice of Finland.

Aalto's finish in 2016 was runner-up in the thirteenth series of The X Factor UK, which gained her international fame.

In 2018, Aalto debuted Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

She qualified for the grand final and ended in 25th place.

Aalto became a judge on X Factor Suomi later this year.

Early life

Aalto was born in Oulunsalo, Finland, and received piano lessons from pianist and pedagogue Olga Maslak. At the age of five, Aalto wrote her first song. Eeli Aalto, a painter and documentary filmmaker, and magician Simo Aalto are two of her close relatives. With a piece of her own creations, she won the Kotka Maritime Festival song competition for children in 1998 at the age of 11. In 2003, Aalto won the Charlotte Church international singing competition, which was hosted in the United States, with her own orchestra. In 2004, Aalto appeared in the Golden Stag International Song Competition in Romania. She attended Madetoja secondary school for music, where she graduated in 2005. She migrated to Helsinki to study music at the Sibelius Academy and, at the same time, studied singing in the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory.

Personal life

Aalto was involved in a nine-year partnership with singer Teemu Roivainen, which ended in 2013. Aalto and Roivainen's collaboration in music has continued. Meri Sopanen, a female fan who worked as a personal trainer and life coach, started a relationship with Aalto later in life. In August 2016, the two couples married on their two-year anniversary. Aalto has identifies as a lesbian. In January 2017, Aalto and Sopanen moved to London. In April 2020, the couple married in April 2020. They returned to Finland in the spring of 2020 as a result of the pandemic. The couple had a temporary home in Spain in the fall before returning to Finland in November of 2021.

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Career

She appeared in Talent Suomi ("Talent Finland") in 2007, placing in the top three in the Top Three.

Aalto has performed in Wicked - The Musical and as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar in addition to her singing career. She appeared in the Helsinki City Theatre musicals from 2008 to 2011, first as Kelsi in High School Musical on Stage! And then in Wicked, for the second time.

Aalto was selected twice in a separate process in order to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest. She appeared in the qualifying rounds in Finland for Eurovision 2011, placing second to Paradise Oskar, who went on to represent Finland. She received 47% of the public televotes in comparison to 45.7% for Oskar. Yume Records, a self-released record label that she co-founded with Teemu Roivainen in 2011, released Aalto's album as a single.

She was second in second attempt to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, winning the second edition of the competition Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. Despite winning the public vote, Sandhja was disdisadvantaged with the judging vote for the eventual champion Sandhja, who went on to represent Finland with the song "Sing It Away."

Aalto's music was described in an interview.

Following her appearance of "Blessed with Love" in qualification in Eurovision 2011, she revealed that in December she was involved in the Santa Claus Song Contest, where she performed "Ai De Zhu Fu," a Chinese (Mandarin) interpretation of her Eurovision song "Blessed with Love."

Aalto was guest vocalist on Robert Wells' highly acclaimed show Rhapsody in Rock at Shanghai's grand-dance theatre in November 2012. Aalto returned to China in June 2013 following a successful showing in Shanghai, opening for Spanish tenor José Carreras and performing several songs in Chinese, and bringing over 800 million viewers in ten countries.

Aalto continued to unleash a full album destined for China and other Chinese markets in July 2013. She appeared on nine of the album's 13 tracks in Mandarin.

Aalto appeared in season one of The Voice of Finland. With all four coaches, Elastinen, Lauri Tähkä, Paula Koivuniemi, and Michael Monroe, the blind auditions were broadcast on the Finnish commercial television channel Nelonen on February 6, 2012. She selected Team Monroe over Team Monroe.

She was confronted with teammate Anna Inginmaa on February 17th, with both singing "True Colors" in the Battle Round. Coach Monroe selected Aalto to advance to the next round after seeing coach Monroe's recommendation. She performed "Barracuda" in the live show on March 23rd and was saved by Monroe after struggling to gain enough votes from the public. After the public election, she continued her work with Serge Lama's French word "Je suis malade" and was safe. With her interpretation of "Over the Rainbow," she qualified for the finals on April 20th, where she sang "I'm Gonna Be Strong" from Frankie Laine and an original song titled "My Love" in the semifinals. She came in second second, second to champion Mikko Sipola.

In front of attending judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Nicole Scherzinger, who performed a cover of Sia's "Chandelier" which earned her three yeses from the judges, Aalto auditioned for the thirteenth UK series of The X Factor in 2016. She appeared on "On the Radio" by Donna Summer at Bootcamp and was promoted as part of the over-25s category, mentored by Sharon Osbourne, who was not present at her audition. Sheeran's "I See Fire" performed at the six-chair challenge, and Osbourne was sent home by Osbourne, who reported a lack of contact. However, after the crowd chanted to bring her back, Aalto was given a second chance and performed "Je suis malade" by Serge Lama, which prompted the audience to turn on her, though Scherzinger sluggishly, citing "We ain't in France." Aalto was then asked to leave by Osbourne, who ordered him to leave.

Aalto was sent back as Scherzinger's wildcard pick for the over-25s category, so he went to judges' houses. After appearing on "The Winner Takes It All," Osbourne selected her to attend the live shows. After performing "Let It Go" for week 1, Aalto finished in the bottom three along Freddy Parker and duo Bratavio. Aalto was saved after being rescued by the lifeline vote as Parker was saved by the lifeline's vote. She appeared on "Alive" as she was saved, with only Walsh voting to exclude her. She sang "River Deep – Peak High" and finished second in the bottom three the following week, this time alongside Ryan Lawrie and Parker. In a sing-off against Parker, Aalto performed "Run" in a lawman's revival by the lifeline vote. Walsh and Osbourne voted to ban Parker, while Smith and Cowell, who had the casting vote, voted against Aalto. The result sparked deadlock, and Aalto was saved because she had the higher public vote. In week 3, she sang "It's So Quiet" coming in 2nd place in the public vote, and in week 4, Aalto sang "Bad Romance," placing 3rd in the public vote. Aalto debuted in the bottom three for the third time alongside Sam Lavery and the group Four of Diamonds, for her third time, after her interpretation of "Sound of the Underground." Aalto performed "Who You Are" in a sing-off against Four of Diamonds as Lavery was saved by the lifeline vote, and she was saved with only Walsh voting to dismiss her. According to voting results, Aalto would not have been in the sing-off if there was no lifeline vote since she was the third most voted on the main election in the country's third week. In week 6, she received first place for "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) and "My Heart Will Go On" in week 6 overall, finishing second and "My Heart Will Go On" in week 7 again, placing 2nd. She sang "The Winner Takes It All" and a medley of "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in the quarter-finals, winning the public vote for the first time. Aalto became Osbourne's last remaining act in the competition following Relley C's and Honey G's elimination in week 3 and Honey G's quarter-finals.

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "Chandelier" as her second album, the latter as a duet with Adam Lambert in the semi-finals. With the expulsion of the group 5 after Midnight, she was in the top-two alongside Matt Terry. "It's Oh So Quiet" and "I Don't Know My Own Strength" were two of her "It's Oh So Quiet" and "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" in the final on December 11th. She came in second place in the ensuing public referendum, beating eventual winner Matt Terry by 40.4% of the votes.

In a press conference in December 2016, Aalto announced that she works with the joint effort of ROAR Global and Global career management companies, as well as Sony Music UK and Sony Music Finland. Aalto revealed in October 2017 that she had left Sony Music for Warner Music Group. "I was honored" that I had been signed to Sony," she said in a tweet. However, later that day, I felt they weren't the right team. When I first met the people at Warner, they were raving about my style and turning me into this huge theatrical actor." Aalto would represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 7, 2017. Yle and Saara Aalto unveiled the three bidding books, as well as a accompanying music video. Aalto was a judge on the second series of The X Factor, mentoring the children. Aalto was unable to attend the final night of The X Factor Finland due to her commitments to Eurovision, so Terry instead represented her, but Tika Liljegren, her category's last girl, Aalto's winning mentor, made Aalto the winning mentor. Aalto revealed on social media in March 2018 that her first album, Wild Wild Wonderland, would be released on April 27th, 2018.

Aalto's 11th collection of Dancing on Ice began in 2019. She and Garman were partnered with Hamish Gaman, and after qualifying, she and Garman finished in third place. Dance Like Nobody's Watching, Aalto's official song in London 2019, was released by Aalto. Aalto's first album release, No Fear Music, was released in the same year. Fairytale – International EP – was released under the name of her.

Aalto's single, "When the Sun Goes Down," a collaboration with British drag queen Baga Chipz, will be released in September 2020. In Spring 2020, she was also announced to have left Warner Music.

Aalto played a leading role in the film We will Rock You in Helsinki, Finland, in the fall of 2021.

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