Episode 33: Tarja Turunen (Tarja, ex-Nightwish)

From a young age, everyone around her seemed to know that Tarja Turunen would have a future in music due to her incredible voice.  What many didn’t see coming though, was the way in which that voice would become part of a groundbreaking style of music that essentially created an entirely new genre of music.   After years of training in her youth and teenage years as in classical music, Tarja was seemingly faced with a decision to make based on two opportunities presented before her.  The first was to join a local symphony as their soloist, a position she had been preparing for for years through her schooling and vocal lessons.  The second option was to join an acoustic project that would become the genre-transforming symphonic metal band Nightwish that in a few short years would reach international acclaim.  As you might be able to tell, she chose the latter, with her incredible lead vocals being one of the main reasons Nightwish became a household name around the world for their unique blend of operatic singing and power metal. 

As the band continued to rise in popularity with each subsequent release, it seemed that the most challenging choice for Tarja had been a successful one.  That meteoric rise would come to an abrupt halt at the end of Once Upon a Tour in 2025, as she was unceremoniously fired from the band.  The events surrounding their separation have been well-documented by other sources, but the way in which they transpired had a lasting effect on her, so much so that she left her home country of Finland. 

Faced with a new set of challenges, Tarja once again embarked into the unknown and decided to go solo.  Starting first with a Christmas themed album in 2006, she released her first metal record, My Winter Storm, in 2007.  The lyrics to the album were largely introspective, dealing with the emotions she had felt from the happenings of the past few years: fear, determination, resilience, defiance, and independence.  Those themes would continue to weave throughout her subsequent releases, which have catapulted Tarja to international stardom in the metal world as she routinely tours the globe performing for spellbound audiences. 

Her latest album, Frisson Noir, delves into those same concepts with which the world was first introduced to her as a solo artist, and packs perhaps the heaviest punch of any album in her catalog.  I had a chance to catch up with Tarja and discuss the new record, and a number of other things, including:

• why it was the right time for her to get back to metal, the album’s title and its meaning, the concept of frisson, and how it fits the music she’s delivered on this record.
• releasing a 10-minute song as a first single, the composition process for “At Sea,” her defiant second single “I Don’t Care,” and why Dani Filth was the perfect counterpart for her voice on the track.
• Tarja’s dream collaborator for a duet, her process for writing a song for former Nightwish bandmate Marko Hietala, and how it feels to have rekindled that friendship. 
• getting on stage at Tuska 2025 in Finland, the YLE “The World’s Best” podcast about her, and reflections on her joining Nightwish so many years prior and now having the opportunity to pursue both metal and classical music.

Tarja was wonderful to speak with and gave me a sense of gratitude for every opportunity that she has been given.  A common theme in both her life and music, the first single’s setting of the turbulent sea provides a perfect analogy.  Tarja has battled rough seas in many different contexts throughout her life and career, and each time the storm she faced has turned into the truth she delivers on each one of her records.