Tarja Turunen, the Finnish voice of Opera Metal, has just released her second album. Having been the singer of Nightwish from 1996 to 2005, What lies beneath   is another important step for her career as a solo-artist. On heart4metal she gives an insight to her life and to the background of her new release.

With What lies beneath  you are following the musical path you have already taken with My Winter Storm. Thereby your new album sounds a lot rougher and even more self-confident than the previous album. Would you say that you’ve now found your musical line or is What lies beneath just another step in your musical development?
Tarja: In music there is always something you have to learn and there is always somebody better than you. Progress or making a development is a never ending story. And talking about What lies beneath: yes, it sounds more self-confident and it is more direct. Definitely it is a very, very personal album for me. This time I feel that I succeeded in making the whole picture exactly how I wanted it to be. Maybe next time it will be something different again, because that’s the progress I can make as a solo-artist. What lies beneath is definitely a picture of me today: As a woman, as an artist and as a happy, independent person.

The opening track on your Storm over Europe-concerts last year was Enough. This song is not included on one of your albums. People could get the impression that Enough  is your answer to Nightwishs Bye Bye Beautiful. Would you agree that it was originally meant as a kind of liberation act?
Tarja: No, I wouldn’t. Actually the song is available on a Special Edition of My Winter Storm – but it was never meant to be an answer to something. I don’t feel like being on that level of discussing things through my music.

The line “what lies beneath” is a part of the song Naiad  which can only be found as a bonus-track of the Special Edition – why is it not included on the Standard Edition?
Tarja: I’ve written many songs for the album – actually a lot more than had been asked for or would ever be heard. Naiad  was the first song to be written for the album – and it’s a beautiful song. It talks about my love for the underwater world. After all the songs had been produced and recorded, it was very difficult to put them into the correct order. Having had so many songs I felt that Naiad  is a very special song and as I wanted something really special for that edition I decided to go for it.

Within the last years you have been working with numerous musicians. Do you think there will be a stable base of artists around the soloist Tarja from now on?
Tarja: I’ve been very lucky to have all these musicians with me. All of them are professionals and sometimes they have their schedules and their own business to do. That is completely understandable – but because of that I always have to be aware of changes. Concerning the question if I would like to play in a band or continue as a solo-artist: I’m very open and I have never said “no” to a band. But now it’s the time for me being a solo-artist. How long that will take – we shall see.

Your style of music sounds very headstrong and individual. In spite of the fact that it contains various classical elements, categorizing it as Symphonic Metal doesn’t seem to be fully right. How would you describe your music to somebody who doesn’t know Tarja?
Tarja: It’s a core mix of classic and rock I would say.

But you wouldn’t classify it as Symphonic Metal?
Tarja: That’s right – it’s something different.

For many years you had been considered as the voice of Nightwish. With My Winter Storm  you’ve already left their musical style behind you. Looking back – would you say that you fully identified yourself with their compositions? To what degree had you been involved in their songwriting – and how is the situation today with you being a solo-artist?
Tarja: I was a part of the band for nine years and I had been involved in the arrangement of the songs, but I didn’t write songs for Nightwish. That was impossible – no way. But music was never a problem, there were other issues. Today I am a solo-artist and you can’t compare these two worlds as the situation is very different: I write the songs whether on my own or with somebody I love to work with. For example with Johnny Andrews – a songwriter from Atlanta who has connections to the Finnish scene and has been working with bands like Apocalyptica and 69 Eyes. I got in touch with him through my management. We wrote the first songs together. It was a great collaboration! He is such a brilliant writer, such an easy going person with a great personality. Regarding What lies beneath  we wrote four songs together.

During the last years you have played countless concerts all over the world. Are there any plans for another extensive headlining tour after playing the gigs as a support act for Alice Cooper?
Tarja: Yes, there will be a headlining tour – and there will be a concert in Zurich in November as well. I’m looking forward to it very much as I really had nice concerts in Switzerland and I always have loved to be there. My husband and I even dream about moving to Switzerland one day…

The lyrics of What lies beneath sound quite gloomy, are reflective, nearly melancholic. Sadness and isolation seem to be omnipresent – also in the illustrations within the booklet. Do you retrieve yourself in the lyrics? Is Tarja the melancholic type of person?
Tarja: A part of me is melancholic. It’s coming basically from where I was born and where I was spending my childhood, from what I was doing when I was a teenager and where I went when I grew up. I was born in a village of 500 people and now I’m living in this huge city of Buenos Aires – far away from the place I was born. All what happened in between is an incredible journey that is really scary sometimes – on reflecting what I have seen and what I’ve experienced. I am 33 years of age now and I am very confident in what I am doing but there are still so many things to learn. There certainly is some melancholy in me but there is a lot of positive as well. People do consider me as a lion. I’m very ambitious in reaching my goals and I’m going for my dreams. Apart from that I am a romantic dreamer – maybe that’s where the melancholy comes from.

Talking about the lyrics of What lies beneath

Until my last breath
“I’m giving up this ghost”. Who or what might be the ghost you’re giving up?
Tarja: Well, everyone of us might have his ghost. The song itself was inspired by the bad happenings in connection with Michael Jacksons dead – how people changed without even realizing it. To see what happens to us in a situation like that is very sad.

Little lies
“Little lies making up tragedies. Nothing is what it seems. Who cares what is real… Little lies only to entertain…” Does the song reflect your experiences with the press?
Tarja: No, absolutely not. I never wanted to point the finger onto anything that happened in my life. It seems very sad to me to write songs about people I’ve met.

Dark Star
“You’re the master in your own mind, but a slave to all…” Who could that be, this Dark Star?
Tarja: The Dark Star is nobody in special. There is a red line and symbolic meaning behind all songs of What lies beneath: That’s the question about what is lying beyond human beings, how important it could be for us to check out twice what we feel and who we are, what we do and why we do the things we do. Dark Star  is another song for motivating people to reflect whether they are real or not – by asking the question if they are what they pretend to be…

The Archive of lost dreams
Who is Naiad and what is the secret she’s hiding?
Tarja: She’s a water nymph and the song is telling the story about her life under water.

Two final questions…

Various gothic-singers consider you as their ideal, copying not only your style of singing, but also your appearance and dress style. For a long time you have achieved the status of a style icon – would you consider yourself as the gothic Madonna?
Tarja: No I wouldn’t. Style and fashion are very important for me – actually it is one of the crucial points for me being an artist. I’m designing my clothes more or less by myself and a friend of mine who lives in Finland does the tailoring for me. I find it really fascinating how many girls consider me as an icon and really go for my style.

What would have happened if the young Tarja hadn’t become a member of Nightwish 14 years ago? Would she have focused her career completely on classical music?
Tarja: It’s very hypothetical to think about what would have happened without me going down that road with the band. I was very young when I started with Nightwish – so it’s really hard to tell. What I can say is: I always had been a girl jumping into challenges. I love challenges…