Tell us about your new CD, "What Lies Beneath".
It was a long and creative process for me. It took two year to compose the music and to produce the album. It's a very personal album for me, and I put my whole heart, sweat and passion into it. I'm very happy to see now that I managed to do it alone, but I was also helped by lots of people who supported me. Now, when I listen to the music, I am happy with the result. This was my goal, and fortunately I reached it.

How do you see your career these days?
I was very lucky to be able to have a career in music. It was a very emotional journey! I was very lucky, and I was blessed also that I met so many great people who respect me and we work together. This doesn't happen every day and not for everyone. I have an international career as a singer, and that means very much to me, as I was born in a village of just 500 people. I never would have thought that I can conquest the wold with my own songs and voice!

What are your plans about your career in the future?

I have many shows in the "What Lies Beneath" tour, and I also started composing and planning the new album. This year I hope I'll be able to focus not only on the album, but also on some new side projects on which I have been working for some time. One of them is completely classical, and the other is very different from everything I have done so far. I'm thrilled about it! Anyway, I know this will be a busy year and I hope that I will be healthy enough to face all the challenges.

What are your main influences?
Soundtracks, classical music and metal.

What inspires you when you are composing?
This really depends on what is happening in my life when I am composing. It can be a sudden event, the people around me, something that troubles me, or something that toughes me. I need to have a reason for every song.

What are your lyrics about?

Exactly what I said before. I am a dreamer, so I love writing about dreams.

Joe Satriani participated on your new CD, on Falling Awake. Tell us about that.

I was thinking about aguitar solo on Falling Awake, and I was talking abou it with Doug Wimbish, who told me he had a contact with Joe. Doug knows him personally, but I thoght he wouldn't want to play, but then we met in the US during the production of the album and I played him the song, he loved it! He recorded the solo a few days after. I was so happy!

Some of your lyrics were inspired by Paulo Coelho. Tell us about that.

Paulo is my hero. I read all his books in English and at the moment I'm reading them in Finnish. I love how he writes about dreams, about our problems and about us. Some songs are very heavily inspired by him, for example Falling Awake, The Reign, and Die Alive.

What are the expectations of your tour in Brazil?

Don't look at the time! My last visit in Brazil was a long time ago and it was amazing to feel the reception of the audience in Rio and Sao Paulo. So I'm very happy to come back. I hope that everything will go well this time too. Thank you for the support.

How is your solo career here in Brazil?

It's incredible! The only thing that made me unhappy was the fact that the record label didnot release my first album, and many fans told me they couldn't find the album in stores, so I was very sad. It seems that now they are a bit more awake (for this) Anyway, the fans are amazing.

Would you like to say a few words to the Brazilian fans?

The onlything I want to say is how blessed I feel to be able to sing for you once again. It's really unbelievable to feel your love and passion for the music. Very soon, we will have fun together and I hope that it will be fun also for you, not only for me. Keep being how you are! See you soon.

English translation: Arina (Unia)