In an introspective new interview with Brazil’s Heavy Talk, former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen offered a glimpse into her emotional world, her past with the band, and a surprising new connection with another ex-Nightwish singer, Anette Olzon.
When asked about the fact that she and Olzon now follow each other on social media — and whether that could lead to a collaboration — Tarja sounded both amused and curious.
“Actually, I started following her recently, like recently, and I did not know that she had been planning a tour or some shows in Brazil or something like that. And a colleague, just from a previous phone conversation I had, he told me that she’s been commenting on some of my Instagram posts, and I was, like, ‘Huh. Okay. This is all news for me,’ which is fantastic.”
There’s a surprising tenderness in the way she continued: “I’ve never met her in person — I’ve never, never met her in person — so I would love to give her a hug. And we have a lot to talk about [laughs], I think. But I wish her all the best with her journey. And so I really hope she’s happy with what she’s doing. And so, yeah, thumbs up.”
This warmth stands in sharp contrast to the way Tarja reflects on her own time with Nightwish, which ended nearly two decades ago in a highly publicized split. When asked during a separate interview with Ibagenscast whether she misses anything from that era, her answer was firm:
“I don’t, actually. I don’t. Because the music lives. It lives in my heart. It lives out there. It will be forever. That will be forever. But the rest of it, I don’t. I can say ‘unfortunately’, in a way. I spent — what? — Almost nine years with the band. I’ve been a solo artist for the last 20 years. So it’s not that long time that I was in Nightwish. We did great albums together. We did great music together, but we were not happy, I have to say.”
For Tarja, the deeper issue wasn’t the music, but the emotional toll it took on her.
“This is the thing — happiness is everything to me. Even with the people that I work with today, I want everybody to be happy around me. It’s so important, because if you really go through this life without being happy, even without being able to be happy and feel the happiness… Music is emotion, and it starts eating you up. You need to find that love inside of you. Love, for me, was music. The first love ever in my life was music. And if I cannot express myself, really, with that love that is in me, it’s not good. I’m not in a good place.”
Her split from Nightwish back in 2005 was dramatic and deeply personal. The band dismissed her with an open letter, which was also published publicly at the time. In that message, the remaining members accused her of losing sight of the emotional core that once bound them together: “To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with emotions have become much more important.”
Nearly twenty years later, Tarja seems more at peace, yet that statement from her former bandmates continues to echo a rift rooted in more than just creative differences. Still, her curiosity and openness toward Anette Olzon — a woman she’s never even met — suggest that the doors of connection, at least on a human level, are not closed.
