One of our favourite stars of the year embarks on a 24-date European tour this Autumn, reflects on Eurovision and what happens next for her in our interview below.

• Read on for reasons including what Saara Aalto’s message for the readers of monstagigz is

monstagigz: Your songs – especially No Fear and Monsters – are a real inspiration to your fans and, in particular the LGBT+ community, do you have a message for the readers of monstagigz?

SA: I just want to say this world is so ready to love everyone as they are. The more we dare to be ourselves, the better place this world will be. Thanks to the internet the world is getting smaller and we can always find friends and supportive people somewhere in the world. Just be brave and go find the place where you are accepted! That’s what I did when I went to the X Factor UK.. I went somewhere new and found amazing people who truly got me. It was the best thing to happen to me!

mg: Your new album Wild Wild Wonderland is 1 of our favourites of the year, did it turn out the way you hoped?

SA: Absolutely! I think Wild Wild Wonderland sounds exactly like my life after X Factor, it’s crazy, colourful, full of adventures!

mg: We’re very excited to catch up with you again in London on your European tour later this year, what should fans expect from these shows?

SA: This tour is gonna be a bit different, because I think it’s time for me to show people some new sides of me. This tour is going to have an acoustic set as well, I’ll be bringing my musicians with me and I’ll also play myself as well! In addition to the show numbers
we will also be able to concentrate on the music.

mg: You toured the UK as a special guest of Steps this summer (we saw you at Greenwich, which was a breathtaking location and brilliant weather), what was the reaction to your show like?

SA: This summer was amazing, I was so excited to share my music with Steps fans. I feel the audience really connected with my songs! Our fanbases are quite similar, so we were a good fit. It was so lovely to see people singing and dancing to my songs!

mg: Your Eurovision Wonderland gig in London in April was 1 of our gigs of the year and it was clear there was a lot of love there for you, did it turn out the way you planned?

SA: That gig was crazy as it was the first time I actually sang my new album songs !! I was super busy with Eurovision preparations so we were struggling to get the show together.. we rehearsed like crazy and luckily everything went so well and people loved my new songs.. And I knew how to sing them hahah!

mg: You made the Eurovision final but weren’t placed as high as we had hoped, are you pleased you took part?

SA: Absolutely! It was a great experience and I got what I wanted from it! I got to build an amazing performance together with Brian Friedman (who did all my X Factor performances), I got to perform on the Eurovision stage, and I got to travel to many places while promoting my song and it was really great! I also loved my 34-language version of Monsters.. so many good things came out of Eurovision.

mg: Are you glad Finland chose Monsters for Eurovision, or would you have preferred to sing Domino or Queens?

SA: I liked all of them, but I thought Monsters was a good song for Eurovision. Uptempo, creative but still an easy pop song. It represented my style very well.

mg: You were a judge on X Factor Finland, how did that experience differ to being a contestant?

SA: It is SO MUCH more relaxing to be a judge. It is actually very fun and interesting to meet contestants. I really liked it! I love to coach and teach people, so this was a dream job! I even gave my singers some private singing lessons.. and my girl won, so I think
I made a good job 😉

mg: 2018 has been an incredible year for you, is it too early for you to be thinking about what you would like to achieve next?

SA: There are new adventures in the horizon.. you’ll find out about them soon 😉

• Picture via Facebook courtesy Saara Aalto. Tickets
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