Destination Lisbon (#20): Meet Saara Aalto from Finland

05 April 2018 at 09:00 CEST

Saara Aalto represents Finland at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest Ville Paasimaa

In the twentieth part of 'Destination Lisbon', our feature counting down to the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, we get to know Saara Aalto who will represent Finland with the song 'Monsters'.

Finland always held a public national selection to pick their Eurovision Song Contest act. But for the 2018 season Finnish broadcaster YLE decided to choose their representative internally: Saara Aaltos. Nevertheless, the public remained heavily involved, as her song Monsters was chosen in a TV show, out of three entries.

Saara was born in 1987 and has become one of Finland’s most celebrated stars. She was runner-up in the TV smash hits The Voice and Finland’s Got Talent and 'delivered' the voice of Princess Anna in the Finnish version of the global hit movie Frozen.

Saara achieved international stardom when she entered Simon Cowell’s X Factor in the United Kingdom in 2016. She regularly topped the weekly public vote and went on to finish second.

Saara's journey to Eurovision

For Saara Aalto, the Eurovision Song Contest had become the impossible dream. She was the runner-up in the Finnish national selections twice. In 2011 she finished second with the song Blessed With Love and in 2016 she also finished second with No Fear.

In 2018 Saara's dream will become reality. While recording her international debut album Saara got a sudden phone call: She was asked to represent Finland in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. She immediately agreed.