Saara Aalto Breaks Down Barriers
If you have been on top of the Finnish news lately you will have heard and/or read about Saara Aalto competing in the X Factor UK singing competition. This competition came to an end last week on the 11th of December with Saara Aalto coming in second.
Saara made her breakthrough on a show that is considered as an international stepping stone for stardom. The show had a broad media coverage as well as a high production value that exceeded anything of the like that could have been done in Finland. Being the runner-up in such a competition is a huge achievement but it is even greater of an achievement for Saara Aalto because she is a young singer/songwriter from a small country in northern Europe.
Before the X Factor Saara Aalto competed in different Finnish song competitions, e.g. The Voice of Finland. In these competitions she finished in various positions, mostly coming in second or third. After the competitions she struggled to make a career for herself as the record labels in Finland were reluctant to sign her on. The labels wanted her to come out with songs in Finnish whereas she wanted to write her songs in English. The labels then didn’t want to sign her because of the uncertainty of how well the songs would sell on a Finnish market before they would be able to enter the international ones.
Saara Aalto then decided to fly to the UK and audition for the X Factor. The amount of courage required from her to make this decision was huge and she will become a role model for many new aspiring artists. She continued to fight for her spot in the competition week after week until she got through to the finals and sadly lost to her opponent Matt Terry.
Saara Aalto has now opened the doors for many artist from other countries as well as for other Finns. She showed that it is allowed to leave one's native country if it is required to reach one’s hopes and dreams. The reason why she made it so far is largely due to the facts that she had sisu*and that she believed in herself. She realised that she wasn’t appreciated enough in Finland and that if she wanted to make it as an artist she had to take matters into her own hands.
In a few years time I believe we will be able to see the changes that have been set into motion by Saara’s success on this international platform. We will have young and talented aspiring artists from Finland go abroad and perform on international stages. Also the media coverage that Saara Aalto and subsequently Finland received might have a positive impact on the tourism among other things as well.
Thank you Saara for inspiring so many of us, myself included.
*sisu: a Finnish term that roughly translated means strength of will, perseverance, determination as well as courage.
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Information about Saara Aalto used in this blog entry:
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ReplyDeleteI liked this text because it gives good information for the reader. I think the title is very effective because it catches the readers attention and it also gives a good idea about what we are about to read. I think the layout is good and I especially like the way how she used the word Sisu and explained what it meant down below. I agree that she will be a role model for other individuals wishing to pursue their dreams in the music industry. I liked the text because it was very interesting to read about Saara journey to success.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, the image isn't showing on my screen - is this just a glitch for me, or a problem with the image?
ReplyDeleteYou've also used 2 different colours for the text itself - was this deliberate? It's hard to see why you might have done this.
I like the content of your post - it shows the impact of what Saara has achieved, even though she didn't win.