NIGHTWISH Singer: 'All This Beautiful Music Is Lovely, But You Need To Be Naughty Sometimes'
- Jan. 3, 2008
NIGHTWISH's Anette Olzon is featured in the January 2008 issue of Metal Maniacs talking about her band's latest album, "Dark Passion Play". Excerpts follow:
On being a woman in metal:
"All this beautiful [music] is lovely, but you need to be naughty sometimes. I'm a nice girl, but I don't feel all the things I sing about are only from a male perspective. Everyone has sins and naughty thoughts. You just have to bring that out when you're onstage. When I sing 'She Is My Sin', I try to sing it from my perspective, even though it's about a girl."
On how she joined the band after the departure of vocalist Tarja Turunen:
"I think I was among the first 10 or 20 submissions. The sound engineer in my other band said, 'Have you heard? NIGHTWISH kicked out Tarja. You should apply.' I was like, 'No. Why should I?' He said, 'Well, you should hurry up, because I hear they already have someone.' This was like a week after everything happened. I rushed to the studio and asked a friend, did the song rapidly and sent it off. I only sent 'Ever Dream', a new version. We redid the background and guitars. It's my version. Maybe one week later, Tuomas [Holopainen] sent me an email that he really liked it, but it wasn't until September [2006] that I actually met them. They turned me down once, before that! I didn't know why. They didn't say, but I know now it's because I have a child. I was stubborn and during the summer, I sent them some more material, but I still had to wait until late January to know it was me."
On her input for "Dark Passion Play":
“Even if it's the same melody, the way I sing it is a little different in that I accentuated certain words. I really get into 'Eve'. On 'Sahara', at the end, where I had to do the 'ohs,' they just said, 'Do something.' There are lots of little things everywhere. When I sing a song, I never sing exactly how it's written. That's the difference between me and a classical singer. I don't sing by notes. I improvise and sing by hearing, so the interpretation is mine."
The January 2008 Metal Maniacs is on sale now.
Watch fan-filmed video footage of NIGHTWISH performing the song "Sahara" on December 2, 2007 at Sentrum Scene in Oslo, Norway.
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COMMENT | . posted by : metal__richard 1/3/2008 6:27:26 PM
you wanna get naughty? I'll get nau... what?
COMMENT | Blehh posted by : smoothie133 1/3/2008 6:30:40 PM
In my opinion Nightwish itsn't Nightwish anymore, I am not saying that she is a bad singer, but the truth is that you can't compare her with Traja, and Nightwish was about operatic metal, they should change the name and they should not allow Anette to sing Tarja's songs she destroy every single one. It is like a drunk cover band of Nightwish, this is all my opinion
COMMENT | posted by : brujah/wp 1/3/2008 6:45:37 PM
I totally agree.
COMMENT | ^^^ posted by : brujah/wp 1/3/2008 6:52:09 PM
I totally agree on what she thinks. "All this beautiful [music] is lovely, but you need to be naughty sometimes.
COMMENT | Saw them in Stockholm.... posted by : satanic_difare 1/3/2008 6:54:11 PM
....and it was crap. Lucky i didnt have to pay for it haha Got bored after 2 songs then i left.
COMMENT | posted by : jeffgq 1/3/2008 6:54:16 PM
i'd do her
COMMENT | I like naughty... posted by : hurricane hugo 1/3/2008 6:54:17 PM
not to mention depraved, indecent, obscene, etc.
plur
COMMENT | Again.... posted by : BRINE B 1/3/2008 6:57:51 PM
...still don't get this band.
COMMENT | posted by : Ethernity 1/3/2008 8:53:32 PM
Band rocks w/ Tarja. Without her the music remains the same but the voice is shittier than shitty.
Go find a new name, a new singer. Or bring back Tarja.
My 2 old fan cents.
COMMENT | Sex kitten posted by : Dale Lammers 1/3/2008 8:54:14 PM
Saw them in Dallas. Loved the show. And she definitely has the sex kitten thing down.
COMMENT | posted by : trollingalot 1/3/2008 9:16:20 PM
She sucks. I hated nightwish before, but now they just sound like any generic crap that occasionally finds its way onto pop stations for little girls.
COMMENT | There's some people that never accept the change... posted by : Reginald0 1/3/2008 9:37:44 PM
...and will always crying the same crap like "Bring back Tarja", "Bring back Michael Kiske", "...Joey Belladona", "...Max Cavalera", "...Andre Matos", and the list goes on... Hey guys, come on! If I could I would bring back Layne Staley, Freddy Mercury, and many others, but things always change, that's a fact. Anette is pretty good, but just different, so as Andi Deris, John Bush, Derrik Green, and the list goes on again...
COMMENT | OMG posted by : smoothie133 1/3/2008 10:11:19 PM
We all have to accept that Anette sucks singing Tarja's songs, she doesn't have the vocal range, she may be good at the new ones but we have to admit that the "new nightwish" sound like a drunk cover band when they play the old stuff.
IMHO tarja lost the operatic elements that made nightwish unique and interesting since wishmaster .... century child + once is just as generic as dark passion, but have to say tarja sounded really awful with her last two albums when she actually mellowed down the operatic aspect. anette sounds more popish but at least its not as annoying. oceanborn + wishmaster anyday .....
COMMENT | posted by : madeinquebec 1/4/2008 12:36:24 AM
I love Anette, fuck all the naysayers.
Tarja's gone, deal with it bitches. I loved Tarja's voice but she's gone and I like the new kid and LOVE the new album. There is tremendous work on the album and in the package. VERY ENJOYABLE, you just have to give it a few spins to start digging it.
Re, singing the old songs, well NW is a 2 singers band: the guy and her, and they don't tour here in Canada so we haven't seen EITHER Tarja or Anette else than on Youtube.
COMMENT | posted by : stunna 1/4/2008 12:54:25 AM
smoothie133 I completely agree with you. She ruins every one of tarjas songs. She is my sin, She puts her own twist on it.. NO! No! You cant do that. People go to Bands shows because they like what they have heard on the CDs. Not because they want to hear a completely different version of the songs they know and love.
The fact she sings all new songs is just terrible. bands have to cover at least one or two songs from every album. A good mix. I can understand if they want to promote their new albums, but you cant play %80 of a set from a new album.
Nightwish are unfortunatly going way down hill
COMMENT | Nightwish rocks! posted by : spellbinder 1/4/2008 1:36:19 AM
Nightwish has been my favorite band for several years now. I loved Tarja, but I feel that if she were to have stayed in the band, bad things would have happened. There was alot of tension because she started acting like a diva, so they found someone else. I like Anette, I think she's the best thing that could have happened to Nightwish after Tarja's departure. I've seen Nightwish with both singers, Anette was a much better front-person.
COMMENT | Odd comment posted by : painkiller68 1/4/2008 3:18:20 AM
That she said they wouldn't let her in the band at first cause she had a kid, like that had anything to do with being a good singer?
COMMENT | ^^^^^^^^^^ posted by : Kudos 1/4/2008 3:29:39 AM
It showed divided loyalities on a job that requires being away from home for long periods of time.
I think they questioned how commited she would be and she proved it by sending in more demos
COMMENT | Lovely person posted by : symbol 1/29/2008 1:05:06 PM
I find Anette really good as a singer and as a person too. Because she's so heartfelt and devoted to what she sings, and can definitely emphasize the good aspects of her voice. If there's something I'm not so happy with, it's the fact she admitted singing by ear, and that's not so good. But well, many say, and maybe they're right, that it's better to keep it simple.
I'm tired about all this "the opera element is gone" fuss. Tuomas himself said that he did never intend making Nightwish an opera metal band, and each time an interviewer/reporter asked him about Nightwish's genre, he said symphonic metal, and was really into this term. If you ask me, Dark Passion Play is their most metal-ish album. Their former ones were so very passionate and original, but actually, it was really soft metal. So, if we compare Seven days to the Wolves, Bye Bye Beautiful, Sahara or Master Passion Greed to any older song, maybe except of Slaying the Dreamer, the Dark Passion Play really stands out as rougher.
As for Anette, as I already said, I appreciate her efforts, her perseverence and her devotion and will.
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