ANETTE OLZON became known as the singer of Nightwish, but now stands firmly on her own musical feet. With her new solo album „Strong“ she returns to Symphonic Metal. In this interview Anette tells us how it came about, what the album means to her and how she wants to organize her often stressful life between job, studies, family and music.
Your new album “Strong” is way heavier, more Metal than your debut album “Shine”. How would you explain this musical development?
I wrote “Shine” already in 2009. At that time I was in my old band and this was done as a side project while we had some time off from our touring. I didn’t want to make a metal album to compete with my own band, so the direction got to be softer and more acoustic. With “Strong” I didn’t have anything to consider since I am not in a band and free to do whatever I want. Since I both have most fans among metal and also love metal myself it was an easy decision.
As the album is much heavier than „Shine“, what bands where your main influences to create this sound?
Dimmu Borgir, In Flames and for the more electronic modern sound Amaranthe.
You wrote the album with Magnus Karlsson. Did he help you push yourself to be the best Anette and was it helpful that you already worked together on Allen/Olzon in 2020?
He didn’t have to push me, because I know what I’m able to and the sound I wanted and so on. But he’s been important since he loves good melodies as me, even if the music is harder and heavier so we were a good match to create this album.
The album sounds very melancholic to me, yet optimistic and powerful. Does „Strong“ possibly stand for your personal development or does the album have an overall concept?
It’s both I would say. The album is written in the worst chaos of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 and the song “Strong” is about that and that we need to fight and stay strong together. But the album title is also about me and where I am now at the age of 50 with all the lessons I’ve had to learn and that I’ve had to be stronger and stronger during my life and now I feel strong.
The cover artwork shows you behind the „window“ with a dark face and evil eyes. What is the idea behind it, how is it connected to the album title and a possible concept?
I wanted an album cover that would be black and then my best friend Nicklas said why not have just your face and black around it and yeah, I loved the idea. Nothing more with that and no other meaning or concept.
Is there a song that is particularly close to your heart lyrically?
Hard to say one, because they all are equally important.
The album is very varied and seems to have two halves: The first part is rocking and direct, separated by the wonderful ballad „Sad Lullaby“ and then becomes more opulent and cinematic, thus the album remains exciting from beginning to end. What do you say about this, was this course planned from the beginning?
No, it just got to be like that.
Mainly in the second half of the album there are also growls and even darker tunes, for example the ending of “Who Can Save Them” and “Hear Them Roar”. How did that come about and what are the songs about, what do the growls stand for?
The growls are in six of the eleven songs and I knew I wanted growls on the album from the start. First of all I love growls. For me they add a lot of meaning in the songs and emphasizes the meaning of my lyrics and make the songs more colorful.
Is a project like Allen/Olzon with another singer something you would like to do again in the future? Is there someone you would want to do a project of this kind with?
Yes and I will enter the studio this fall for our follow up with Allen/Olzon, so that is ongoing. I always like to work with other singers so I hope for more fun projects.
Even though your time with Nightwish was almost 10 years ago now, you are referred to as a „former Nightwish singer“ in almost every review and article. How do you feel about that?
I don’t care so much about that, but I hope soon they will only refer as me as Anette Olzon, I believe people know who I am without using that phrase.
You just graduated from nursing school three years ago and are now studying to become a midwife. How does it feel to be back in school again right now?
Well I tend to go between mixed emotions actually: one part of me is happy and excited to study again while the other part feels that I just want to end it already. It´s so much more stressful being a student than being at my regular job and this is a very fast and hard education, so I am quite stressed. I also have my music and quite a lot of albums to record this autumn and of course some interviews to do for “Strong”. But I hope I will take my exam one day, but we have to see, I am 50 years old so not so young and it’s harder and harder to learn things now.
Especially since Corona, nurses are more important than ever. Here in Germany, the reputation and the financial and working time situation has unfortunately not changed much for the better. How is the situation for you in Sweden?
It’s the same here, we are never getting as much salary as we should have and it’s a very stressful and responsible work we do with work hours that are irregular. The same goes for being a midwife. I hope it will change some day, because that would also make more people having the lust to work within the medical profession.
Your full-time job as a nurse, your studies, family, kids, The Dark Element and your solo project … it’s really impressive what you do all at the same time. How do you balance it all?
That’s not all I do, I also record other albums and songs. So yes, I am quite stressed at times and I always try to plan, so I will have plenty of time when I start an album for someone. But then the record label starts pushing that they want it faster and I have to work really hard for weeks. So yes, I actually don’t know how I manage all this but I also am very efficient and a fast learner even if I am older. I have a kind husband and children that accept that I have all these things I am doing. And I believe when it someday gets too much for me I have to take away something, but for now I love to both be a singer and work within medicine.
What’s the best thing about working with children and mothers to be?
It’s wonderful to be a part of one of the biggest things in life as having a newborn baby is. It’s positive and a blessing to be there for that.
You are very active on social media and also keep a blog regularly. How important is it for you to be in contact with fans in this way?
It’s important to me to give back to the ones that have been there for me all the years and still are. I sometime feel I don’t have time or energy for it, but it gives me back a lot and the love I get from the ones in my Instagram is so nice.
Are there already plans for a new The Dark element album?
Not any plans more than I believe that they hope for us to make a new one but I don’t know when at this moment.
If you could participate for Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, would you do it and would your song sound more like your first or second solo album – or more like Abba?
I don’t believe I’ll be in that one, because it feels like it’s a big thing and since I do have stage fright and don’t like cameras it’s not something I know if I could handle. But if I did it I would sing metal like in “Strong” for sure!
Let’s conclude with our traditional brainstorming. What comes to your mind first when you read the following words?
Current favorite album: Ghost – Prequelle
Abba: Best band ever!
TikTok: Fun place to learn things I haven’t done before.
Nature: Calming and giving me strength.
Something that makes every bad day better: Music.
Thank you once again for your time! The last words are all yours. Is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
Just that I hope they’ll enjoy my new album “Strong” and that they stay safe.
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21. September 2021 Stefan Popp
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