| Saara Aalto | |
|---|---|
| |
| Contestant Profile | |
| Birth Date | 2 May 1987 |
| Age | 38 |
| Hometown | Helsinki, Finland |
| Occupation | Singer Voice actress |
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| |
| Category | Over 25s |
| Mentor | Sharon Osbourne |
| Placement | Runner-up (2/12) |
| Gallery | |
Saara Sofia Aalto (born 2 May 1987) is a Finnish singer from Helsinki who competed in Series 13 of The X Factor as part of the Over 25s mentored by Sharon Osbourne. Initially eliminated at the Six Chair Challenge she was chosen as a wildcard by Nicole Scherzinger.
Due to the eliminations of Relley C and Honey G, she was the last act remaining in her category. She reached the final, finishing as runner-up to Matt Terry.
The X Factor[]
Aalto auditioned for the thirteenth UK series of The X Factor in 2016 in front of attending judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger, singing a cover of Sia's "Chandelier", which earned her three yeses from the judges. At Bootcamp, she performed "On the Radio" by Donna Summer and was sent through as part of the over-25s category, mentored by Sharon Osbourne, who was not present at her audition. At the six-chair challenge, she performed "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and was sent home by Osbourne who stated a lack of connection. However, after the crowd chanted to bring her back, Aalto was given a second chance and performed "Je suis malade" by Serge Lama, which caused the crowd to turn on her, while Scherzinger criticized her song choice, stating "we ain't in France". Osbourne then asked Aalto to leave.
Aalto was brought back as Scherzinger's wildcard pick for the over-25s category and therefore went to judges' houses. She was chosen by Osbourne to proceed to the live shows after performing "The Winner Takes It All". In week 1 of the live shows, Aalto finished in the bottom three alongside Freddy Parker and duo Bratavio, after performing "Let It Go". As Parker was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto faced a sing-off against Bratavio, where she performed "Alive", and was saved with only Walsh voting to eliminate her. The following week, she sang "River Deep – Mountain High" and finished again in the bottom three, this time alongside Ryan Lawrie and Parker. As Lawrie was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto performed "Run" in a sing-off against Parker. Walsh and Osbourne voted to eliminate Parker while Scherzinger and Cowell, who had the casting vote, voted to eliminate Aalto. The result went to deadlock and Aalto was saved as she had the higher public vote. In week 3 she performed "It's Oh So Quiet" coming 2nd in the public vote, and in week 4 Aalto sang "Bad Romance", placing 3rd in the public vote. In week 5, Aalto finished in the bottom three for the third time alongside Sam Lavery and group Four of Diamonds, after her rendition of "Sound of the Underground". As Lavery was saved by the lifeline vote, Aalto performed "Who You Are" in a sing-off against Four of Diamonds, and was saved with only Walsh voting to eliminate her. Voting statistics revealed that Aalto would have never been in the sing-off had there been no lifeline vote since she was the third least voted on the main vote all three weeks. Her following performances were "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" in week 6 placing 2nd and "My Heart Will Go On" in week 7 again placing 2nd. In the quarter-final, she sang "The Winner Takes It All" and a medley of "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", topping the public vote for the first time. Following the eliminations of Relley C in week 3 and Honey G in the quarter-final, Aalto became Osbourne's last remaining act in the competition.
In the semi-final, she sang a medley of "White Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You", and "Chandelier" as her second song, topping the vote again reaching the final, where on 10 December she performed "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", the latter as a duet with Adam Lambert, again topping the public vote. With the elimination of the group 5 After Midnight she was in the top 2 alongside Matt Terry. In the final on 11 December, she performed "It's Oh So Quiet" and "I Didn't Know My Own Strength". In the ensuing public vote, she placed as the runner-up to eventual winner Matt Terry with 40.4% of the votes.
Performances[]
| Episode | Theme | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Free choice | "Chandelier" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp | Group performance | "On the Radio" | Advanced |
| Six Chair Challenge | Free choice | "I See Fire" | Eliminated; re-instated as a wildcard |
| Free choice | "Je suis malade" | ||
| Judges' houses | Free choice | "The Winner Takes It All" | Advanced |
| Week 1 | Express Yourself | "Let It Go" | Bottom three (9th) |
| Sing-off | "Alive" | Saved | |
| Week 2 | Motown | "River Deep" | Bottom three (9th) |
| Sing-off | "Run - Snow Patrol" | Saved | |
| Week 3 | Divas | "It's Oh So Quiet" | Safe (2nd) |
| Week 4 | Fright Night | "Bad Romance" | Safe (3rd) |
| Week 5 | Girlband v Boyband | "Sound of the Underground" | Bottom three (6th) |
| Sing-off | "Who You Are" | Saved | |
| Week 6 | Disco | "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" | Safe (2nd) |
| Week 7 | Movies | "My Heart Will Go On" | Safe (2nd) |
| Week 8 | Louis Loves | "The Winner Takes It All" | Safe (1st) |
| Contestant's Choice | "Diamonds Are Forever" / "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" | ||
| Week 9: Semi Finals | Christmas | "All I Want for Christmas is You" | Safe (1st) |
| Songs to get you to the final | "Chandelier" | ||
| Week 10: Final | Free choice | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Safe (1st) |
| Celebrity duet | "Bohemian Rhapsody" (with Adam Lambert) | ||
| Song of the series | "It's Oh So Quiet" | Runner-up | |
| Contestant's Choice | "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" |
Post The X Factor[]
In spite of not winning the show following the final, Adam Lambert and British electronic group Clean Bandit expressed an interest in working with her.
On December 20, she confirmed in a press conference held in Helsinki that she had signed a joint deal with Sony Music Finland and Sony Music UK and hopes to collaborate with Sia. In early 2017, she embarked on her first solo tour, with X Factor winner and friend Matt Terry appearing onstage with her in Finland.
In summer 2017, she was confirmed as a judge on the Finnish version of The X Factor. In October, she confirmed that she had left Sony Music and signed a deal with Warner Music.
In November 2017, it was announced that she would be representing Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, making her the fifth 'X Factor UK' participant to take part in the Contest, following Andy Abraham, Jedward, Ruth Lorenzo and Lucie Jones. In March 2018, it was announced that 'Monsters' would be the Finnish representative, after winning a special edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (New Music festival) where she performed 3 songs that she co wrote (the other two were called 'Domino' and 'Queens', and were also part of her album) and she confirmed via social media that it would serve as her international debut single. At Eurovision in mid-May, she reached the Grand Final, breaking Finland's three-year non-qualification streak, but only managed a 25th place in a field of 26.
On 27th April 2018, she released her debut international album Wild Wild Wonderland.
She subsequently partook on Dancing on Ice in the UK for 2019, and went on to reach the final, again losing out, placing 3rd.
Discography[]
Albums[]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Blessed with Love |
|
— | |||||||||||||||||
| Enkeleitä – Angels |
|
— | |||||||||||||||||
| You Had My Heart |
|
43 | |||||||||||||||||
| Ai De Zhu Fu |
|
— | |||||||||||||||||
| Tonight (with Teemu Roivainen) |
|
— | |||||||||||||||||
| Wild Wild Wonderland |
|
2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Fairytale – Joulun taikaa |
|
10 | |||||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||||||
Extended plays[]
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Fairytale – International |
|
Singles[]
As lead artist[]
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [1] |
FIN (Air) [1] |
ICE [2] |
SWE Heat. [3] | |||||||||||||||||
| "Blessed with Love"Template:Efn | 2011 | — | — | — | — | Blessed with Love | ||||||||||||||
| "You Had My Heart" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | You Had My Heart | ||||||||||||||
| "You Raise Me Up" (with Teemu Roivainen) |
2014 | — | — | — | — | Tonight | ||||||||||||||
| "No Fear"Template:Efn | 2016 | — | — | — | — | Wild Wild Wonderland | ||||||||||||||
| "Monsters"Template:Efn | 2018 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| "Domino"Template:Efn | — | 18 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Queens"Template:Efn | — | 12 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "DANCE!!!"[4] | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "Dance Like Nobody's Watching"[5] | 2019 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| "Starry Skies" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – International | |||||||||||||||
| "Tähdet, taivas ja sä" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – Joulun taikaa | |||||||||||||||
| "Koska et oo täällä enää" | — | 41 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| "When the Sun Goes Down" (with Baga Chipz) |
2020 | — | — | — | — | Template:N/a | ||||||||||||||
| "Every Christmas Day" | — | — | — | — | Fairytale – International | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As featured artist[]
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Sydämesi tyhjä huone" (Teemu Roivainen featuring Saara Aalto) |
2015 | Sydämesi tyhjä huone |
Promotional singles[]
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "My Love" Template:Small | 2012 | rowspan="5" Template:N/a |
| "Enkeleitä" | 2013 | |
| "Reach the Stars"Template:Efn | 2014 | |
| "Feel Vegas" (with Teemu Roivainen featuring Big Spender) |
2015 | |
| "Let It Go"[6] | 2019 |
| 2017 | "Monsters" |
Judges Rank[]
| Year | Category | Last Act | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Girls | Tika Liljegren | Winner |
Trivia[]
- She holds the record for reaching the final in spite of being in the sing-off three times, where she was saved each time.
- In all the weeks she was in the bottom three, she received the most votes of the bottom three acts in the main public vote. She received more votes than Freddy Parker and Bratavio in Week 1, Ryan Lawrie and Parker in Week 2 and Four of Diamonds and Sam Lavery in Week 5. This meant that if there was not a lifeline vote, Aalto would have never been in the sing-off.
| Series 13 Finalists | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bratavio • Brooks Way • Emily Middlemas • 5 After Midnight • Four of Diamonds • Freddy Parker • Gifty Louise • Honey G • Matt Terry • Relley C • Ryan Lawrie • Saara Aalto • Sam Lavery | |||
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Peak chart positions in Finland:
- For all except noted: Template:Cite web
- For Airplay Chart: Template:Cite web
- For "Monsters": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak chart positions for songs in Iceland:
- For "Monsters": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Peak chart positions for songs in Sweden Heatseeker Chart:
- For "Monsters": Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite tweet
- ↑ Template:Cite web