Tarja Turunen Discusses Losing Her Mother, and Viewing Christmas Through Her Children’s Eyes

Former Nightwish singer and successful solo artist Tarja Turunen was our guest on a recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast to discuss all things Christmas, including her 2017 holiday album, From Spirits and Ghosts.

In one of the more solemn moments of our chat, Tarja spoke about how the passing of her mother made Christmas a sad time for her until she had children of her own to share the holiday with. She explained:

“Christmas for me has been a family thing but since my mother passed away in 2003, my Christmases changed. They didn’t feel like Christmases anymore and so I kind of lost that spirit.

“But then when I became a mother myself and I saw the joy in my own child’s eyes every time when Christmas arrived, I was preparing the traditional Finnish Christmas for her. It has always been really important for me to really try to maintain those traditions. To see her happy of course, I also became also and joyful and [tarted] celebrating the Christmases again.

“But I know that Christmas is not a happy celebration for everybody, and many people even hate Christmas because it is actually a sad moment for many. I mean, [it can be a] sad celebration to live through because of the fact that we lost dear ones, we miss them, we would like to be with them and we can’t.

“But that’s why we have music and that’s why we have art and that’s why we have many things to give us hope. I made that album, the Christmas album, ‘From Spirits and Ghosts,’ for those lonely souls on Christmas. I thought of it like I had to do it differently, but I wanted to approach those people and that was the best way. For me, the best way to connect with them is through music.”

You can listen to our full chat with Tarja in the embed below or right here.

Tarja recently engaged in a 45-minute chat with current Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen, which you can check out here.