40 years old | When Kanerva Salomaa had children, the themes of her songs became “deeply deep” – “Life contains a lot of questions, contradictions and fears”

Singer-songwriter Heather Salomaa not on his 40th birthday under the pode age crisis. The opposite is actually the case.

“It’s nice to be in my twenties, but in many ways things are really much better for me now than I was. I just looked at old photos where I’m 22 and would take the thick hair I had then, but that’s all,” Salomaa says.

He laughs a little at the elements of middle age that have come into his life, but they have also been the subject of songs. The songs on the album, which will be released in a few weeks, have drawn their content from, among other things, family life. Salomaa had her second child in March 2020 just at the start of the pandemic period.

“It became a clear decision that I wanted to write about children, family and middle age, and not in any way upholstered but directly. Many live that life, but in music I don’t think it sounds that much. Then those songs started to emerge, ”says Salomaa.

“Especially when there are children, the topics from which to make songs are quite deep. Life is full of questions, contradictions and fears such as fear of loss and fear of death. ”

The upcoming album is Salomaa’s third. An artist who makes music under his first name Kanerva says that he is late in his career, even though music has always been involved in life.

The first at the time of his childhood memories, Salomaa was already attending violin lessons and singing in the children’s choir of the National Opera. The music attracted him like a magnet. When Salomaa started playing guitar as a teenager, the first chords created their own songs.

“However, I only started performing my songs in public until I was thirty years old. I’ve always known that I’m going to become a songwriter, but I’ve had a really long and complicated road to that. ”

“If I went back now, I’d go faster on what I wanted to do, but I was still too insecure when I was young.”

Salomaa feels that she matured to a professional level as a songwriter Seven years ago, after the birth of her first child. Since then, his solo career has progressed rapidly.

His albums have received excellent reviews and played comfortably on the radio. In the Indian company Texicall, he has had enough freedom to do what he does. An integral part of musicianship is also touring with your own band.

“By no means do I want to be an artist who just releases music and doesn’t go out to play it. My band is a really nice group, and even though I am a home-grown person, I also need the element of danger and freedom that comes with touring in my life, ”says Salomaa.

“I’ve had a contradiction that I’m an introvert, but on the other hand, it’s like I’m in the right place when I perform on stage. As a kid, I thought there was something wrong with me when I wanted to perform, but it scared me so much. I thought I could probably never become a performer, but at some point I realized that quite a few Actors and musicians are actually like that. ”

Culture the field did not seem to be alive during the corona pandemic, so Salomaa began studying for a degree as a solution-focused short-term therapist last year. Studying was also his long-term dream.

“They revolve around the same topics as making songs. You think of human directions, inhibitions and defenses in exactly the same way, they rotate on a slightly different platform. ”

The dream in the future is to work as a therapist alongside a music career. Salomaa has done some lyrics for other artists, but mostly performed his own songs.

Writing songs is such a central part of the art that Salomaa has never even thought of recording someone else’s songs.

“It could be a lot of fun, but if I even think about the pop artists who make songs, I’m really happy to be a writer. I would go crazy if I just waited for some really good song to drop me off somewhere. Although being an author is not always easy and does not make money, I still prefer to be an author. ”