“I was just damn tired.” Nightwish singer Floor Jansen explains why producing the new album Yesterwynde was a challenge
Nightwish frontwoman Floor Jansen has revealed how the recording of the band’s upcoming new album went after a few difficult years Yesterdaywynde was different from all the others in her career so far. In an exclusive interview with Metal hammer In her latest installment, Jansen explains that between her well-documented battle with breast cancer, her pregnancy and the birth of her second child with Sabaton drummer Hannes Van Dahl, Floor suffered from exhaustion issues that resulted in her not being able to be as present at the album’s recording sessions as she had been in previous years.
“I was pregnant, and before that I had the cancer, and then I had my baby and I was just fucking tired, so I wasn’t there like I used to be,” she says. “The connection to the album is a lot weaker than it used to be because we didn’t spend as much crazy time together as we used to. That’s not to say I don’t care – quite the opposite – but I’m still learning what it means and what it means to me.”
An emotionally charged record that, according to keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen, “celebrates life, humanity and mortality”, Yesterdaywynde follows a turbulent few years for Nightwish, which included the departure of long-time bassist and backing vocalist Marko Hietala and the band’s surprise decision to retire from touring. This turmoil, along with Floor’s own personal journey over the past few years, has led to the singer taking time out to deal with the issues that run through Yesterdaywyndealthough she says he has a better handle on her now.
“For me, it’s a constant awareness of the beauty of the planet we live on and the positivity about us as a species,” she says. “We get all this negative feedback about how we’re destroying the planet and hurting each other, and that’s all true, unfortunately. But there’s a lot of beauty in it too – humanity has achieved amazing things throughout history and we should remember that. That’s sometimes forgotten in the speed of life we lead today.”
Yesterdaywynde will be released on September 20th. Find out more about the album at Metal hammer‘s exclusive interview with Nightwish in their latest issue, out now.
