FLOOR JANSEN On Her Upcoming Solo Album 'Hytress': I Wanted 'To Find A Heavier, More Metal Sound That Is 100% Me, But Not Like NIGHTWISH'

In a new interview with Janne Vuorela of Finland's Imperiumi, NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen spoke about her upcoming studio album, "Hytress", which is set for release on January 15, 2027 via REVAMP Music/Warner Music. "Hytress" will follow Jansen's acclaimed 2023 debut solo album "Paragon", which has amassed almost 150 million streams to date.

Regarding what it was like for her to step out on her own where every musical decision was under her name, Floor said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Let's not forget that before I joined NIGHTWISH, I had my own bands where I always wrote. So in that sense, it was nothing new to be more in the position of a songwriter or the one that steers up stuff. So, in that sense, if you look at the last 30 years, the NIGHTWISH period has been more the one where I do different things than I usually do. So, that being said, it had been quite a few years, and the level had just gone up. I mean, if you join NIGHTWISH, then the level is as high as it gets. And if you then put something out as the singer of NIGHTWISH, but under your own name, it is, of course, under the eye of a larger public. And that is also why I really wanted to not make something that sounds like NIGHTWISH, or like stuff that I've done before. So how do I sound without this huge bombast, without all of that happening, without even metal? Can it be dramatic and bombastic, but not metal? And that is sort of the journey I embarked on around the 'Paragon' album."

Asked what the musical things were that she wanted to keep and what were maybe things she wanted to let go on the new album after releasing "Paragon" nearly four years earlier, Floor said: "I don't think we thought in lines like that directly from the get-go. It's more we had the ambition to make the album heavier. With NIGHTWISH not playing [live at the moment], it would not so fast live interfere with if I'm gonna do live shows in areas where also NIGHTWISH has played, I don't wanna have similar shows coming, but there are no shows [for NIGHTWISH on the schedule], so that wouldn't bite each other. Plus, that desire to really, yeah, still get back to my heavier roots came up. So the search started to find a heavier, more metal sound that is 100% me, but not like NIGHTWISH. Not because I don't want to, but just because I'm already doing it, and I don't wanna copy-paste something written by Tuomas [Holopainen, NIGHTWISH's keyboardist and main songwriter]. I mean, it's as good as it gets, so it makes no sense for me to kind of try and do the same thing. So how do I make my heavy sound? And that really resulted into just more compact songs, which also were to be found on 'Paragon'. They don't have the long song structures that you can hear in NIGHTWISH. These are so much more compact — in that sense, more pop songs, but with a very heavy jacket on. And I guess that that makes my sound a whole lot different from a lot of other acts. [The songs have] very catchy choruses, but a very heavy bass and, yeah, compact, relatively short songs compared to most others."

On the topic of the "production decisions" that define "Hytress" as an album, Floor said: "Well, one of them was definitely the format of the songs. And as we were searching for a heavy sound, we got much inspired by the down-tuned style, like in bands such as BLEED FROM WITHIN and GOJIRA and even PERIPHERY. But also that style of building, a double bass, drum-and-bass sound with that type of guitar playing, but then mixed with accessible choruses and my type of vocals. So I guess that's, production-wise, where we really came to. And we also awarely try to avoid anything really orchestral. How can we get this kind of a feel without necessarily having to use the standard sounds? And that's so cool with nowadays how you can program what's in the sound banks of any music program. It's super inspiring, and there's so much in there. Or how easily you can build something. So there are guitar sounds in there in the album that you would probably would not recognize as guitar, but it's there. The base of it's guitar and then it just got morphed into whatever sound fitted the atmosphere. You kind of build an atmosphere through that, and, yeah, that was very cool."

"Hytress" track listing:

01. Reverse Polarity
02. Everything Is Moving On
03. In Wildfire
04. Cathedral Of One
05. Bring Me Silence
06. Fighting
07. I Am Drowning
08. Rock The Bells
09. It's Time For Change
10. Verity
11. Run
12. Haven

In November 2022, Floor revealed that she was "cancer free" after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis.

In October 2023, Floor and SABATON drummer Hannes Van Dahl welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lucy. Jansen and Van Dahl also have a nine-year-old daughter named Freja, who was born in March 2017.

In April 2023, NIGHTWISH surprised fans by announcing that the band was not going to be playing any live shows for the foreseeable future and would be not be touring in support of the group's latest studio album, "Yesterwynde", which came out in September 2024 via Nuclear Blast.

Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world's first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.

Jansen's next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." , which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".

In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show "Beste Zangers" where she scored a big hit with "Phantom Of The Opera" together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.