Nightwish singer Floor Jansen says the band’s eighth album Endless Forms Most Beautiful was a “puzzle” they worked on together – even though she didn’t write any of the material.
Her lack of involvement at composition level didn’t cause her any ego problems, because she knew the results would be worthwhile. So she was happy to leave those duties to mainman Tuomas Holopainen and bassisst Marco Hietala.
Jansen tells FaceCulture: “This was my first time on an album from scratch, written by mainly Tuomas and Marco. ‘This is the vocal line – this is the lyric. Go ahead.’
“One thing that connects all the eras of Nightwish is that particular sound. My little ego is just fine with saying, ‘I don’t have to write for this. This is going to be awesome anyway.’ And it is.”
But she continues: “That doesn’t mean that there is no creative input from me whatsoever. There is a certain phrasing that Tuomas had in mind, but it becomes a vocal puzzle, where my input comes in: ‘I can sing it like this, I can sing it like that.’”
And Jansen says every member of the band contributed when it came to arrangements. “It was a nice puzzle where everybody, as an equal, came in with ideas,” she reports. “We all had our input, which is part of the reason why this album has a band vibe. It felt very natural coming out of a position where I’m usually more involved in the songwriting.”
Endless Forms Most Beautiful_ is released on March 30 via Nuclear Blast. Holopainen recently spoke of feeling “violated” after lead track [Elan_](http://www.teamrock.com/news/2015-02-13/nightwish-unveil-video-for-elan) was leaked ahead of its official launch. The band reported this week that sidelined drummer Jukka Nevalainen is doing “much better” – but his return could still be years away.
