Neither a supermodel, nor a sex bomb or a sweetie pie! There are quite a few things she’s certainly NOT!
Today’s most popular pop sensation comes from Finland. The 21-year-old Alma stuns with her extraordinary voice and charismatic stage presence. Most remarkable: she does not comply with the sweet pop princess stereotype and relies on self-will and authenticity instead.
The young musician from Finland who’s hitting the international charts with songs like “Bonfire” and “Chasing Highs” just recently, impresses with her strong soul voice and a whole lot of authenticity above all.
Alma seems like the incarnate challenge to the world’s casted Barbies who with the help of efficient managers and the generous use of Auto-Tune win short-dated fame, fading just as quickly thanks to missing talent. Sexy crop tops, high heels and sexy dance moves? Far wrong! Alma opts for bilious green hair, black oversized hoodies and bold sneakers – these are more comfy anyways.
Raised in Finland, the Nordic girl with the miraculous voice and her family spent the winter half year in Helsinki and the summer in Lapland. Singing has been her constant companion and her comfort when suffering from loneliness or bullying classmates. “Singing gave me shelter”, she remembers.
Her talent though was kept a secret up to this memorable car trip with her parents when she decided to sing a song of the Jackson Five. Alma’s parents were flabbergasted, insomuch that they stopped on the hard shoulder to gather their thoughts. Back in Helsinki, Alma was given singing lessons immediately and she joined the school choir – to leave again shortly after. The problem: Alma’s unadabtable nature and her difficulty to fulfil the expectations of others, especially when they don’t fit her a 100 percent: “I must have the feeling that what I do is entirely free and just for myself”.
Thus, she had no other choice but looking for her very own unconventional way. Fortunately, when she turned twelve, her twin sister Anna and her were given a computer as a birthday present – open Sesame… the big gateway to the music scene opened through YouTube. Since then, Alma didn’t get tired to watch music videos to study the various genres. Reggae, soul, pop, punk … she absorbed the different arrangements, beats and vocals, compiling a random collection in her brain. Not much room was left for school, and Alma was given a hard time there.
At the age of sixteen, when she was not admitted to University due to poor grades she’d been thrown into crisis. While her sister and friends started studying and left their homes alive and kicking, Alma felt useless and incapable. “It’s been particularly difficult for me to see Anna leaving too”, she remembers, “we’ve always been together up to then. What a big mess!”
It was the music that helped her. Alma put her back on music, sang every single day and started to write her own songs. Whenever she had the opportunity, the shy girl went on a stage to test her talent in front of an audience. When she was invited to attend a rap writing camp she was hesitant though – “Fins are pessimists by nature”, she explains her lack of courage.
So far, the title has been streamed 30 million times, hit the top ten single charts and turned number one of her home country’s iTunes charts. The lyrics – which say that you only should dye your hair for your lover – shouldn’t be taken too seriously though. Because in real life, Alma would never ever change her appearance because of a guy or on a stylist’s demand. Cloths, hair, make-up – the young artist decides for herself, and has therefore become a role model especially for young women, struggling with today’s beauty ideals and figure dictates which they cannot or do not want to cope with.
„Alma looks like a cybergoth reimagining of a young Adele and sounds like Beth Ditto had she been raised on tropical house” – British newspaper “The Guardian” about the chart breaker lately.
Impossible to pigeonhole Alma… never mind! That state cannot stop the incredible talent’s success.
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