Most of us might know Floor Jansen nowadays for being the singer of NIGHTWISH. However, that’s not the only thing that the singer has been doing in her lengthy career. Starting out as the frontwoman of the symphonic metal band AFTER FOREVER, diving deep into more progressive realms with REVAMP, being featured on many of Arjen Lucassen‘s albums, and the kick-ass hard rock NORTHWARD project with Jørn Viggo Lofstad (PAGAN’S MIND), Floor Jansen knows no limits and she’s not nearly done with us yet: the pandemic period allowed the Dutch singer to focus on her career as a solo artist, resulting in her debut single, “Fire,” out now and we’re here to tell you why you should listen to it…
Earlier on, Floor Jansen mentioned that her first single would be a pop song. The main feature of “Fire,” of course is Floor Jansen‘s emotional voice. The song starts fairly minimally with a piano and vocals, and as the song progresses, more instruments are added into the mix. Musically, the song really fits its title and theme, it does feel like a fire growing and expanding, until things get out of hand – which results in an explosive, powerful second chorus. “Fire” was not a big surprise to me sound-wise, because I always somehow imagined Floor Jansen integrating several parts of her career into one song. While she doesn’t go into operatic realms in this song, it does somewhat keep the epicness of all her metal projects in mind, and of course, as the song progresses it gets a little heavier, yet it also has a certain modern sound and poppiness to it.
For years, Floor Jansen remained somewhat under the radar in her home country of The Netherlands. It wasn’t until the program Beste Zangers featured her that she gained more success over there, finally being appreciated by other audiences than metal, which is why releasing a song like “Fire” could be a very a good thing – it’s the sort of song that radio stations in countries where metal is not as mainstream as in Finland will pick up, regardless of sounding a little bit heavier. Alongside this, it’s simply the ultimate proof of the versatility of her voice. As I said, Floor Jansen is definitely not done with us, we’re excited to find out more about her solo material, but “Fire” is already proof that it’ll be explosive.
Written by Laureline Tilkin
