Tragedies struck during her career but Sanna never stopped singing
Sanna Nielsen puts the rest of the stars on full blast as she talks talks about her music career setbacks and triumphs on the last day at the castle. She shares the story of her parents’ passing and how her performance at the “Melodifestivalen” helped with the grief. She tells everything from the beginning of her career as a child to now that she is a mother herself.
It’s the last day at the castle and it’s time for Sanna Nielsen to be in the spotlight, something she is obviously extremely used to. For breakfast, the stars eat a classic pancake breakfast that Sanna wanted because it reminded her of the breakfast she used to have at her grandmother’s. Sanna began her singing career early and as a child she became little known in her small village in Skåne. During the rest of the day, Sanna tells the stars how she went from the little girl on dance band stages to being in Melodifestivalen, Eurovision and Sing-along at Skansen with more.
Sanna talked about tough setbacks in her life on her day at the castle. Photo: SVT.
The big breakthrough as Sanna Nielsen sees it
Both Sanna’s parents and mother-parents were big supporters of her music career and started taking her singing seriously early on with tours around Sweden. That’s why Sanna got a little teary-eyed during lunch when she told about her parents’ passing. When her grandfather was about to die in hospital, her grandmother was the first to enter her home. The tough news, however, allowed the family to also give the grandfather the go-ahead to let go and he soon fell asleep too.
Under Melodifestivalen In 2008, which she initially thought to turn down, she performed the song “Empty Room” which she recognized as the lyrics speak of a kind of emptiness, which was exactly what Sanna felt inside after her parents passed away. She saw singing as therapy and considers that performance her biggest breakthrough of the many she has had.
Sanna became emotional when she performed “Empty Room” at Melodifestivalen. Photo: SVT.
Triumphs, defeats and back to the top
Sanna’s career continued to rise to new heights after that. In 2014, she was involved in Melodifestivalen again and after being in the final several times before, it was finally time for her to win. And suddenly she was on the international stage in Eurovision where she came close to winning again. But it wasn’t all ups and downs for Sanna, because just like with the passing of her mother and parents and her parents’ divorce a few years earlier, another blow came. One that Sanna feared was the last.
During a performance of her own show, My true self, she suddenly lost her voice. The reason was a polyp on the vocal cords that had ruptured and it led to the star having to live for over three weeks completely mute. Sanna feared that it was the end of the singing but was relieved at the last doctor’s visit who said that the healing had gone well. Sanna even expresses that her voice felt stronger than ever after the incident. Sanna shares this and many more anecdotes that you won’t want to miss on the last episode of the season The stars in the castle.
“The stars at the castle” can be seen on SVT and SVT Play.
