Saara Aalto says she doesn’t regret leaving Sony – because Eurovision is a “bigger and better” platform than The X Factor.
Saara signed a record contract with Sony Music shortly after she finished as the ITV talent contest’s runner-up in 2016.
However, in November she announced that she had parted ways with the company and teamed up with Warner Music instead.
Now, as she prepares to represent her home country Finland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Saara reckons she made the right decision to swap labels.
The 30-year-old says she doesn’t mind losing out on the X Factor performance slot that the Sony deal would likely have given her.
“Doing Eurovision is even bigger than X Factor. It’s a great platform for my single,” she told the Daily Star.
“People thought I was crazy to leave the Sony label because I could have performed on X Factor.
“But it doesn’t matter as Eurovision is an even bigger and better platform than X Factor.”
Saara’s comments came after she released her new album ‘Wild Wild Wonderland’ on Friday.
It features her Eurovision entry, ‘Monsters’, as well as ‘Domino’ and ‘Queens’, her tracks that weren’t chosen for the contest.
The record is currently at number one on the iTunes Chart in Finland.
Although she’s no longer with Sony, Saara remains part of the X Factor family, as a judge on the Finnish version of the show.
She has also turned to Brian Friedman, another familiar X Factor face, to help with her Eurovision performance.
“After we met on X Factor, Brian always said he’d love to work with me,” she added.
“So when I asked him to work on my Eurovision performance he agreed. I was honoured.”
Saara will compete in the first Eurovision semi-final, airing Tuesday 8th May on BBC Four, which UK viewers can vote in.
If she’s successful, she will proceed to the grand final, airing Saturday 12th May on BBC One.
More on: Eurovision 2024The X Factor
