Saara

Originally hailing from Finland, SAARA now calls Los Angeles home as a pop vocalist, composer, and online personality. Sara Maria Forsberg entered the world in Pietarsaari, Finland—also called Jakobstad in Swedish—where her family’s missionary commitments prompted constant movement throughout her earliest years. When she turned six, her parents established a permanent residence in Finland and filled the household with various instruments for her and her older sister to explore. At eight she took up the cello after being steered away from the double bass, and after years of church singing she began formal vocal training during her mid-teens.

At nineteen, in 2014, Forsberg posted the YouTube clip “What Languages Sound Like to Foreigners,” which unexpectedly spread worldwide. The exposure brought an invitation to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, voice-over work portraying a Star Trek alien, and a role in the 2016 Jackie Chan film Skiptrace. Another upload, “One Girl, 14 Genres,” caught the attention of record executives, resulting in her 2014 signing with Capitol Records after she had already moved to Los Angeles.

Having abandoned the earlier monikers Smokahontas and Smo, she issued her first SAARA single, the dance-pop track “Ur Cool,” in spring 2015; it reached the Finnish Top Ten. Three weeks afterward she returned to that chart at number two as featured vocalist on Kasmir’s “Vauvoja.” After ending her association with the executive producer responsible for “Ur Cool”—a track she soon disavowed—she issued the more introspective 2016 singles “California,” “Honey,” and “The Urge,” collected on the Hello I'm Saara EP. In 2017 she released “Permission to Love” and “Superpowers,” the latter co-written with Teemu Brunila and Hank Solo.