The Nightwish Floor Jansen era is over. The Finnish symphonic metal band and its Dutch singer announced Thursday, Oct. 15, that they have parted ways after about 14 years. Nightwish says it will carry on and record a new album in 2027, and Jansen says her solo career now gets all of her attention, per statements reported by Blabbermouth and posted on Jansen’s official site.
No replacement singer has been named, and there are no San Diego dates for either Nightwish or Jansen.
What the Nightwish Floor Jansen statements say
The joint statement calls the split a mutual decision:
After careful consideration, we have, in mutual agreement, decided to part ways. This decision is necessary and important to us and our future ambitions. Thus, we will now pursue those goals in our own separate ways.
Nightwish and Floor Jansen joint statement
It ends by telling fans that “this marks the end of a truly great voyage.” In the band’s own post, as quoted by Blabbermouth, Nightwish added: “Nightwish will continue. We will move forward and enter the studio in 2027 to record a new album.” The band also said that “as we celebrate 30 years of Nightwish, we couldn’t be more excited about our music and our future.”
Jansen’s separate note called it “a hard decision to make” and said she believes “there is a bright musical journey ahead of me.” She wrote that her “solo career will now get all of my attention” and that she hopes “to meet you on the road again in a near and happy future.” She signed off “With love and respect, Floor.”
The Nightwish Floor Jansen announcement was short on detail. Neither statement gives a reason beyond “future ambitions,” and neither says who will sing on the new record.
The 2021 quote that hangs over the split
There’s an obvious tension here. In a 2021 Metal Hammer interview, published on Louder, founder and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen was asked about his 2019 comment that Nightwish would end if another member left. Bassist and singer Marko Hietala had just quit. Holopainen answered:
That’s how I felt back in 2019, and that’s also how I felt when Marko left. I take my words back when it comes to that. But if it would be Floor leaving, that’s it, it’s the end of Nightwish. Absolutely, 100%.
Tuomas Holopainen to Metal Hammer, 2021
Five years later, the band’s statement says the opposite: Nightwish will continue. Neither the band nor Holopainen addressed the 2021 comment on Thursday, so we won’t guess at what changed. Fans can weigh the two statements for themselves, but the Nightwish Floor Jansen split didn’t end the band, whatever was said in 2021.
Floor Jansen’s 14 years in Nightwish
Per Blabbermouth, Jansen first played live with Nightwish on Oct. 1, 2012, at Showbox SoDo in Seattle, stepping in after the abrupt exit of Anette Olzon, the band’s singer of five years. She officially joined in 2013.
The Nightwish Floor Jansen studio run covered four albums:
- Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015), her first as lead singer, which Blabbermouth says hit Top 10s around the world
- Human. :II: Nature. (2020)
- Yesterwynde (Sept. 20, 2024, Nuclear Blast), the band’s tenth album per the official Nightwish site
- Live albums Showtime, Storytime, Vehicle Of Spirit and Decades: Live In Buenos Aires
Blabbermouth also notes that in April 2023, Nightwish said it wouldn’t play live shows for the foreseeable future and wouldn’t tour behind Yesterwynde. That means the Nightwish Floor Jansen lineup never toured its last album. The band’s site lists Yesterwynde orchestral concerts by other performers, including one in Helsinki on March 21, 2026.
Before Nightwish, Jansen sang in After Forever, which she joined at 16, and then in ReVamp.
Floor’s next move: Hytress
Jansen’s second solo album, Hytress, comes out Jan. 15, 2027, on REVAMP Music/Warner Music, per her August announcement. It follows her 2023 solo debut, Paragon. The single “Bring Me Silence” arrived Aug. 21, and she has announced a HYTRESS Tour 2027 of club stages in Europe and South America, plus Mexico dates. No U.S. dates are listed, so there’s nothing in Southern California yet.
What comes next for the Nightwish Floor Jansen fallout
For Nightwish, the next step is the studio in 2027, during the band’s 30th-anniversary stretch. Holopainen founded Nightwish in 1996 with guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and original singer Tarja Turunen. Jansen is the third lead singer to exit, after Turunen and Olzon. The band found a new voice after each of those exits, but it hasn’t said how it will follow the Nightwish Floor Jansen years.
The band hasn’t said whether it will hold auditions, bring in guests or name a new singer before recording. Until it does, the Nightwish Floor Jansen chapter closes on the band’s own phrase, “a truly great voyage,” and we’ll update when the band names a singer.
SDMETAL
