Merging Classical Music with Heavy Metal: How a Dutch singer and a Finnish Band Cross the Impossible Musical Bridge
Over the past year, I have made hundreds of reaction videos to artists and albums from nearly every genre — but it was all inspired by the first time I heard “Ghost Love Score” by Nightwish. At the time, I really had no idea what I was doing, but I just knew I had to do a Vocal Coach Reacts video, simply because I had never heard anyone sing quite like Floor Jansen.
Since then, Nightwish’s popularity has skyrocketed — probably due in part to the sheer number of similar Vocal Coach Reacts videos — and with good reason.
I wanted to revisit “Ghost Love Score” in honor of my YouTube anniversary, using the knowledge I’ve learned over the past year to do a more in-depth Nightwish analysis and break down what makes Floor Jansen so sensational.
Who is Nightwish?
Hailing from Kitee, Finland, Nightwish is a symphonic metal band, merging ornate classical melodies with the hard-hitting power of heavy metal. The band is composed of Tuomas Holopainen, Emppu Vuorinen, Troy Donockley, Kai Hahto, and the vocal powerhouse Floor Jansen.
Nightwish is one of the top-selling musical outfits in Finland and the most successful Finnish band in the world, selling more than 10 million records during their time together, and were inducted into the Finnish Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
“Ghost Love Score” Live at Wacken Open Air 2013 — Nightwish Analysis
For my re-reaction and as an homage to one of Nightwish’s most prolific performances ever, I decided to revisit the performance of “Ghost Love Score” the band did live at Wacken Open Air in 2013.
“Ghost Love Score” is a Nightwish classic and they include it in nearly all of their sets. The live performances of the song clock in at a little over ten minutes, and in that time it tells the tale of two lovers throughout their rise and fall. “Ghost Love Score” is nothing short of a modern epic, drawing on classical and operatic elements to create something truly powerful.
Right from the get-go, listeners are struck by a powerhouse of sound. One of the most amazing things about this intro (or overture, as it is called in classical music) is that Tuomas follows a compositional pattern. The rhythms we hear are repeated throughout the score.
All these musical elements have an emotional, poetic correlation to them — they're themes that relate to certain ideas that may not be expressed exactly in the lyrics, but they still relate to them in a subtle way. This adds an extra dimension to the listener’s interpretation, one that doesn’t need words.
Once Floor begins to sing, everything seems perfect for the narrator — love, swimming together, moonlight waters. It feels so calm and simple, but listeners suspect that something dark may come in the future. Her voice soars here, keeping a truly beautiful refined, virtuosic, subtle, mixed voice timbre, which is juxtaposed by the entire band going hard, playing loud heavy metal behind her.
My first Floor Jansen reaction left me in shock, honestly. She has such power behind her voice, but it is so effortless. Floor Jansen has complete control over her voice, employing a method similar to the classical approach of relying on air flow to dictate the sound. This gives her flexibility that suits Tuomas Holopainen’s music perfectly, since she is able to switch vocal styles on a dime. Her face conveys such passion and emotion, but she keeps her voice in a relaxed space without letting that emotion get into her throat — which is not an easy task. Watching her sing in “Ghost Love Score” you can see that she isn’t straining and is relying on a kinesthetic perception of resonance, feeling it in her chest and engaging her core to make it happen.
Although a lot of the beauty of this song does come from Floor Jansen’s voice, she makes the poetry of the lyrics come alive. It is such a pure form of poetry, too — nothing pedantic about it. It reminds me of the epic poems of old, telling the story of a siren, a child, and heartbreak.
Meanwhile, the score also takes influence from classical music. It’s huge and heavy and unbelievably powerful, but at the same time it is so melodic and rhythmic. For example, there are elements of the Viennese waltz in 3/3 time, emphasis on the first beat. While waltzes are generally used for dancing or in relatively chill pieces, here it is used almost like a “power waltz”. It’s drunk with energy, drunk with passion, almost forsaking the love that was before.
There is no way to define Floor Jansen’s final belt. It’s a chesty mixed, high resonant belt with so much power behind it. Despite all that power, she’s still completely relaxed… I get chills.
Every time I hear this song, it does something to me — it’s the purest, most beautiful story that makes my inner vocal coach and voice nerd squeal. “Ghost Love Score” creates such an amazing, emotional sensation that has stuck with me since the first time I heard it, which is why it inspired me to start making Vocal Coach Reacts videos.
If you’re a music fanatic, I would love to hear your thoughts on Nightwish, Floor Jansen, and “Ghost Love Score”.
Charlie Calotta is a professional operatic tenor, currently in residence with the Florida Grand Opera Company. In addition to his professional opera career, Charlie is endlessly fascinated with the relationship between classical music and other contemporary genres. He makes content for the Big Brain Singer YouTube Channel as well as his own Personal channel, and can be found streaming free voice lessons and analysis on Twitch.
