AWA

AWA (Amanda Mäläskä, née Pietikäinen) is a Finnish artist, songwriter and producer. She became known with her debut album "Satamieli", which was released in May 2022. The most famous songs of the album are "Kuuhun ja takaisin", "Grand Canyon", and "Satamieli", which were featured on the official editorial playlists on Spotify, as well as Finnish radio channels.
AWA's music is Finnish magical pop, featuring organic band sound and massive vocal harmonies. Her productions are inspired by ambient music, with the aim of creating atmospheres. Her lyrics explore human relationships and major events in life through mysticism.
==Early life and education==
AWA hails from a small town, Hyvinkää, which is located about fifty kilometers (30 miles) from Helsinki, Finland. As a child she studied classical piano and singing at the Hyvinkää Music Institute. She went to a music oriented elementary school, from which she continued to music oriented High School.
AWA grew up in a musical family. Her grandfather was the distinguished violist Mauri Pietikäinen, who made his career in the Helsinki City Orchestra, the Vantaa Entertainment Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others, and recorded string parts on numerous records during his decades-long career. AWA's grandmother was a cantor and piano teacher and her other family members are also active in music, as many of them play and compose music. Inspired by this, AWA wrote her first song at the age of seven.
==Career==
AWA started her first band Sarca in 2002 at the age of 10, playing the electric guitar, singing vocal harmonies and writing songs together with her bandmates.
The group performed live released music actively. They performed at the same venues with the Finnish bands like Negative, Indica, Teräsbetoni, Uniklubi, Technicolour and Pikku G. Sarca gained the attention of wider audience after participating in the first season of Talent Finland, which is the Finnish version of the TV format "Talent Show".
In 2011, Jonne Aaron Liimatainen, the frontman of the band Negative, found Sarca on Myspace and contacted the group, offering his help and suggested collaboration, which led to the band signing their first recording contract with the Finnish record company Hype Records. Sarca recorded their debut album "Nollasta sataan" with one of the Finland's top producers Jonas Olsson, in Kokkola in 2011. In 2012, Sarca participated in the Finnish TV format "Duudsonit tuli taloon" and released their most famous song "Kesäbiisi", getting a lot of radio airplay. In September 2012, the full-length album "Nollasta sataan" was released and the band started touring, having an opportunity to support Negative at their Virgin Oil gig in Helsinki. During making the Sarca album, AWA collaborated with many Finnish frontline songwriters, such as Jonne Aaron Liimatainen, Sanna Korkee, Jonas Olsson and Saara Törmä.
After Sarca, AWA started focusing on her own artistic path and started writing songs for herself. Together with her partner Jesse Mäläskä, AWA participated in a competition organized by the Finnish artist and songwriter Anssi Kela. The competitors produced their own version of one of the songs from Anssi Kela’s album "Nostalgiaa". AWA and Jesse covered the song "Piirrä minuun tie" and succeeded well in the competition, making their way to open for Anssi Kela’s show at The Circus, Helsinki in 2015.
AWA self-studied music recording and production for years and released her first EP "Häkkilintu" in December 2018. A music video has been released for the EP's title track. Distinguished Finnish musicians Jesse Mäläskä, Saku Maristo, Saku Hjelt and Sampo Sundström played on the EP.
In 2020, AWA participated in the Finnish version of the TV format “The Voice”, "The Voice of Finland", Blind Auditions. Later that year, she began her studies of music making and producing at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki.
During the years 2019-2022, AWA worked on her first full-length album "Satamieli", which was released after four single releases on May 13, 2022. The most well-known songs of the album were "Kuuhun ja takaisin", a song about parenting, "Satamieli", about the spectrum of autism, and the song "Grand Canyon", which is written together with her musician friend Emmy June.
For the singles "Magiaa" and "Myrkkyy" AWA screenwrited and directed two spectacular music videos, together with Jesse Mäläskä. The songs from the "Satamieli" album were noticed on many major Finnish Spotify playlists and numerous Finnish radio channels, such as Radio Helsinki, Radio Pooki, Yle Radio Suomi, Helsingin Lähiradio, Radio Soi, Radio Finlandia and Finnradio. AWA hosted an album release party at Helsinki's Musiikkitalo together with ELLIMEI, an artist signed to Warner Music Finland.
In 2022, AWA won a Christmas song competition organized by Jouluradio and Metropolia. She took the first place with her composition "Sielunlintu" and the third place with the song "Joulu on", which she composed together with her musician friend Salla Saarisalo. After winning the competition, AWA hosted Jouluradio's celebration concert together with Katri Ketola. The winnings songs received a considerable amount of radio play on Jouluradio.
In addition to music, AWA makes handmade jewelry, which she sells at her concerts, online store and at various events. She is also a host of the podcast "Kummitusjuttuja” that was featured on Spotify's playlist of the most listened podcasts in Finland and reached the top 100 staying on it for several weeks. The podcast deals with paranormal phenomena, while AWA interviews her guests. 
==Influences and Reflections==
AWA's musical influences are strongly drawn from pop music, catchy melodies and different kinds of hooks playing a big role. You can also hear influences from other music genres, like rock and ambient music, and the artist's diverse music taste can be heard throughout her productions. Studying classical music in childhood and teenage years has also played a huge role in AWA's compositional work.
AWA has admired pop stars and bands since she was a child. The first ones that caught her attention were Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls and the Finnish pop band Aikakone. She eagerly followed Michael Jackson's career and managed to get her hands on all possible material about him. Later, KISS and Red Hot Chili Peppers became objects of admiration, whose band-drivenness and energy AWA admired. In elementary school, AWA found film music, which led her to find interesting new artists. Enya became one of her favorite artists. Enya's productions and the way of creating big vocal harmonies made a big impact on AWA and inspired her to seek similar kinds of atmospheres in her own music. Through this, creating an atmosphere in music became one of AWA's most important things as a music maker and producer. Numerous Finnish artists have inspired AWA to create her own career and music. The Finnish artist-producer Chisu and the Finnish artists Maija Vilkkumaa and Jenni Vartiainen are on the top of her list.
==Discography==
===Albums/EPs===
* Häkkilintu (2018)
* Satamieli (2022)
===Singles===
* Mun tarkoitus (2020)
* Flanellitaivas (2020)
* Magiaa (2021)
* Kuuhun ja takaisin (2021)
* Myrkkyy (2022)
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Personal website
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* AWA on YouTube
* AWA on Spotify
* AWA on TikTok
Category:Living people
Category:Finnish singers
Category:Finnish songwriters
Category:Finnish record producers
Category:Finnish people
Category:Finnish musicians