A Bummer, Not a Shock
Every so often, that Floor Jansen “Ghost Love Score” festival footage floats across my feed, and I always stop and watch. That was a special moment. Now the bummer: Nightwish and Floor are done.
Nightwish announced the split on Instagram, saying they decided “in mutual agreement” to part ways. Floor joined for the Imaginaerum tour in 2012, then became a full member and sang on Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Human :||: Nature and Yesterwynde. The band says it will continue and head into the studio in 2027. Floor posted her own statement and is focusing on her solo album Hytress, also due in 2027.
It’s a surprise in some ways and not in others. Nightwish haven’t played a show since Tons of Rock in Norway in June 2023, and Yesterwynde came out in 2024 with no tour behind it. That’s a long quiet stretch.
I’m not someone who spins Nightwish all the time, but there are a few songs I love. To me they’ve always been a band on the precipice of something great. The carousel of vocalists hurt. They never quite recaptured what they had with Tarja, and Floor was as close as it got. Then Marko Hietala left in January 2021, and his backing vocals were a big part of that sound. Losing both is a lot.
I hope they get the next album off the ground and find a singer who truly fits that sound. I hope Floor’s solo record is as epic as it should be. Those are big shoes to fill.
Source: Nightwish (official Instagram)