"Élan" is a single by Finnish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

, the first from their eighth album '' Endless Forms Most Beautiful''. The song marks the first Nightwish song to feature its newest frontwoman, Dutch singer

Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the third and current lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as the lead vocalist of symphonic metal band After Forever f ...

, on vocals, and also the first to feature

Troy Donockley Troy Donockley (born 30 May 1964) is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of Uilleann pipes. Having performed with many artists as a session player, he is most notable as a member of Finnish symphonic metal ba ...

as a full-time member and

Kai Hahto Kai Hahto (born 31 December 1973) is a Finnish musician, best known as the drummer of Wintersun and Nightwish. Career In 2002, Hahto went to New York to study jazz drumming. Hahto was a member of the grindcore band Rotten Sound. In 2004 Haht ...

as a temporary replacement for

Jukka Nevalainen Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Personal life He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him ...

. The song was announced on December 8, 2014 at the band's official website. According to keyboardist and songwriter

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and founding member of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his son ...

, the song is "a wonderful teaser for the full-length album, giving out a little taste, but revealing very little of the actual journey of grandeur to come." The music video for the song features several famous Finnish actors and was "inspired by the untold stories of abandoned places around Finland". The single also contains the song "Sagan", a bonus track not released on ''Endless Forms Most Beautiful''. The song is about astrophysicist and science popularizer

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

. Tuomas said the band intended to include the track in the album track-list, but it would exceed the 80-minutes limit of a conventional CD, so they left the track out of it.

Composition

According to Holopainen, the starting point to write the song was a citation by

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

(described by him as his "hero Uncle Walt"): "'Oh, while I live to be the ruler of life, Not a slave To meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me". He commented: "The underlying theme of the song is nothing less than the meaning of life, which can be something different for all of us. It's important to surrender yourself to the occasional 'free fall' and not to fear the path less travelled by." "Élan" was considered by bassist and vocalist Marko Hietala one of his favorite songs, and he sees it as a work that talks about living one's life to the fullest. When asked about the meaning of the word "élan", Hietala said he heard from Holopainen that "it is a metaphor for this hunger and thirst for life, for the right here and now and the 'go at it and get it'."

Leak controversy

The official debut date was February 13, 2015, though it was leaked online several days before. At that time, the band's official Facebook page posted a screenshot of a Mexican Facebook user supposedly making the song available via Google Drive. The post said "People, not like this please.", and it was met with criticism by some of the fans, who felt the band was exposing the user responsible for sharing the link, while others defended the group. A couple of hours later, the band released a statement on their Facebook page: The user responsible for publicizing the leak later changed his profile name and released a statement saying that he was now being harassed by many people and that Nightwish was to blame in case anything happens to him. The day after, Holopainen and the band released another statement: On the day the single was officially released, Holopainen told ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

'' that he "would have done a few things differently" regarding the episode, but still regretted the song's premature leak. On a later interview, when asked if she sees a leak as something inevitable nowadays, Floor Jansen said "No, absolutely not". She also commented:

Track listing

;CD version ;Vinyl version

Personnel

;Nightwish *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish Heavy metal music, heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, male vocals * Emppu Vuorinen –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s *

– keyboards *

–

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ), also known as Union pipes and sometimes called Irish pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

;Additional musicians *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Pip Williams Philip "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947), sometimes spelt Phillip, is an English record producer, arranger, and guitarist. He is best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues, but has also worked with a large number of we ...

– orchestral arrangements *

James Shearman James Shearman is an English conductor, orchestrator, and composer. He is perhaps best known for his contributions to film scores including those for ''Gosford Park,'' ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', '' Manchester by the Sea'' and num ...

–

Conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

* Metro Voices –

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

;Production * Tuomas Holopainen –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, mixing * Mikko Karmilla, Tero Kinnunen – mixing * Mika Jussila – mastering * Toxic Angel –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elan 2015 songs Songs written by Tuomas Holopainen Nuclear Blast Records singles Nightwish songs