Hi Guylain! I will write what I think. Songs Eva and Meadows of heaven on this album are my favorites. It is known that when Tarja left the band, some of the material for the new album was already ready. I think these two songs were probably already written, they are very suitable for Tarja's vocals. In my opinion the girl in the song Eva is Tarja. I'll explain why. The story of a little girl who is bullied by her peers is the story of Tarja Turunen's childhood. In her interviews she talked about this dark page of her life, which left indelible wounds in her soul. Tuomas and Tarja went to the same school in small town of Kitee and Tarja lived in the village of Puhos a few kilometers away from the city and had to get up early for school. Both Tarja and Tuomas studied with same music teacher named Plamen Dimov. Tarja was most able among girls and could easily sing any song suggested by teacher. For this reason Plamen treated her in a special way and she participated in all musical performances at school. The other girls didn't like her and she was bullied all time. So it turns out that Tarja was killed by those loving hearts that made her stand out, but made it worse for Tarja. I think this was happening in front of Tuomas' eyes and he, as the author, describes these events in song. Also I think the release of this song was addressed to Tarja. As you know it's the very first single from album and it was distributed for free on internet. It's hard to imagine how much money could have been made if it had gone on sale standard way. I think you understand how big labels feel about lost profits. All fans at this moment were anxiously waiting to see what would happen after Tarja left band, as not many people knew about vocal abilities of new vocalist. Choice of the song for the first single also raises questions. Amaranth or Bye Bye Beautiful would have been much better to show world Anette's voice. So who and why did they have to do all this? The secret here is message of the song, which only the person to whom it was personally addressed could guess. And even those few people who are familiar with this person's personal biography. Probably Tuomas wanted to show her song, or maybe he wanted to apologize for events that had happened earlier. Besides, Tarja didn't have to do anything to listen to it, it was enough to download the song at home through the Internet, because she had interest in voice of the new vocalist too. And it is known that Tarja listened to song. Maybe some people think it's nonsense. But you understand that Holopainen's personal feelings about the events surrounding Tarja run through this album and are clearly expressed in its title. Excuse my English.

I found this: Initially the single was only released on the Internet and radio, with the release date to May 30, 2007, together with the revealing of the identity of the new vocalist Anette Olzon, but due to a leak on May 23, the vocalist identity was revealed on May 24, and the song was released on the 25th. All European income from this release were donated to charity (Child Charity Foundation), and the income from Finnish Internet sales were donated to two children's homes in Finland.

I remember a interview of tuomas about the song "Eva". At this time he was looking for a new singer after the split with Tarja and he spoke with a many singers and with Anette too. Tuomas revealed, that Anette told him in this interview that other children bullying her in the school all the time. This was for him the inspiration of the lyrics to this song. Anette sings a little bit her own story and this could be the reason why she sings this song so perfect.

Eva. Very personal, so painful song in my life... I loved this (still do) when Dark Passion Play came out. I listened it over and over again, singing along. After being violently, brutally attacked by a monster, I could not listen this song anymore. "Mocked by man to depths of shame". This was the time in my life when I had to hide Nightwish, and everything I had ever loved... It hurted so bad. I became a living dead. It took 9 years that I could listen this song again. Never without tears though. I treasure that night in my home 2018 when Nightwish came back to my life like thunder (I saw Ever Dream And Ghost Love Score Wacken 2013), crushing my broken soul with their beauty and putting it back together

Thank you Guylain for these over two years I have had a pleasure to enjoy, learn and heal from your reactions and analysis. I need to tell you, my little stories. My profile picture, that white horse... Whole picture of it is that there is 9 black wolves attacking that horse. Four years ago when Nightwish came back to my life and I made a profile to youtube, I picked that picture and named that white horse Eva. ... About Anette, I share your view, she truly shines in ballads and I haven`t heard anyone who do this song better than Anette.

Merci du fond du coeur Guylain pour cette explication. Je n'avais pas compris toute la portée de cette chanson. Je pensais qu'il s'agissait d'une petite fille qui serait suicidée à cause d'un harcèlement. Mais grâce à vous j'ai pu y reconnaître la cruauté et la violence que j'ai vécue dans mon enfance et mon adolescence. L'isolement ressenti et subi, la honte, les idées noires, la dépression. J'ai pu y reconnaître le mal qui est emporté avec soi même quand on a réussi à s'échapper de cet environnement. La distance physique ne termine pas l'emprise psychologique. Merci encore pour votre éclairage. J'ai été émue aux larmes.

This song always makes me sad. As a parent of a 9 year old one of my worst fears would be that he is ever the victim of bullying. My heart would just crack. Fortunately this is not the case so far, but the knowledge that some children are bullied or ostracised by their peers is deeply upsetting to me.

Thank you Guylain Prince. You are the best to make Nightwish analysysis. Yes you are, sir! Thank you.

I was surprised to see this live clip coming from Worcester, as that's the venue closest to where I live (~60 miles) that international bands like this tend to come to, so I've seen a few bands there (including Nightwish in 2015!). Great reaction/analysis as always! As I think others have mentioned, the "demo" you heard is actually a mix of the real demo version (just Marko singing) and the final version (with Anette).

"Eva" is one of the most poignant songs by Nightwish and it was written when their replacement for Tarja had not be found, so it wasn't written for Anette. It has always been one of my favourites. It strikes me that Tuomas as a lonely child saw a girl in a similar situation who he sympathized with, but from afar. The references to a swan relates to Finnish mythology of the swan bringing the souls to heaven. "She walks alone but not without her name" harks back to "Nemo". Tuomas is without a name, but Eva has hers. Eva is in a better place. He considers her to be a better person than he: "kindest heart". OK, this is a thought that dropped into my head as I'm reading the lyrics during your video. "Eva" sounds like Floor. She has to fly away to be successful and Floor had to do that with After Forever. She was not recognized in the Netherlands and wasn't until 2019. She was only recognized in foreign countries. When this song was written, Tuomas and Marko had known Floor for about five years. They wanted her in the band, but did not want to break up After Forever. Floor has a history of being bullied as a child, not fitting in, as being that brilliant oddball that mediocre minds will never understand. The more we read the lyrics, the more it seems to fit. I may be way off base, but the ducks are lining up. Is the reference to "sunflower field" a reference to her name? The verse about the "beasts" is a good analogy of her trying to make it in the metal world as a woman. At one concert she invited a dumbass to fight to get him to shut up his ignorant, sexist comments. She had to fight against the mindset that women didn't belong in metal. Her promise of future success was her "edenbeam". This song was written before Anette and when Tuomas and Marko were thinking about offering the job to Floor. They had toured with After Forever and knew them well. Tuomas and Floor are kindred souls and I'm sure they made the connection when After Forever and Nightwish toured together. Those of us who have been in these childhood situations very quickly identify others who have been through the same struggles. I'm sure they clicked very quickly. It's a stretch, but I'm seeing the links.

Healing moment.. that is so profound Guylain. It hit me like lightning when you said it. Just brilliant!

This is not a real duet. At the time where Tuomas composed the Songs of "Dark Passion Play" he didn't know yet, who will be the next singer of Nightwish. For this reason Marko alone made a demo of every song of the album. Later someone mixed this demo of Eva with the original version.

Beautiful isn't it? Anette is great in this one too. The rose quote is Shakespeare of course so yes, it refers to her beauty (Shakespeare is more metaphorical, he is not talking about smell, but his quote is "a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet" IIRC). This was before Troy was a permanent member though he contributed to quite a few tracks for some years.

A very nice song, très beau!

Beautiful song. Loved your thoughts Thankyou for sharing.

j'ai hâte, quelle magnifique chanson

I like the approach you have on these analyses gives out interesting points for me to think -new elements

Thankyou Guylain for the lyrics breakdown, I learned more than i knew before, Also the Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare quote from other contribution. Be great next week for Sahara, I love the live 2016 Tampa version. Just to say Thankyou for introducing me to the Warning, the rest of the album Error, That you have not covered yet is great, the songs Error, Revenant, Money ,and bonus track Breathe are superb, And if you get time to finish the Album you will love the lyrics and music

Great reaction. Anyway, can i request your reaction to superb band from japan? The band is call "Lovebites" They all The Beautiful Queens heavy metal band right now in the earth. They are really really World class musicians. Phenomenal. And they have a lot diehard fans like me😁. The fans called Wolfpack. The song is "Set the world on fire" Hope you check out, and can enjoy it too. Big thanks🙏

I'm going to put the suggestion I made in the chat here, so it doesn't get lost. A Black Mile to the Surface by Manchester Orchestra. I think you'll enjoy looking into the lyrics of this "sort-of" concept album.

Amazing reaction my friend Guylain!!....In 2017, the music world was shocked by the bursting onto the scene of a 22-year-old singer named Dimash Kudaibergen, who performed on the famous Chinese competition show for professional singers called “The Singer”... It was just It was necessary for this young man to make his first appearance, making a cover of one of the most difficult songs in the world, a famous French composition called "S.O.S. D'un Terrien En Détresse", to be considered from that moment on as the best singer in the entire planet....No one in the musical field had ever seen a human being, being able to reach vocal ranges above 7 octaves and several semitones, that is, all 88 keys of a digital piano, which reaches a little more than 7 octaves and as if that weren't enough, sing the more than 12 languages...Since then all kinds of experts (Vocal coach, analysts, singing teachers, youtubers, reactors, etc.) have dedicated themselves to reviewing their presentations to try to understand how someone can sing this way...The incredible thing is that that presentation in China was in 2017 and 5 years have passed since then, but what Dimash has done in these 5 years is to further improve his wide vocal range, which is currently practically above of the 8 octaves... The Covid pandemic stopped his concerts worldwide, all with tickets sold in just seconds, via the internet, but at the same time it ended up catapulting him to the top of popularity worldwide...Anyway, since I think you are one of those reactors who have not yet met this impressive singer, here is the link of that presentation in China in 2017, with the song S.O.S. and I would like you to mention my name as the person who recommended him to you...You have to be prepared because you ar going to receive an avalanche of views, comments and new subscribers....I leave you one more recent video than the others, so it does not have the same number of views as the previous ones, which have millions of views, but it is a more complete video, with an intro, subtitles in several languages and with the improved quality of audio and sound....kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mKqIZqmZ0t-ykZc.html

I'm glad that you confirmed my suspicions. When I started to listen to these lyrics properly, I thought that "hmm.. could this be about the beauty" - the flying away part felt like that to me. But I wasn't sure. I thought that I must be reading too much. But after your analysis I'm sure. The other hint that I thought might suggest to Eva being the Beauty was that Shakespeare quote, "a rose by any other name (would smell as sweet)". I think it could be interpreted that Eva is just another name for the Beauty... that Beauty with any other name would still be as sweet. (I'm not good at explaining this in English, I hope you still get what I mean.) What do you think?

Eva is a great song in this album and it has dark lyrics but in the same time it's a ode to Tuomas past and his lost innocent. Eva is Tarja for me, she went in the same school with Tuomas and he must remembered that many children bulling her, maybe he did also. She was so kind,do good heart that after years Tuomas find himself quilty. The beasts maybe were her school mates but i believe that was the members of the band, especially the early years before Marcelo. There's a DVD the end of an innocent in Finnish language,i found English subtitles in KZfaq,that mempers of the band drinking too much,parties after the concerts and bad words, the technical employees were men also and Tarja was alone in the middle, she never drink and her studies in opera make her outside of this night world. They never protect her and respect her, they were young i know but a woman alone in men's world was so bad experience to her. Quellain you have right 👍 Tuomas heals his wounds,he had regret with his behaviour,he recognised the superiority of Tarja and he is ashamed. Maybe Tarja and her husband doing their wrongdoing but he did also years before. The rose is the flower of the romance and our poet is so romantic i should say,Eva is the first woman in Eden and the God kicked out of the paradise as he kicked her out too from the band and she left her home and started a new life in Argentina but she kept her name. The impressive is that this song which played few times in live it was the first release with Anette Olzon,i don't believe that is was no accident, they're better songs for Anette's introduce but he wanted this song for perpus and i can understand him. Anette's vocals are fantastic,i couldn't imagine any other singer in this song. Bravo Quellain, you find a very rare video with this song,i saw it for the first time, maybe is bad recording but is the only one, so it's priceless. See you next week, have a nice weekend.

If the "Worcester" in question is in the UK, it is pronounced "Wusster". We Brits do this purely to confuse foreigners. 😉😂

J’adore vos reactions et vos analyses des chansons que vous proposez sur les thèmes des groupes de metal. Je suis un admirateur de longue date de Nightwish. Cependant, il me manque certaines analyses de compositions brillantes d’Epica qui pour le moment ont été oubliés. (Je suis aussi un gran fan de ce groupe) Je me réfere a des melodías appréciables inclusez dans beaucoup de ses ballades, teles que Feint, Run for a Fall, Solitary Ground, Twin Flames , ou Canvas of Live, ainsi que d’autres chansons telles que Mother of Light, Delirium ou Storm the Sorrow. Comme mon anglais est terrible, je ne peux pas comprendre le vrais sens des lyriques avec les traducctions automatiques de Google qui sont proposées fans certains vidéos ou pages Web. J’espere ne pas vous déranger si je vous demande ces réactions et ces analyses. Je m’excuse pour mon français, qui est encore une autre traduction automatique. Je vous remercie pour votre excellent travail.

J'aime beaucoup vos analyses sur Nightwish Quand vous aurez fini avec Nightwish J'aimerais beaucoup qu'un jour vous réagissiez à la chanson Golgotha du groupe W.A.S.P

M. Guylain there are several new songs by The Warning and we are waiting for your reaction and analysis. Really, we are.

A rose by any name would smell as sweet is from Romeo & Juliet. Juliet is already in love with Romeo by the time she learns that his name(Montague) makes him her family’s enemy. She continues loving him arguing that the name changes nothing about why she loves him. All does not go well for the Star Crossed Lovers! Eva is shamed by Man, in this case it is plural and would be both men & women. (Overlooked “No FRIEND to call her name” so deleted most of the comment that pondered whether it was a shameful name that she took with her)

Tuomas laisserait que les membres de Nightwish , lui y compris auraient profiter et abuser de la gentillesse de Tarja? que donc tout n' était pas si beau dans le groupe ce qui a conduit au départ de Tarja. il a du se passer beaucoup de temps entre cette chanson et master passion greed pour être arrivé à chasser sa très grande colère

Una rosa con qualsiasi altro nome è una citazione a Shakespeare penso, una sua famosa frase infatti dice:" una rosa anche con un'altro nome lo stesso profumo avrebbe"