Saara Aalto has been through a "long" battle with depression.
Meri Sopanen and Saara Aalto
The 'Queens' hitmaker has spoken out how she felt "very lonely" when labels wouldn't support her international career but is now feeling more positive about the future.
Speaking on the Dan's Dilemmas talkRADIO show, she said: "It has been a very long and tough journey for me. I came second in 'The Voice' of Finland in 2012 and my career really exploded at home. I had 300 gigs a year. I talked with labels and they wouldn't help with my international career. They said, 'Saara, if you're in Finland you just have to sing in Finnish.'
"That led to this situation where I felt very lonely. I was really sad and still I was doing gigs all the time. I'd go onstage crying but I was still trying to sing. This is the first time ever in my life that I've actually cancelled some things. I was supposed to fly to Israel this evening to perform at the Eurovision pre-party and I was like, 'I can't, I can't.'"
Back in October, Saara - who is engaged to Meri Sopanen - revealed she cut ties with Sony Music a year after finishing as a runner-up on 'The X Factor' and moved to Warner Music.
She said: "I was honoured I was signed to Sony. But later I felt like they weren't the right team. When I met the people at Warner they were very excited about my style and making me into this big theatrical artist ... He [Simon Cowell] knows. I'm doing X Factor Finland, so I'm still part of the Sony family."
Saara thoroughly enjoyed taking part in 'The X Factor' because she was able to move to London but has admitted it was one of the hardest things she's experienced in her life thus far.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, she said: "It was the best experience and the most exhausting experience of my life. It was really tough. Fortunately I got to be there for the whole time. Of course it was really tiring. So many months in the 'X Factor' house and sharing my room with five other girls was tough. But my whole life changed because of the show. I am seeing all these things we don't have in Finland."