Guest Ida Yli-Mäenpää: “Results come from consistent hard work”
Eight years ago, when Ida Yli-Mäenpää stepped off the stage of The Voice of Finland, she believed her breakthrough was just around the corner. Doors would soon open, opportunities would come pouring in and her career would take off.
She waited and waited, but in the end, very little happened.
The disappointment left its mark, and the aspiring artist, then in her early twenties, began to doubt herself. Music had always been a central part of her life, but suddenly something was holding her back.
“I kind of froze. I started thinking that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this after all. I was afraid of failing, and that stopped me from pursuing my dreams.”
Ida continued making music from time to time, but progress felt slow and frustrating.
“The simple truth is that I wasn’t putting in enough work to move things forward. I was waiting for someone to come and discover me.”
Things only changed once she took action
By 2023, Ida Yli-Mäenpää felt lost. She decided she no longer wanted to sit back and wait for her turn.
So she came up with a plan.
Ida began posting videos on TikTok relentlessly. Her goal was to build such a large following on social media that someone in the music industry would inevitably take notice.
“I wanted to have an audience ready by the time I started releasing music. I made up my mind that it was going to happen.”
The decision marked a turning point. Rather than waiting for opportunities to come her way, Ida began creating them herself.
“I was willing to do whatever it took to get noticed.”
For two years, Ida approached social media as if it were a full-time job.
“I did have a day job at the time, but I was willing to do whatever it took to get noticed.”
Her persistence gradually began to pay off. When Heikki Puhakainen, A&R at Kaiku Entertainment, got in touch, things finally started moving forward in earnest.
“In the end, everything happened exactly the way I had envisioned. It showed me that results follow when you put enough work into achieving your goals. I had a clear plan and knew what I wanted to accomplish. Getting to this point simply required one thing: taking action,” Ida says.
Success requires hard work and self-belief
Today, Ida approaches her career with the same determination she once applied to building her social media presence.
“I’m very goal-oriented. I know that success doesn’t happen on its own. You have to work for it,” she says.
So when her debut single 112, released in early 2026, climbed to No. 23 on Finland’s Spotify Top 50 chart, Ida was not surprised.
“I’m a realist, but at the same time I’m just delusional enough. I believed in that song completely from the very beginning, even though some people tried to temper my expectations,” Ida says with a laugh.
Yet in the summer of 2026, something happened that nobody, not even Ida herself, could have anticipated.
The song Väärä nainen, which premiered at the Loop It concert in Jyväskylä, immediately captured the audience’s attention. A video clip filmed at the performance quickly began spreading across social media, surpassing one million views in record time.
The song immediately generated a wave of demand for an official release.
“People kept messaging me, asking when they would finally be able to listen to it. One person even joked that they’d turn up at my doorstep if I didn’t release it soon.”
It was then that Ida realised she might have something truly special on her hands.
Breaking Records
When Väärä nainen was finally released on 14 August, it became an instant phenomenon. The song shot straight to the top of Finland’s Spotify chart and has since broken several records. Among its achievements, it became the first single to surpass the new gold certification threshold introduced in July and the most-streamed song by a female artist in Finland on its first day of release.
Listeners finally got what they had been waiting for. To date, the song has been streamed more than 4.5 million times on Spotify alone.
“Many people didn’t realise that the song simply wasn’t ready yet.”
The remarkable journey behind the song also made Ida stop and think about how much of the work behind a finished release remains invisible to listeners.
“When people were demanding that Väärä nainen be released immediately, many didn’t realise that the song simply wasn’t ready yet,” Ida says.
She points out that every finished recording is the result of a long chain of professionals, expertise and production stages. A song needs to be mixed and mastered, delivered to streaming services and supported with marketing and promotional materials.
“There are so many people working behind the scenes, and their expertise plays a huge role in making a song happen and ultimately bringing it to release.”
That is also why it is important that the contribution of everyone involved is recognised and that copyright royalties and other remunerations are distributed correctly.
“Artists, musicians and all the other people who create something new and put a tremendous amount of work into it deserve to be compensated for that work. It’s essential to making a living in this industry. This isn’t charity,” Ida emphasises.
With a long career in mind
Although success has come quickly, Ida feels more prepared for it now than ever before.
“I’ve put a tremendous amount of work into developing the right mindset. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been ready for this.”
She describes herself as a positive and solution-oriented person.
“Whenever I run into a challenge, my first thought is always: what can I do about it?”
Rather than dwelling on obstacles, Ida prefers to focus on finding a way forward. She believes that mindset has played a key role in helping her navigate both setbacks and successes throughout her career.
“It all starts with having the courage to get started.”
Ida sees her career as a journey measured not in years, but in decades.
“I want to be making music even when I’m the age of Kaija Koo.”
The same mindset that helped her move forward when nothing seemed to be happening still guides her today.
“Everything starts with having the courage to take the first step. You can’t just sit around dreaming. You have to do at least one small thing every day to move closer to your goal. Confidence grows through doing.”
For anyone struggling with self-doubt, Ida has an important message:
“Everyone is capable of achieving the things they dream about. Why should someone else be able to achieve it, but not you? I wish more people would believe in themselves.”
