Sandhja

Sandhja Kuivalainen, born on 16 March 1991, is a Finnish singer known professionally as Sandhja.  Sandhja’s mother is Indo-Guyanese, and her father is Finnish.

In her career, Sandhja released her debut single “Hold Me” in November 2013, which was the lead single from her first studio album. She followed it up with the release of “Gold” as the second single in March 2014. Her debut studio album, titled “Gold,” was released in May 2014.

In 2015, Sandhja collaborated with Brandon Bauer on the single “The Flavor.” She also released her own single, “My Bass,” in October 2015. In January 2016, she was announced as one of the participants in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2016, a Finnish music competition. She advanced to the final after competing in the third semi-final. Ultimately, she won the competition, securing the victory through the jury vote and placing third in the public vote.

As the winner, Sandhja represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. She performed her song in the first semi-final but did not qualify for the final held on 14 May 2016. Prior to Eurovision, she released her second studio album, “Freedom Venture,” on 29 April 2016. The first single from this album to be released after Eurovision was “Love me high”. In 2017, Sandhja teamed up with Gracias & Ekow to release the song “We go on”. 

On 28 May 2021, the group Gankino Circus released a song, “Summer”, in which Sandhja’s spoken word featured. She also performed with the band Kissat. In 2023 she formed the duo Maisa with her mother-in-law. They perform mainly the most popular Finnish tunes of the 40s-70s.