Throughout her early twenties she worked as a forklift driver, an unusual occupation for a female, and was part of a local Finnish band named Rained.

In the summer of 2003, a twenty-three-year-old Pakarinen auditioned for the inaugural season of the Finnish singing competition Idols in the country's capital, Helsinki.

Her powerful and emotion-filled vocals impressed the panel of judges and she was unanimously passed through to the next round of the contest, before making it through to the live finals.

During the finale, broadcast a week later on 9 January, Pakarinen performed Tina Turner's The Best, the Bangles' Eternal Flame and the coronation song made especially for the Idols winner, Tulin Voittamaan ("I Came to Win").

In January 2007, after a short break from the music industry, Pakarinen released the song "Go Go" as a promotional single from her highly anticipated third studio album.

The song was accompanied by a music video which became extremely popular, and when Lovers, the third album was released on 14 February, it debuted at number three on the chart.

Following the Eurovision Song Contest, Pakarinen returned to her music and embarked upon her Lovers Tour, again playing to sell-out audiences and receiving rave reviews for her powerful voice and stunning stage performances.

In late 2008, Pakarien released "Make Believe" as the first single from her upcoming fourth studio album, Love In A Million Shades, the title of which was announced true her official Myspace.

However, her record label Sony BMG stated that the drop in sales was expected due to the growing digital age throughout the world, before going on to say they believed Pakarinen's career could easily last well over another decade.

The title-track, "Love In A Million Shades" was also released as the second single in late February and was accompanied by a music video, her first since "Black Ice" over a year earlier.