The Shadow Self is the sixth studio album released by Finnish vocalist Tarja Turunen.

The songwriting started just after the release of Colours in the Dark in 2013, and Tarja gave hints through her Facebook and Twitter accounts along the way.

On 17 October 2015, Tarja performed two new songs, "No Bitter End" and "Goldfinger", a James Bond theme cover, which would be the first glimpses of the new album.

On 14 March 2016, the artwork and album name finally got revealed, Turunen said that the title of The Shadow Self was inspired by Scottish singer Annie Lennox: "I came across an Annie Lennox interview some time ago on the internet, and I was reading about her speaking about 'the shadow self,' about a darker side of us all.

On 7 April 2016, Earmusic revealed the prequel named The Brightest Void, released on 3 June with nine tracks.