Child star Pohuva Kone disappeared from the public eye for years – Now openly tells what happened

Jos, the child star known as the Talking Machine Pyry Karelian hadn’t gotten help in time, he wouldn’t be giving this interview now. A person from Karelia knows what it’s like to be at the bottom at the same time that things are going well in the rest of life.

Karjalainen came to the public in the early 2010s as a rapping young boy. It wasn’t long before he was known as the Talking Machine, the nation’s child star who rapped so Life for a child -live, Long hot summer program than on the main stage of Blockfest in Tampere with Elastinen. Each in a way -album quickly sold gold and a career was open.

After 2012, the artist left the public eye, and Karjalainen focused on completing his elementary school.

After elementary school came high school, the army and studies at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. Karelian began to live a completely ordinary life, although from time to time someone could recognize him at school, at student events or on the street.

Karjalainen has remained conspicuously absent from the public except for two interviews on the Osmonautti YouTube channel.

The native of Karja fell in love during high school, and later started a family with his current wife. The couple had their first child in 2020, and the family’s second daughter was born in 2024.

Undone

Towards the end of 2021, the thoughts inside Karjalainen’s head started to pile up. He doesn’t want to open all his deepest memories publicly, but says he was lost at the time. The period was also associated with depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts and hopelessness about the future. He was also diagnosed with work exhaustion.

In addition to professional help, Karjalainen, 27, has always relied on art. Even though his bread has actually come to the table for several years already from the ICT sector, he has always written raps and now also publishes them.

The Talking Machine made a comeback at the end of 2024 Elevenwith his song. With the single, Karjalainen deals with the challenges of mental health and what he has experienced in his life over the years. In the song, you can also hear references to the child stardom that started at the age of 11.

The title of the song also has a special connection to difficult periods in his life. In the summer of 2022, at the same time when Karjalainen was in the most difficult place of his life, he received a special message from an acquaintance. Iltalehti has seen the messages between Karjalainen and his acquaintance.

– Someone had put on my Wikipedia page that I died on June 11. It was stopping, because at the same time I really had suicidal thoughts, Karjalainen recalls.

No child stars

Although Karjalainen does not directly name child stardom as the only reason for his mental health problems, there is some connection between them. The Karelian realizes that as a child he did not understand what situation he was in. Despite a happy childhood, child stardom, publicity and the entertainment machinery that revolved around him have left some sort of mark on him.

A Karelian does not usually take a stand on things, but he has personal experience in this matter.

– I myself am very familiar with my own past, so in a certain way I feel it is my duty to say my opinion about this. I don’t wish for a single child star in the world, he says.

– I didn’t realize until I grew up that there were dark sides to child stardom. Conflicting thoughts have only come later. When it comes to child stars, parents have a really big responsibility to think about the unexpected things that being in the public eye as a child might involve.

Karelian does not point an accusing finger at those children who want to make art or be on display. He also doesn’t point the finger at the adults who made music with him.

– The music machinery of that time probably didn’t figure it all out. They too went with the cards they had.

The Karelian has later thanked his own parents for how they acted in the situation and took care of their child. As the father of two children, Karjalainen has also thought about the issue through his own children.

– Of course I would support my own children if they want to make art, but before they are of age they are not allowed to publish it or write contracts. It’s very simple. Art in itself, when all you need is to make art.

During his recovery from his mental health problems, Karjalainen has done a lot of work on himself.

He has gained strength and learned from, among other things, Eckhart Tolle’s classic work The power of presence. In the introduction to the book, Tolle talks about the period in his life when darkness turned into light. This was not due to external achievements or matter, but spiritual things. A Karelian has a similar experience in his life.

– The fact that I have light in my heart, feet on the ground and peace does not depend on what happened around me or what I have achieved. They have been found through things that cannot be verbalized or explained.

– At the moment, I feel that nothing can shake my deepest peace. Of course, the ego can work cunningly, but it can also be easily caught.

Life now

Just over a year ago, Karjalainen went through one of the biggest challenges of his life. Karjalainen’s marriage drifted into a crisis, and separation was imminent.

However, no divorce papers were ever filed. After the crisis, Karjalainen moved with his family from Jyväskylä to Espoo.

– The past year has been about putting my personal life together with a new faith. Now it feels like things are as good as they can ever be. Now it’s no longer sad if the songs don’t stream or there are no listeners. Of course, that has never been the main point, but now we are specifically weighing what is most important in life.

– If you think about it after all this, I wouldn’t change a single day of my life. If I had continued full-time with music, I wouldn’t necessarily have a family, two children, a wife. I probably would never have even met my wife.

Pohuva Kone released his second single after his comeback Bear and Taurus December 19th. Karjalainen is satisfied to be able to publish music now and in the future at his own pace without pressure. However, when living in the capital region, cooperation with producers and the rest of the work group is easier and making music is easier to fit into everyday life.

– This return has been a good reminder that I can no longer sit in the cloud castle of millions of repetitions, but I can be a normal person and make art. I shouldn’t even compare things to things I experienced in my childhood.

However, the Karelian does not want to close the doors to a possible bigger change if things go a certain way.

– But time will tell, he concludes.

The story was originally published on January 30, 2026.