“Licht” (Light) by Nena, Friday, June 3, 2022
In 1985, a German song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the song was also recorded in English, the German version of Nena’s “99 Luftballoons” (“99 Red Balloons”) was preferred by American radio stations, though the English version was preferred in the UK. The New German Wave, or Neue Deutsche Welle, band formed after lead singer Gabrielle Kerner, nicknamed Nena during family trips to Spain during her childhood, and her boyfriend, drummer Rolf Brendel, moved to West Berlin. Kerner and Brendel had played in a German English-language band. But under the moniker Nena, the band reached international fame.
A FRIDAY FOR THE FUTURE / IT'S NOT TOO LATE. The band’s success was said to be marred by a hairy incident. While on tour in the UK, tabloids exposed Kerner for not shaving her armpits. At the time women in The UK and the US shaved their armpits, but women from continental Europe did not. Some fans say that exposure was the reason for Nina’s decline. In 1987, Nina, the band split up. As well as the band splitting up, Kerner and Brendel also ended their romantic relationship that year. In 1989, Kerner assumed the moniker as a solo artist, releasing albums since the '90s, most recently 2020's album Licht. Nena continued to have an international presence after going solo, but her yearly tours mostly consisted of her home country of Germany its surrounding countries. Today Nena is one of the top selling German pop stars of all time, selling more than 25 million records. Nena's 2020 record feels contemporary to the current pop music scene. The '80s European punk rock guitars are absent, but the synth sound underlying on tracks like "99 Luftballoons" become more prominent.
WE COME FROM LOVE/ WE COME FROM NOTHING. Today's song, the album's opening track "Licht" is an exuberant anthem of honesty. From the album cover we see Nena dressed in a costume made of iridescent material. The lyrics fight against the nay-sayers who try to dissuade Nena's optimism. The quotes from her autobiography Willst du mit mir gehn paint her an optimist about her career, even at the low points. The singer started out as a fan of The Rolling Stones and from that fandom was inspired to write a major hit song about red balloons that floated away from the concert in West Germany. She clings to her Christian, possibly New Age faith. She advocates vegetarianism and never did drugs, according Brendel. She claims that she never liked the English version of "99 Red Balloons" because the song sounded too overtly political. However, last year she controversially advocated for everyone to be able to attend her concerts, vaccinated or not. She admonished the German government's Covid regulations for being too strict. It seems, though, that the singers' focus was on people rather than policy, however misplaced that sentiment may be. Today's song is that little bit of optimism we may need to get us through to the next step. However, my German is quite poor. Entschuldigen.
"Licht" is one of the songs released in 2020 that joins my 2022+ playlist, a loosely made list of songs I've blogged about that were released (or enjoyed an increased popularity) in the last two years. Check out my updated 2022+ playlist!
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