These are our songs of the year

FAZ

December 29th, 2022 This year it started again: party, celebrate, joie de vivre.

But it was also a year of crises and sacrifices.

These songs have sweetened the year for our editors.

Jovanotti, Sixpm:

"I love you, baby"

Videos: Youtube

Anna Lena Ripperger

Jovanotti knows he's not Eros Ramazotti.

His voice isn't perfect, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the greats of Italian pop.

"Jova", as his fans call him, was just in the mood for music, for parties, for good vibes.

In 1988 he became the first star of Italian rap.

But he didn't stay with that.

In the more than 30 years of his career, Lorenzo Cherubini, as his real name is, has reinvented himself again and again - because, as he says himself, he gets bored quickly.

But regardless of whether he's experimenting with world music sounds or traveling as a cantautore, his songs are always light-footed and friendly, full of positive energy.

The 2022 released "I love you baby" is a perfect example of this.

Universal message meets the best dance sounds,

garnished with violins and rhythm elements.

Incidentally, Jovanotti also quotes an often-covered classic, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli: "There's a song that's quite old, but seems like it was written today.

I don't remember the melody exactly.

But the lyrics go something like this: I love you, baby.

Can't say it any clearer than that.

I love you babe.

I will sing it for you, tonight, tomorrow and until I see that your eyes shine again.” Jovanotti is not Eros Ramazotti, but he is also quite good at singing about love.

I don't remember the melody exactly.

But the lyrics go something like this: I love you, baby.

Can't say it any clearer than that.

I love you babe.

I will sing it for you, tonight, tomorrow and until I see that your eyes shine again.” Jovanotti is not Eros Ramazotti, but he is also quite good at singing about love.

I don't remember the melody exactly.

But the lyrics go something like this: I love you, baby.

Can't say it any clearer than that.

I love you babe.

I will sing it for you, tonight, tomorrow and until I see that your eyes shine again.” Jovanotti is not Eros Ramazotti, but he is also quite good at singing about love.

Black Country, New Road:

"Snow Globes"

Videos: Youtube

Philip Krohn

Music history repeats itself.

Over and over again.

When British band Black Country, New Road released their second record, Ants from Up There, in February, I was reminded of so much: the enthusiasm of a band of men and women from Arcade Fire, the arcs of tension of the early Bright Eyes and a tragic psycho story like Pink Floyd.

Singer Isaac Wood, the emotional center of the former septet with his deep voice and his willingness to striptease his soul, had dropped out a few days before the release because of his ailing psyche.

Out of respect, the rest of the troupe stop playing songs he was a part of on stage, saving him a seat for later when he recovers.

Good for him, challenging for the fans.

Like Pink Floyd

who Syd Barrett never locked a door.

"Snow Globes" is the penultimate song on the record, nine minutes long, and builds on a simple violin motif to a furious experimental rock finale with a rousing drum improvisation.

Best Song 2022. Last played live in mid-September 2021.

Steve Lacy:

"Bad Habit"

Videos: Youtube

Johanna Dürrholz

If you have a Sexy Time playlist (and if you don't have one, why not?), this is the song for you.

Yes, "Bad Habit" is about togetherness, and making a sexy song is an art in itself, even if it's a bit easier in English than in German.

When an artist like Steve Lacy does it, balancing the fine line between indie and pop and R'n'B, the sexy song even goes viral on Tiktok.

For the alternative artist Lacy, this meant the breakthrough in the summer, for me it meant: a new song for the playlist "Sexy Time".

Stromae:

"L'enfer"

Videos: Youtube

Sebastian Eder

I first heard Stromae's “L'enfer” in a rest room in a psychotherapy and psychosomatic clinic.

At what used to be called a pats hospital, I was treated for ten weeks this fall for depression and anxiety.

A fellow patient showed me the song by the French artist during a lunch break.

Earlier in the year I had seen excerpts of a scene in which Stromae had responded to a journalist's question with this song on the French 8pm news.

The video had gone viral, also because of the incredibly intense facial expression of the now 37-year-old artist.

In the clinic, I paid attention to the text for the first time: “I am not alone in this loneliness,” Stromae begins.

"That's one load less." It's crazy,

how many people have had exactly the same thoughts as he has.

"It just doesn't make me feel any less lonely." The lines summed up exactly what I had experienced in the clinic up to that point: It had been a relief to get to know other patients who had gone through exactly the same mental chaos as I had.

This broken emotional world is incredibly difficult to describe to outsiders - also because you can hardly believe it yourself.

Unfortunately, knowing the millions of depressed people you share it with doesn't make loneliness and despair go away.

"That's why," Stromae continues, "I've had suicidal thoughts sometimes — I'm not proud of it." But for a few days, it seemed like the only way to silence the thoughts that were making his life hell.

Luckily I didn't have any suicidal thoughts - but in the worst phase of my illness I often had the feeling that I just couldn't stand it anymore.

I'm better now.

The song by Stromae helped me a little bit.

What art cannot achieve.

Apache 207:

“Do you feel that too”

Videos: Youtube

Aylin Guler

When I asked rapper Apache 207 in an interview how he managed not to take off with all his success and fame, he rapped me something of a previously unreleased song: "Wa-da-da-bang, wa-da-da- da-bang / You're not my cousin and you're not my Kuzeng..." Hm yes, sure.

I'm not.

And further?

The Mannheim rapper did not want to reveal more at the end of September.

Two weeks later, at the live concert in Stuttgart, the sequel: "What's the point of a hundred thousand fans on Instagram / if only hundreds of hundreds of thousands recognize you?

/ Pray to God if money changes us / Then leave us poor for life.” The 25-year-old Volkan Yaman, better known under the name Apache 207, presented the song “Do you feel that too” for the first time that evening.

Over a pumping synth beat, he sings about the success of recent years - including its downside.

Tens of thousands of fans - and I - were there live.

Whooped along with every line of lyrics, even though the song had only been released on the streaming services hours before.

Apache catchy tunes succeed even without an autotune.

In his four-year career, his songs have sold so well that he has received 27 gold records, seven platinum and one diamond.

His songs have been streamed more than two billion times on Spotify.

So the question of how to keep your feet on the ground is justified, isn't it?

Apache catchy tunes succeed even without an autotune.

In his four-year career, his songs have sold so well that he has received 27 gold records, seven platinum and one diamond.

His songs have been streamed more than two billion times on Spotify.

So the question of how to keep your feet on the ground is justified, isn't it?

Apache catchy tunes succeed even without an autotune.

In his four-year career, his songs have sold so well that he has received 27 gold records, seven platinum and one diamond.

His songs have been streamed more than two billion times on Spotify.

So the question of how to keep your feet on the ground is justified, isn't it?

Ghali:

"Bayna"

Videos: Youtube

Johanna Christian

For months, my best friend and I had been looking forward to the first concert in a long time: Because the Italian rapper Ghali went on a European tour for the first time and thus also came to Germany.

As the son of Tunisian immigrants, the Milanese's songs are mostly a colorful mishmash of Italian, Arabic and French.

It's about the connection to the old and new home country, about identity, growing up in Europe - and quite often about politics.

The song "Bayna" was released in May this year as the intro to his current album "Sensazione Ultra".

He raps gently in Italian and Arabic, without any beats, just accompanied by a piano and strings.

The verses line up like fragments of a poem: "Between me and you the Mediterranean, the familiar face of a stranger,

orphaned like a new atheist" - it is about the topic of flight and the dangerous crossing from Africa to Europe.

For Ghali, the Mediterranean represents the place that connects his two cultures.

At the same time, he is constantly aware that people die every day trying to get to Europe in that sea.

An Instagram post from Ghali followed in July: "I bought a boat," he writes there.

Not a luxurious yacht, as you might expect from a rapper, but a sea rescue boat.

It's called Bayna.

to get to Europe, die in that sea.

An Instagram post from Ghali followed in July: "I bought a boat," he writes there.

Not a luxurious yacht, as you might expect from a rapper, but a sea rescue boat.

It's called Bayna.

to get to Europe, die in that sea.

An Instagram post from Ghali followed in July: "I bought a boat," he writes there.

Not a luxurious yacht, as you might expect from a rapper, but a sea rescue boat.

It's called Bayna.

Lizzo:

"About Damn Time"

Videos: Youtube

Alphonse Kaiser

This video alone!

This Stressed and Sexy Support Group!

Lizzo is taken like a schoolchild in class - and runs out.

She then puts on her show outside the door.

And how it begins: The rhythm starts, she looks surprised at her shoulders, which twitch in time, then her cue, "It's bad bitch o'clock, yeah, it's thick-thirty / I've been through a lot but I' m still flirty”, and it always, always, always goes on like this if it would not end at some point.

It doesn't matter whether it's R&B or hip-hop or pop or just disco.

The rhythm carries everything with it, her face speaks its own language, her dance is heavenly, the music transforms the disenfranchised into the self-confident, and as an anthem for body positivity it all has an incredibly positive vibe.

The 34-year-old singer doesn't just mean herself when she says "Turn up the music, let's celebrate / I got a feelin' I'm gon' be okay," she means us, and she means this year.

Everything has to be different, not always just “under pressure”.

You couldn't say it better, let alone sing it.

She ends up going back to the Stressed and Sexy Support Group with renewed courage.

Hopefully the others will sing, "It's about damn time."

Julia Bahr

For weeks I only knew a small excerpt from this song, but it was very, very good.

A number of Tiktoks were lined with it in the spring, it was always the same passage.

You might think that annoying, but no!

It's a brilliant passage from a brilliant song.

It was just the beginning of the second verse, the hook line was missing.

It wasn't until I finally listened to the whole song that I realized all the brilliance.

The arrangement is bursting with funk and glamour, the lyrics open aggressively with the words: "It's bad bitch o'clock / yeah, it's thick thirty".

"About Damn Time" was the song that finally got the feeling after the second Corona winter: Okay, that was bad, but now it's getting better and we're going to go out and enjoy it.

No song has been more fun in 2022.

Luckily it has no expiration date,

because it does not explicitly refer to Corona, and if the year has taught us one thing, it is this: the next crisis will definitely come!

And her end too.

The soundtrack is ready.

Kerri San Luis

Almost in time for the start of my new career, Lizzo released this great track, the content of which met my spring fever.

Musically, I'm usually very inclined towards the indie alternative track, but Lizzo speaks to me with the lyrics "I've been so down and under pressure.

I'm way too fine to be this stressed" from the soul.

After almost ten years in advertising, I made the decision this Spring that it's about damn time to switch industries.

Anyone who knows the media industry or is an “advertiser” (that’s what people in advertising like to call themselves) knows exactly what I’m talking about when a briefing arrives in the inbox at 5 p.m.:

“Can you do that by tomorrow?” As a creative person, the laborious retouching of dust particles and breadcrumbs in video material was on my agenda from time to time, if a little helper on the set didn’t take his job too seriously.

In order to finally offer my work added value for the big wide world out there, I have been allowed to process any video format for the audio-video department since the beginning of April this year.

In addition, the song has a rhythm that immediately encourages you to dance and immediately puts you in a good mood.

There's always a reason to celebrate, so let's listen to the wonderful Lizzo: Turn up the music, let's celebrate.

wide world out there, I have been allowed to process any video format for the audio-video department since the beginning of April this year.

In addition, the song has a rhythm that immediately encourages you to dance and immediately puts you in a good mood.

There's always a reason to celebrate, so let's listen to the wonderful Lizzo: Turn up the music, let's celebrate.

wide world out there, I have been allowed to process any video format for the audio-video department since the beginning of April this year.

In addition, the song has a rhythm that immediately encourages you to dance and immediately puts you in a good mood.

There's always a reason to celebrate, so let's listen to the wonderful Lizzo: Turn up the music, let's celebrate.

sorrow FEAT.

Fred Rabe:

"The Last Song (Everything will be fine)"

Videos: Youtube

Benjamin Fisher

Nonchalant understatement is part of the core of the Kraftklub brand.

That could also be heard in frontman Felix Kummer's solo project - as it should be, best emphasized in the last song, which is also conveniently called that.

"I don't have a sick flow and I don't write any hits either, but give me a verse and the good mood changes".

The fact that there are no musical virtuosos decorated with titles from music colleges at work with the Chemnitzers is nothing new and hardly anyone will dispute or complain: (also) that is what makes the charm.

Of course, they are very familiar with hits.

But you don't have to brag about it.

Kummer's "last song" nicknamed "Everything will be fine" - released in November 2021, when, as we know, not much was good, without knowing that it wasn't necessarily better,

but should only be bad in a different way - in any case, plays wonderfully with this phrase, sounds naive, fatalistic, rousing, hopeful, sober and also a bit (or a bit too much, a matter of opinion) kitschy at the same time.

"People are bad and the world is fucked up, but everything will be fine / The system is broken, society is failing, but everything will be fine / Your life is in pieces and the house is on fire, but everything will be fine / Feels Don't worry about it, but everything will be fine".

It's pretty catchy and pretty good - especially live - and Giant Rooks frontman Fred Rabe in the hook is a little bit more than pretty good.

After all, they are professionals at work.

sobering and a bit (or a bit too much, a matter of opinion) cheesy at the same time.

"People are bad and the world is fucked up, but everything will be fine / The system is broken, society is failing, but everything will be fine / Your life is in pieces and the house is on fire, but everything will be fine / Feels Don't worry about it, but everything will be fine".

It's pretty catchy and pretty good - especially live - and Giant Rooks frontman Fred Rabe in the hook is a little bit more than pretty good.

After all, they are professionals at work.

sobering and a bit (or a bit too much, a matter of opinion) cheesy at the same time.

"People are bad and the world is fucked up, but everything will be fine / The system is broken, society is failing, but everything will be fine / Your life is in pieces and the house is on fire, but everything will be fine / Feels Don't worry about it, but everything will be fine".

It's pretty catchy and pretty good - especially live - and Giant Rooks frontman Fred Rabe in the hook is a little bit more than pretty good.

After all, they are professionals at work.

but everything will be fine / Doesn't feel like it, but everything will be fine".

It's pretty catchy and pretty good - especially live - and Giant Rooks frontman Fred Rabe in the hook is a little bit more than pretty good.

After all, they are professionals at work.

but everything will be fine / Doesn't feel like it, but everything will be fine".

It's pretty catchy and pretty good - especially live - and Giant Rooks frontman Fred Rabe in the hook is a little bit more than pretty good.

After all, they are professionals at work.

July:

"Fat Wild Years"

Videos: Youtube

Sarah Obertreis 

When I moved out of my first real shared apartment, my roommate gave me a mug with a photo of us both on it.

Below it was: "Maximum best time!" At first I was surprised at the strange choice of words - neither of us had ever said it like that, but in the years that followed "Maximum best time" became a kind of life stage headline for me that made me filled with the comforting feeling of transfiguring nostalgia.

I had to think of this mug when I heard "Fette Wilde Jahre" by July.

I tried to imagine Eva Briegel and her bandmates sitting at the Schwanenteich in Giessen in the first summers of the new millennium and talking about their “fat wild years”.

I did not succeed.

Probably none of the five ever talked like that.

But in retrospect, one likes to attribute something to one's youth.

You can hear in the song how much fun it can be to glorify your own growing up.

Eva Briegel sings about camping in the rain, about trips to Prague, about being carefree and seems so content that you feel really calm inside.

But maybe it's just because I'm from Gießen, like Juli.

In 2004 this band was our pride.

"The Perfect Wave" was sung at school festivals, Juli's music was played at children's birthday parties, our parents danced at July concerts.

We couldn't believe that these worldly lyrics and catchy melodies came from our grey, rough small town.

What an achievement that July still sounds like July back then - even though they now live in Berlin.

from trips to Prague, from being carefree and seems so content that one becomes really calm inside.

But maybe it's just because I'm from Gießen, like Juli.

In 2004 this band was our pride.

"The Perfect Wave" was sung at school festivals, Juli's music was played at children's birthday parties, our parents danced at July concerts.

We couldn't believe that these worldly lyrics and catchy melodies came from our grey, rough small town.

What an achievement that July still sounds like July back then - even though they now live in Berlin.

from trips to Prague, from being carefree and seems so content that one becomes really calm inside.

But maybe it's just because I'm from Gießen, like Juli.

In 2004 this band was our pride.

"The Perfect Wave" was sung at school festivals, Juli's music was played at children's birthday parties, our parents danced at July concerts.

We couldn't believe that these worldly lyrics and catchy melodies came from our grey, rough small town.

What an achievement that July still sounds like July back then - even though they now live in Berlin.

"The Perfect Wave" was sung at school festivals, Juli's music was played at children's birthday parties, our parents danced at July concerts.

We couldn't believe that these worldly lyrics and catchy melodies came from our grey, rough small town.

What an achievement that July still sounds like July back then - even though they now live in Berlin.

"The Perfect Wave" was sung at school festivals, Juli's music was played at children's birthday parties, our parents danced at July concerts.

We couldn't believe that these worldly lyrics and catchy melodies came from our grey, rough small town.

What an achievement that July still sounds like July back then - even though they now live in Berlin.

Herbert Grönemeyer:

"Wonderful Emptiness"

Videos: Youtube

Carsten Knop

What times: three years of emergency in the journalistic profession, Corona, war in Europe, local political voltes in Frankfurt, the already existing pressure from the conversion of the business model from print to online, new departments, colleagues, topics.

The impression can certainly be transferred to many people.

Everything new lately, the stress has not decreased.

The digital also ensures constant availability.

And there are plans everywhere, in the Outlook calendar, now also in the Teams channel.

Because the whole team is less together and the world is becoming more confusing, the call for more conferences and communicative exchange is getting louder.

A paradoxical situation arises:

The desire for total flexibility at work and certainly also in private life collides with the desire for constant availability for colleagues and family.

Herbert Grönemeyer therefore wrote a groundbreaking text in "Wonderful Emptiness".

It's my song to switch off the year: "It's the fun of not having a plan / The desire to take risks / I don't even want to know what will catch up with me tomorrow (. . .) / Today I'm not worried / I'll catch them tomorrow again / Live momentarily and fall free / There is a wonderful emptiness, weightless / And the world is wide.” And that is still our very personal world, wide open to everything, despite everything.

But only if you manage to keep your inner freedom in a wonderful emptiness, so to speak: try and sing along, please.

Herbert Grönemeyer therefore wrote a groundbreaking text in "Wonderful Emptiness".

It's my song to switch off the year: "It's the fun of not having a plan / The desire to take risks / I don't even want to know what will catch up with me tomorrow (. . .) / Today I'm not worried / I'll catch them tomorrow again / Live momentarily and fall free / There is a wonderful emptiness, weightless / And the world is wide.” And that is still our very personal world, wide open to everything, despite everything.

But only if you manage to keep your inner freedom in a wonderful emptiness, so to speak: try and sing along, please.

Herbert Grönemeyer therefore wrote a groundbreaking text in "Wonderful Emptiness".

It's my song to switch off the year: "It's the fun of not having a plan / The desire to take risks / I don't even want to know what will catch up with me tomorrow (. . .) / Today I'm not worried / I'll catch them tomorrow again / Live momentarily and fall free / There is a wonderful emptiness, weightless / And the world is wide.” And that is still our very personal world, wide open to everything, despite everything.

But only if you manage to keep your inner freedom in a wonderful emptiness, so to speak: try and sing along, please.

"It's the fun of not having a plan / The desire to take risks / I don't even want to know what will catch up with me tomorrow (. . .) / Today I'm not worried / I'll touch them again tomorrow / Live in the moment and fall free / There is a wonderful emptiness, weightless / And the world is wide.” And that is still our very personal world, wide open to everything, despite everything.

But only if you manage to keep your inner freedom in a wonderful emptiness, so to speak: try and sing along, please.

"It's the fun of not having a plan / The desire to take risks / I don't even want to know what will catch up with me tomorrow (. . .) / Today I'm not worried / I'll touch them again tomorrow / Live in the moment and fall free / There is a wonderful emptiness, weightless / And the world is wide.” And that is still our very personal world, wide open to everything, despite everything.

But only if you manage to keep your inner freedom in a wonderful emptiness, so to speak: try and sing along, please.

Johnossi:

"Late Night Rider"

Videos: Youtube

Jan Erhardt

This feeling: With life, night is returning to our everyday life this year, slowly week after week, or crashing with a loud bang - this song captures that incredibly well.

We are wild, we are young!

Or at least we feel that way.

We dance again, jump, scream, laugh.

Johnossi's 'Late Night Rider', released earlier this year as a sort of epilogue to the album 'Mad Gone Wild', is the perfect soundtrack for just that.

For driving to the party, maybe down dark country roads, with the moonlight on your face.

For the walk from the bar to the club, through the almost deserted city, a glass stuck in his pocket.

For the way home from the night bus, alone, in pairs.

Out of loudspeakers, the box in hand, the headphones in the ear.

Full volume.

"We are creatures of the night.

we move fast

Labrinth:

"Mount Everest"

Videos: Youtube

Kira Kramer

Nothing in the world is higher than Mount Everest.

So when Labrinth sings "Mount Everest ain't got shit on me", it's one thing above all: self-overestimation.

"I'm on top of the world" - not as a location, but as a state of mind.

I'm also prone to overflowing emotions myself and had an inkling of the state of mind Labrinth is singing about the first time I heard the song.

Sometimes just surviving a lousy week and having two days off is enough to make me feel this way.

Then Friday night comes, I put on my favorite dress, go to my favorite bar and order my favorite drink.

On such an evening I talk too much and drink even more, ignoring the clock that shows well past midnight and the next day seems infinitely far away.

When Labrinth shouts "sweet, sweet" out of the speakers, then life is indeed very sweet.

Then I dance, wild and unrestrained, smoke the next cigarette, until it's no longer me spinning while dancing, but the world around me.

Then I'm sure: nothing is bigger than me, "cause I'm on top of the world".

The euphoria turns exhilaration into megalomania, what deceptive happiness.

.

.

But every night must come to an end and turns into a merciless, gray morning.

As is well known, pride comes before a fall – or a hangover.

Ouch.

The euphoria turns exhilaration into megalomania, what deceptive happiness.

.

.

But every night must come to an end and turns into a merciless, gray morning.

As is well known, pride comes before a fall – or a hangover.

Ouch.

The euphoria turns exhilaration into megalomania, what deceptive luck.

.

.

But every night must come to an end and turns into a merciless, gray morning.

As is well known, pride comes before a fall – or a hangover.

Ouch.

Still Corners:

"Heavy Days"

Videos: Youtube

Caroline Jens

Actually, I don't like feel-good songs.

The imperative they formulate usually doesn't put me in a good mood as much as I wait for the affected chord progressions to finally resolve.

But this year, while listening through the Still Corners albums, I came across a track that caught me off guard.

I wasn't aware of "Heavy Days", the duo had released the single sometime last fall.

I was going for the dreamy synth-pop with melancholic acoustic guitar that Tessa Murray and Greg Hughes are known for.

And yes, “Heavy Days” begins with a scuffling guitar (nice!), but a rattle immediately smoothes the sound to the keyboard, which strums a catchy-ironic motif (damn nice!

) – and after just five seconds Murray calmly counters any drowsiness with her bright voice: “These heavy days are all so tired / I’m on my way / You got nothing to say / But your eyes are telling me to stay” – yes, everything is exhausting, everything is boring, nothing to tell.

"The news is grim / It's always the same / Gotta turn it off to stay sane." Banal advice that Murray sings with her ever-cool voice at a good 160 bpm, so that it's hard not to follow it - and rather listening to good music than reading the news.

"Gotta turn it off to stay sane, gotta turn it off to stay sane," she repeats to the end.

The difference between feel-good songs and music that makes you happy?

The latter one can't wait to hear it again.

m on my way / You got nothing to say / But your eyes are telling me to stay” – yes, everything is exhausting, everything is boring, nothing to tell.

"The news is grim / It's always the same / Gotta turn it off to stay sane." Banal advice that Murray sings with her ever-cool voice at a good 160 bpm, so that it's hard not to follow it - and rather listening to good music than reading the news.

"Gotta turn it off to stay sane, gotta turn it off to stay sane," she repeats to the end.

The difference between feel-good songs and music that makes you happy?

The latter one can't wait to hear it again.

m on my way / You got nothing to say / But your eyes are telling me to stay” – yes, everything is exhausting, everything is boring, nothing to tell.

"The news is grim / It's always the same / Gotta turn it off to stay sane." Banal advice that Murray sings with her ever-cool voice at a good 160 bpm, so that it's hard not to follow it - and rather listening to good music than reading the news.

"Gotta turn it off to stay sane, gotta turn it off to stay sane," she repeats to the end.

The difference between feel-good songs and music that makes you happy?

The latter one can't wait to hear it again.

' Trivial advice that Murray sings in her ever-cool voice at a good 160 bpm, making it hard not to follow it - and preferring listening to good music to reading the news.

"Gotta turn it off to stay sane, gotta turn it off to stay sane," she repeats to the end.

The difference between feel-good songs and music that makes you happy?

The latter one can't wait to hear it again.

' Trivial advice that Murray sings in her ever-cool voice at a good 160 bpm, making it hard not to follow it - and preferring listening to good music to reading the news.

"Gotta turn it off to stay sane, gotta turn it off to stay sane," she repeats to the end.

The difference between feel-good songs and music that makes you happy?

The latter one can't wait to hear it again.

Camino:

"Burning Fire"

Videos: Youtube

Julia Anton

In the French course at the end of the year, the subject of "music" comes up, the teacher asks about our favorite songs this year and what they trigger in us.

I name "Burning Fire" by Camino.

But what does the song trigger in me?

It's not just my somewhat incomplete French vocabulary that makes it difficult for me to answer.

Because "Burning Fire" is desperate, but still uplifting, wistful, but rousing.

Camino is a musician from Mississippi, the soulful song is a tribute to his aunt and uncle's relationship.

According to the singer, the two were together for 65 years, then his aunt died of cancer.

The song, written from the uncle's perspective, tells of missing a loved one: "If I could see you alive and you're in my arms / I would kiss you with the power of the sun",

and the pain behind these lines can be felt even when your loved one is in the room with you.

But there is also something else: "Burning Fire" is reminiscent of the incredible love that one can feel, for a person, for life.

In any case, my quickly stuttered "très agréable" seems to me to be an understatement.

Dilla

: "photosynthesis"

Videos: Youtube

Franz Nestler

"Photosynthese" is not only my hit of the year 2022, but it's also my guilty pleasure: something that might not be appreciated or considered very unusual and strange.

I had never heard a song by Dilla, didn't know a line of lyrics, not even her name when I first saw her at a festival in May 2022.

It was raining, the actual act had to be canceled due to illness, and so I stood in front of the stage with a beer in my hand and shrugged my shoulders.

It was love at first note: the dominant, driving retro beats won't let anyone stand still.

Although it was Dilla's first festival appearance ever, a moshpit ensued within a very short time – unironically.

Dilla exudes an energy that is contagious.

By the way, she not only puts this energy into the singing,

she also writes and produces her own lyrics.

All this is collected in the song "Photosynthese": The unexpected lyrics like "Stars brighter than the beer" or "The sky is always red like with good Bolognese" exude exactly the right mix of word acrobatics and irony: Here someone has fun with the music and She loves life and doesn't take herself too seriously - it's not for nothing that she describes herself and her music as "Sounds cheap and it's just not that good" (which is a blatant lie).

Their music and especially "Photosynthese" sounds like festivals, like summer, like dancing the night away, beer out of plastic cups, sticky schnapps and the race to the last train - which after almost three years of the pandemic doesn't have to be the worst.

The unexpected lines of text such as "Stars brighter than the beer" or "The sky is always red like a good Bolognese" exude just the right mix of word acrobatics and irony: someone here has fun with the music and is in the mood for life and does not gain weight seriously - it's not for nothing that she describes herself and her music as "Sounds cheap and it's just not that good" (which is a blatant lie).

Their music and especially "Photosynthese" sounds like festivals, like summer, like dancing the night away, beer out of plastic cups, sticky schnapps and the race to the last train - which after almost three years of the pandemic doesn't have to be the worst.

The unexpected lines of text such as "Stars brighter than the beer" or "The sky is always red like a good Bolognese" exude just the right mix of word acrobatics and irony: someone here has fun with the music and is in the mood for life and does not gain weight seriously - it's not for nothing that she describes herself and her music as "Sounds cheap and it's just not that good" (which is a blatant lie).

Their music and especially "Photosynthese" sounds like festivals, like summer, like dancing the night away, beer out of plastic cups, sticky schnapps and the race to the last train - which after almost three years of the pandemic doesn't have to be the worst.

Someone here enjoys music and is up for life and doesn't take themselves too seriously - it's not for nothing that she describes herself and her music as "sounds cheap and just isn't that good" (which is a blatant lie).

Their music and especially "Photosynthese" sounds like festivals, like summer, like dancing the night away, beer out of plastic cups, sticky schnapps and the race to the last train - which after almost three years of the pandemic doesn't have to be the worst.

Someone here enjoys music and is up for life and doesn't take themselves too seriously - it's not for nothing that she describes herself and her music as "sounds cheap and just isn't that good" (which is a blatant lie).

Their music and especially "Photosynthese" sounds like festivals, like summer, like dancing the night away, beer out of plastic cups, sticky schnapps and the race to the last train - which after almost three years of the pandemic doesn't have to be the worst.

The Linda Lindas:

"Growing Up"

Videos: Youtube

Tobias Ruether

Mila, die Schlagzeugerin der Linda Lindas, einer Girlgroup aus Los Angeles, ist zwölf Jahre alt. Die anderen Linda Lindas sind kaum älter und drei der vier miteinander verwandt. Als ich zwölf war, hatte ich meine Träume längst aufgegeben, mit meinen älteren Geschwistern eine Band zu gründen und berühmt zu werden. Aber hier geht‘s nicht um Nostalgie – auch wenn fast alle, denen ich in den letzten Monaten „Growing Up“ vorgespielt habe, wegen des Monsterriffs sofort von den Pixies anfingen. Stimmt, aber als ich den Song selbst das erste Mal hörte, im Radio, fing die Zeit trotzdem noch mal neu an, ist das nicht bei Lieblingsliedern immer so, dass sofort die Erinnerung daran verschwindet, wie es war, als man sie noch nicht kannte? Wenn die Linda Lindas davon singen, was es bedeutet, älter zu werden, meinen sie den Unterschied zwischen zwölf und dreizehn, vierzehn und fünfzehn. Eine Welt. Als ich so alt war, gab es diesen Song noch nicht, ich wünschte, es hätte ihn gegeben, aber auch jetzt, mehr als ein paar Welten später, ist es nicht zu spät. Es ist niemals zu spät.

Jessie WareFree

Yourself

Videos: Youtube

Kai Spanke

Viel hilft viel. Jessie Ware war an dieser Stelle zwar schon einmal vertreten, wir finden aber, dass man sie im Grunde nicht genug loben kann. Als sie vor zwei Jahren ihr viertes Album „What’s Your Pleasure?“ veröffentlichte, hat sie damit nicht nur ihren Hang zu elegantem, souligem, aber irgendwie glattgebügeltem R&B-Pop ad acta gelegt, sondern ein von vorne bis hinten tadelloses Disco-Paket aus dem Ärmel geschüttelt. Die Platte markiert für Jessie Ware einen Neustart und ist für alle anderen Musiker, die sich im selben Genrebecken tummeln, der definitive Endgegner. Als Teaser für den Nachfolger ist im Juli der von Stuart Price produzierte Song „Free Yourself“ erschienen. Vorpreschende House-Keyboards leiten über zu wohldosierten Piano- und Streicherpassagen, der Gesang ist mal smooth und seidig, mal funky und fordernd, das Gesamtarrangement eine Verbeugung vor einem Sound, wie er in den Neunzigern von CeCe Peniston oder Madonna zu hören war. Zum Warmwerden hier schon mal der Refrain: „Free yourself / Keep on moving up that mountain top / Why don’t you / Please yourself / If it feels so good then don’t you / Baby don’t you stop“.

The 1975:

"I'm In Love With You"

Videos: Youtube

Thomas Holl

Am Ende eines politischen, wirtschaftlichen, ökologischen und humanitären Horrorjahrs oder dem Anfang einer Zeitenwende ist bei mir musikalisch Eskapismus pur angesagt. Mit einer Liebeserklärung von „The 1975“, das auch an trüben November-Tagen Sonne und ansteckend gute Laune versprüht. Ein Song, der dazu Ohrwurmqualität besitzt und besonders laut aufgedreht im Auto zum Carpool-Karaoke animiert. Sein schlagerhafter Titel: „I´m In Love With You“, eine Textexegese ist unnötig, das Schwarz-Weiß-Video zum Song ist Kunst genug. Die Band um Sänger und Frontmann Matty Healy kommen aus der heimlichen britischen Pop-Hauptstadt Manchester und sind nicht für falsche Bescheidenheit bekannt. Sie schafften fünf Nummer-Eins-Alben in den britischen Charts seit ihrem Durchbruch 2013 und haben den Ruf bei Kritikern, eine „Angeberband mit Talent“ zu sein, was für eine Pop-Karriere – siehe Oasis (ebenfalls aus Manchester) – immer von Vorteil ist.

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