DNA (album)
| DNA | |||||||||
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| Studio album by Madeline Juno | |||||||||
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Publication |
September 8, 2017 |
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| Label (s) | Embassy of Music | ||||||||
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Format (s) |
CD, digital |
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Title (number) |
16 |
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running time |
55:31 |
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| occupation | Madeline Juno: vocals | ||||||||
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DNA (abbreviation for "deoxyribonucleic acid"; English for " deoxyribonucleic acid " (DNS)) is the third studio album by the German singer-songwriter Madeline Juno .
Creation and artwork
All pieces on the album were written by Madeline Juno in collaboration with changing co-authors. Most of the tracks were created in collaboration with the German songwriter and music producer Oliver Som , who together wrote twelve pieces on the album. Som was also solely responsible for the mixing, production and programming ("drum programming") of the album. Furthermore, Juno wrote three songs with Joschka Bender, as well as two tracks each with Joey Cass and Jan Listing. The authors Henrik Böhl, Martin Haller, David Jürgens and Alexander Zuckowski are each only involved in one piece as co-authors. Juno already worked with the authors Juergens and Som on their predecessor Salvation . The mastering was done by Masterdisk Europe, under the direction of Benoit Journo. DNA was published under the music label Embassy of Music and the music publishers BMG Rights Management and Emmaspark Music / Sony ATV and distributed by Tonpool.
On the cover of the album - next to the artist name and album title - Juno's face can be seen against a pink background. She is wearing a black top and is touching her chin with her fingertips. The cover image as well as the photographs in the booklet are from Philipp Gladstone, the artwork is from Christian Hapich. The shoot for this took place on March 23, 2017, the cover was presented for the first time on July 3, 2017.
Publication and promotion
DNA was first published on September 8, 2017 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The album consists of 15 new studio recordings and a new edition and is available as CD and download. After the album was released, Juno published three videos with an acoustic version in addition to their official music videos Still , Gift and Halt mich fest to promote the album at irregular intervals . Videos were published on shadows without light (September 16, 2017), without clothes (October 2, 2017) and phantom pain (December 1, 2017). All three black and white videos only show Juno, accompanied by her keyboardist, singing the songs. The videos were edited by Juno himself. In order to further promote the album, a live performance followed - with phantom pain - during prime time as part of the children's aid campaign Herzenssache of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and the Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) . There was also a live appearance with Poison in the VIVA Top 100 .
background information
After a German-language extended play with Waldbrand was released in the previous year , Juno's first German-language studio album was released with DNA . In a few interviews and a track-by-track, Juno described the creation process and the decision to record a German album. In the past year she wrote a lot for other German artists and she was curious to see how she sounds today in her mother tongue. So far, there have only been two early songs by her in German, which she published on her YouTube profile. In 2014 she published the song Herzchen and a year later Küss die kalten Jungs . She wanted to know whether her songs work in German and whether they can then be produced "extremely modern". The beginning of this "new journey" started with the song forest fire . You wrote the piece out of nowhere. When she finished it was clear to her: "Yes, okay, this is the direction I want to go". She thinks she likes expressing herself so well in her mother tongue and not only does she have clarity, the people who listen to her music also have a clarity that did not necessarily exist before, unless they have dealt with it "extraordinarily hard".
content
Most of the song lyrics on the album are in German and come from Madeline Juno, who wrote the pieces together with changing co-authors. Beaches and English lines like "The Bright Side of Life" (see English "of life, the bright side") in still resist. Musically, the songs move in the area of pop music . With the exception of Waldbrand , all pieces are new compositions. Waldbrand was released a year earlier as an EP and single as the first official German-language release Junos. For DNA , Juno recorded forest fire in an acute form. In addition to the main vocals of Juno, the voices of Joey Cass and Oliver Som can be heard in the background in Wenn ich ich bin ich bin ich bin ich bin am . The instruments were played by Cass (guitar), Juno (guitar and piano), Max Mostley (bass) and Som (bass, guitar, piano and synthesizer).
Track list
| # | title | Author (s) | Producer (s) | length |
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| 1 | Hold me tight | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | Oliver Som | 3:21 |
| 2 | Three words | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:02 | |
| 3 | Poison | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:39 | |
| 4th | Shadow without light | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:41 | |
| 5 | My heart is dancing | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:46 | |
| 6th | Quiet | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:25 | |
| 7th | From now on | David Juergens, Madeline Juno, Alexander Zuckowski | 3:45 | |
| 8th | Transparent | Joschka Bender, Martin Haller, Madeline Juno | 3:05 | |
| 9 | DNA | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:05 | |
| 10 | Phantom pain | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:37 | |
| 11 | Lose me in you | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 2:57 | |
| 12 | Without clothes | Joey Cass, Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:43 | |
| 13 | Our song | Joschka Bender, Henrik Böhl, Madeline Juno, Jan Listing | 3:08 | |
| 14th | Slow motion | Joschka Bender, Madeline Juno, Jan Listing | 3:09 | |
| 15th | When i got there | Joey Cass, Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 4:35 | |
| 16 | Forest fire (acoustic version) | Madeline Juno, Oliver Som | 3:33 |
Track-by-track
In the run-up to the album release, Juno described her songs in a "track-by-track series" that appeared in four episodes between August and September 2017.
- Hold me tight
Hold me tight is the intro of DNA and it might be the best song she's written so far and was by far the most difficult from a recording point of view. Inspired by Imogen Heap , she and her team also wanted to do a “ vocoder song” and realized what kind of work it was. There is a different harmony on every second note and there is no groove to hold onto. They would have worked on the piece for days to get it exactly the way they wanted it. First Juno hummed everything and then the melody emerged bit by bit. The content is about a previous relationship between Junos. A relationship that demanded everything from both of them and the end of which was really very painful. Sometimes you just want to sleep because there is no more energy to keep fighting.
- Three words
Three words is a "very literal" piece. She always likes to do it, that she writes songs the way she leads conversations , that I wrap the piece in a conversation that is currently taking place. According to this, Drei Words is a "very fragile song", very "breakable". It's about this feeling that you sometimes get, that everything is going too fast, that everything is so uncontrollable, you just wish to be able to take a break and say: "Let's just lie still for a moment and everything is happening right now not at all and then everything is okay ”. That is "quasi" this feeling captured in a song.
- Poison
Gift is the second single from DNA and for Juno it is definitely one of the most "confident" songs on the album. The piece “totally” falls out for her both in terms of sound and content. Poison is about the end of a relationship and for the first time also says for herself: “Hey, now it's over!” In the past, she wrote songs about how bad it is to let go and how difficult it is when a love has to end. Poison is about this clear line that has to be drawn and because it is simply absolutely toxic for both of them. In her opinion, the song radiates a kind of self-confidence that simply says: "No, I know when it's over and I know when it's good and we are just poison for each other and it is not good for both of them if we stay together".
- Shadow without light
Juno wrote shadows without light about her mother. Her mother sometimes tended to be ignorant of her charisma, not to be aware of her own worth and sometimes she felt like she had to grab her mother by the shoulders and say, “Listen, you are the best in the world and nobody can get to you ”. She wanted to write just such a song, whether it was for her own mother, a best friend or a partner. Juno wanted to "absolutely" leave it open for whoever is looking for these lines. It is important that you feel valuable and that you are valued. She believes everyone is something very special for one, two or more people in their environment and that is exactly what shadows without light are about . She pulled out completely and just wanted to write a “compliment song” and that was exactly what turned out to be shadows without light .
- My heart is dancing
My heart is dancing about the beginning of a relationship and this very shaky phase of a relationship, in which you don't really know: "Okay, are we that far and can you see how I feel for you and do I interpret your action correctly? ". The song was "somehow totally shy".
- Quiet
Still was one of the first pieces Juno and her team wrote for DNA . It is a very important song for her in the whole process of writing because it “has scrawled a big red X over the last year” and simply says: “Hey, last year was such a stupid year”. Juno has experienced an “unbelievable” amount, but she thinks she had the feeling that, especially after New Year's Eve , many people felt that they looked at 2016 and thought: “What was that year? Up and down and up and down ”. She wanted to capture this feeling that one leaves the year behind and says: "Hey, I was actually completely numb for far too long before this feeling that everything sucks and that everything goes wrong, that everything goes wrong and all the great artists die away". It made them all so deaf, it should now come to an end and now a new section begins. A new year begins and that is still .
- From now on
From now on , consider Juno like Still's little sister . The piece continues what Still started and says: "Okay, if I no longer stand still and am no longer deaf and now no longer shut my mouth, then I just do what my feeling tells me and." just rewrite all the rules. I just write everything down again and am just me and from now on I won't let myself bend anymore, from now on I won't let myself get small anymore and listen to myself “.
- Transparent
Transparent is a song that she started to write on her own after her Salvation tour . At first she didn't know what to do with the piece, it was just lying around for months. In the end she decided to end the piece with her guitarist Joschka Bender and her good friend Martin Haller. The song begins with the line: "I'll call your name in the canyon of houses". Since she wrote this line, the song only looks "gray and city-like" to her. The first demo was so "totally cloudy". In the beginning it was great to carry the feeling. How the song developed in the end and how the production sounds now, she is just so "proud" of it. The song is now "totally" away from this powerless feeling of transparency . It carries a force in itself, it brings such a force with it, Juno is "very happy" about it.
- DNA
DNA was the title giver of the album and was "definitely" a "very" important song in the process for them. Juno is of the opinion that it is a song that she used "a lot". She often and likes to talk about how she treats herself through her “songwriting”. Juno doesn't know whether that is good or bad, but DNA is definitely - like Still , for example - a song that she should get back on her feet and tell us: “Hey, you actually have the power in you and you you're actually strong enough to pull yourself back on your feet. It's in your DNA , in your DNA . You can do that, you can survive anything if you only want and if you believe in yourself ”. This is also an important topic that she wants to recommend to other people - especially her young fans. You go through a lot of fights or hurdles , which sometimes look impossible. She thinks that DNA is supposed to be an “encourager”, that's why she decided that DNA should stand for the whole album and that she wants to call the album that because it basically encompasses everything and puts everything under one name. The album has a lot of battles to fight, but you can get through this.
- Phantom pain
Phantom pain is about the loss of a loved one. Juno did not plan to deal with this topic. She wouldn't have had the self-confidence to say: “I can write something like that”. However, she was "totally" overwhelmed by her own emotions and it was for herself, for her own feeling. She think she managed to create a memorial rather than a sad song quite well . It was a sad piece, it was a sad topic, it was "incredibly difficult" to lose someone, to let someone go, but for her feeling phantom pain has become much more of a "smiling memorial" that keeps a person in mind than just to keep the pain in mind During her DNA tour , Juno alluded to the fact that it was coping with the loss of her grandfather.
- Lose me in you
Lose me in you is like three words a very "literal song" for Juno . It is a very communicative song that just wants to express itself and simply asks questions, seeks answers, gives answers and says: "I know that we cannot lose each other, even if we tried, we cannot without each other". She thinks that Losing me in you shows another color, another aspect of the album and therefore she is "very happy" that they have put the piece on the album after all.
- Without clothes
Without clothes , they tie in thematically a little to Juno's first ( The Unknown ) or her second album ( Salvation ). It would be about a person who shouldn't have played a role long ago. She wrote the song out of a motivation that she thought everyone knew, you go to a bar and you meet your ex: “Okay. If you say hello now, you don't say hello now. Does he say hello to you or doesn't he say hello. Nah, he doesn't say, okay, everything is clear ”. Suddenly he is “totally cool”, you have the feeling that he is trying to be a version of himself in front of himself and me that he actually isn't. She thinks she knows him inside out, he doesn't have to act like he's doing and she knows him without clothes . He doesn't have to fool her. The piece has become a small “scratch”, but it doesn't cut too far into the flesh and simply says: “Hey, come on, we don't really have to fool ourselves”.
- Our song
Compared to the other songs on the album, our song is one of the "bittersweetest", but also one of the "most positive" pieces. The song would be about this feeling of "wrapping up" in a cozy sweater that would smell like someone and take you to a better place. It is a song that is consistently "very positive" for her and has no real problems, which is very rare for her. Our song is simply a piece that doesn't complain or complain a lot and that just wants to be "wrapped up in a cuddly sweater".
- Slow motion
Slow motion is one of the last pieces that made it onto DNA and tells of the big city life that Juno was allowed to lead the last three years. The feeling that she often has is that you often don't have control over how fast the time really goes by, how fast everything and everyone rushes past you, you rush past everything yourself and somehow not really take your time to breathe deeply. You're always on the move, you're always doing a thousand things. That is wonderful, but sometimes you should slow yourself down and say: "Hey, let's just switch to slow motion for a moment". One should realize things and perceive them as they are and not always be trimmed for hectic. She thinks the world has gotten very hectic. The song sounds very timeless to her and she describes it as a very "weightless song". It is a piece that brings someone down "a little" and "doesn't want that much from you", it just wants to be heard.
- When i got there
When I get there, the last song on DNA will be and “definitely” one of your “absolute” favorites because it has two faces. It was one of the few pieces that she really thought about and thought about what else she wanted to say. What is important to her, what else she wants to put on this album. Juno knew that she wanted to write a song that was something that it doesn't seem to be on the outside. When I arrive it sounds like a "bittersweet, oh, I have to get out of town" song and also make fun of the things you do on social media . One could think the piece is simply about: "I have to get out, I have to go, I just have to be with myself again". When you finally read between the lines and try to find out what may mean when I arrive , it is actually something "very dark", which you could "never" believe when you listen to the song. That is exactly what she "absolutely" wanted to do. Juno is happy that she and the team succeeded and, in her opinion, it was the "most suitable final song" of an album to send everything on a good journey.
- Forest fire
For Juno, forest fire is "so important" a song to this day, which has captured an important time for her. That's why she decided to put Waldbrand on the album as a bonus track. She had the feeling that she owed the song, so the song is not available in a "fully produced version", but in acoustic form, "very raw" and in a way you don't even know it. The idea for the song came to her when she heard the term "forest fire". That sounded so nice to her and she was annoyed that forest fire sounded so harsh. But the more she thought about the word, the more she liked it. Through a forest fire , Juno (re-) discovered German as the language for her texts.
Single releases
Quiet
Four months before the album was released, Still, the first single from the album, was released on May 5, 2017. The single was only available as a single download. The German-language music portal mix1.de rated the single with seven out of eight points. About one month after the first publication published Juno on YouTube the official music video for Still on June 1, 2017. The video can be divided into three sections, which is alternately seen again and again. On the one hand it shows Juno alone in the cinema, in a second scene she is on the back of a flatbed truck driving through the area and in the third scene Juno can be seen alone in the city. The third scene was embedded in such a way that it can be seen as a film in the cinema. Juno shows this alone in a wide variety of pleasant situations. Among other things , she pops a balloon , pops a champagne cork , burns sparklers , throws confetti around, starts small fireworks , blows soap bubbles or just listens to music. The video ends with Juno in the cinema, who at first falls with her head into the seat, before noticing that she suddenly has confetti on her shoulders. The total length of the video is 3:27 minutes. Directed by Nico Koenen and Patrick Wulf. Before the official music video, Juno released a lyric video for Still on May 5, 2017. So far, the single missed a chart entry.
Poison
One and a half months before the release of DNA , Gift was also released in advance, the second single from the album on July 28, 2017. Like Still , Gift was only released as a single download. A few days after the single was first released, the official music video was released on August 1, 2017. The music video was made by Juno himself. It shows a love affair that was combined with the help of the Mattel dolls Barbie (role: Julie) and Ken (role: Roman) Art dollhouse is represented. The video reflects a "toxic" relationship, at the end of which both die. Julie poisons Roman, who stabs to death before Julie dies. At the bottom of the screen, the lyrics can be found throughout the video. The total length of the video is 3:43 minutes. Even poison missed a chart entry.
Juno himself described the origins and production of the music video with the following words: “I wanted to produce a video that transforms a lovely setting into a place of horror. I wanted to come up with something that I could do myself, even if it would cost me my last nerve. And in the end I glued my fingers bloody, tinkered, sewed and cut my head and edited it for weeks . I'm not a filmmaker and I have no idea what my possibilities are to try to tell a story ”.
Hold me tight
With Halt mich fest , the third pre-release single from DNA was released on August 25, 2017 about two weeks before the album was released. The single was only available as a download and, in addition to the album, contains two remix versions of Halt mich fest as B-sides . The two remixes are from German DJ Teddy Mink and Oliver Som. On the same day, Juno released the accompanying music video. This only shows Juno in underwear, who hugs the entire video about a man in front of a black background. Only the upper body of both can be seen and the settings are chosen so that the man's face cannot be seen. The total length of the video is 3:43 minutes. Directed by Philipp Gladsome. Like its predecessors, Halt mich fest didn't make it into the single charts.
Shadow without light
With Schatten ohne Licht , the fourth and so far last single from DNA was released on April 13, 2018 , more than half a year after the album was released . Like its predecessors, the single was only available for download. In addition to the album version, the maxi single includes an alternate and piano version as well as a remix by the Mannheim DJ duo Banks & Rawdriguez. To promote the album, Juno released several acoustic videos shortly after it was released, including one about Schatten ohne Licht on September 16, 2017. The black and white video only shows Juno singing the song accompanied by her keyboardist. The total length of the video is 4:12 minutes and was edited by Juno himself. To date, the video has over 1.9 million views on YouTube (as of May 2018). Although it is not an official music video, it counts more than any of the three official music videos for Still , Gift and Hold me tight .
DNA Tour
The DNA Tour was the third independent concert series Junos as the main act. The tour extended over a period of around nine months and took Juno and her band through 18 German cities. The tour initially ended with the final concert in Hamburg's Stage Club on October 30, 2017. During the tour, concerts were canceled or postponed, so that a second tour section was played in summer 2018. During the first part of the concert series in 2017, Juno was supported in the opening act by British singer-songwriter Joey Cass. In the second part of the concert series in 2017, the German musician HALLER played in the opening act. The program consisted mostly of songs by DNA . All tracks from the album were played. While the previous concert series consisted of English-language sets, Juno only played two English-language pieces during this tour.
Contributors
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Album production
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Artwork (booklet + cover)
Companies
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reception
Reviews
The German-language e-zine Plattentests.de rated DNA, like its two predecessors, with five out of ten points. For the most part, Marvin Tyczkowski of the online editorial team described the music as generic and characterless. The lyrics almost always work according to the same pattern: "A melancholy-tinged introduction simulates the lack of depth, it gets loud in the chorus, and instead of memorable melodies there are electronic drops and lots of" oohs "," aahs "and" dadadas "". That is annoying with "songs that start out promisingly" like Phantomschmerz and with a "low point" like From now on it is just bad. The texts his "at best" meaningless, and at worst complains Juno, which last year even with gym bag and Instagram - aesthetics through video Stupid Girl is sauntered over Hipster photographing her salad. Compared to Salvation , DNA is still a “noticeable” step forward. Above all, the entry is "surprisingly strong". Hold me practice in moderation and remember with its combination of minimalism and Auto-Tune to Imogen Heap Hide and Seek . Three words and poison are two “incredibly powerful, dynamic power pop pieces”. Although with synth - Hall and drum machine "Acoustics" in forest fire something was interpreted more freely, it is still one of the best songs ever Junos. In between, this level is no longer achieved, but the production is overall "airier" than on Salvation . Juno's voice would get more air to breathe, which is a real “ blessing ”, especially in “great” slow motion . As interchangeable as Juno might be, “sound-wise” the songs, with a few exceptions, would all have “at least” an “above-average pop standard” and, taken in isolation, would have been worth one point more. An album is more or sometimes less than the sum of its individual parts and as a whole, Juno's “third album” loses due to its overwhelming length. In order to fill an hour with music that is never redundant or boring, the variation is simply missing, as with the two predecessors . Tyczkowski presented the pieces Three Words , Poison and Forest Fire as “highlights” .
Charts and chart placements
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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DNA reached position 58 in Germany and was in the album charts for a week . For Juno this is the third chart success in Germany.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b DNA - Madeline Juno / Credits. allmusic.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b repertoire search. online.gema.de, accessed on September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - DNA. cd-lexikon.de, accessed on September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c CD booklet: DNA , Madeline Juno, September 8, 2017.
- ↑ a b Madeline Juno - with “DNA” first album in German ( memento from September 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), hallo-veranstaltungen.de, accessed on March 12, 2019.
- ↑ Madeline Juno. facebook.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno. facebook.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ DNA. itunes.apple.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Madeline Juno: Madeline Juno - Shadows without Light (Acoustic Version). youtube.com, September 16, 2017, accessed April 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno: Madeline Juno - Without Dresses (Acoustic Version). youtube.com, October 2, 2017, accessed April 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno: Madeline Juno - Phantom Pain (Acoustic Version). youtube.com, December 1, 2017, accessed April 14, 2018 .
- ^ A matter of the heart - The great evening, SWR, December 1, 2017.
- ↑ VIVA Top 100, VIVA, September 8, 2017.
- ↑ a b Madeline Juno - Forest Fire. embassyofmusic.de, accessed on September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Madeline Juno - DNA Track-by-Track // Part 4. youtube.com, accessed on September 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - DNA Track-by-Track // Part One. youtube.com, accessed September 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - DNA Track-by-Track // Part Two. youtube.com, accessed September 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - DNA Track-by-Track // Part Three. youtube.com, accessed September 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Still - Single. itunes.apple.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno releases new single 'Still'. mix1.de, accessed on September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - Still (Official Video). youtube.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - Still (Lyric Video). youtube.com, accessed September 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Poison. play.google.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ^ Madeline Juno - Poison (Official Video). youtube.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Hold me tight - single. itunes.apple.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- Jump up ↑ Madeline Juno - Hold Me Close (Official Video). youtube.com, accessed September 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Shadows without Light - XP. itunes.apple.com, accessed April 14, 2018 .
- ^ Infinite content. plattentests.de, accessed on September 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Madeline Juno - DNA. officialcharts.de, accessed on September 15, 2017 .