Marionettes (song)
| Puppets | |
|---|---|
| Sons Mannheims feat. Cr7z | |
| publication | April 21, 2017 |
| length | 4:20 |
| Genre (s) | Neo-Soul , Contemporary R&B |
| Author (s) | Xavier Naidoo , William Davis , Cr7z |
| Producer (s) | William Davis, Alex Christensen |
| Label | Söhne Mannheims |
| album | Man home |
Marionetten is a song by the German music group Söhne Mannheims from 2017, which they recorded together with the rapper Cr7z . It is included on their sixth studio album MannHeim and was written by band member Xavier Naidoo , Cr7z and William Davis and produced by the latter together with Alex Christensen .
Music and lyrics
With puppets is a Contemporary R & B - and neo-soul song can with strikes of hip-hop - and electro-pop genre. The beat is characterized by dominant snare drums and uses string instruments and electronic synthesizers as background music . Xavier Naidoo takes over the complete lead vocals ; a rap is contributed by Cr7z. The latter occurs between the second and fourth stanzas. At the beginning, after the first and after the fourth verse, the chorus can be heard in which Naidoo sings in the choir with different voices. The individual stanzas differ in tone and melody: if drums are used in the first, these are completely left out in the second. The fourth, on the other hand, begins with a clearly slowed down version of the beat, which becomes faster and faster in the course of this until it - after a two-second interruption due to the sound of a bass drum - reaches the previously used speed again. In the latter verse, Naidoo also uses spoken chant instead of a conventional vocal performance, unlike in the previous ones .
In terms of content, the song revolves around how, according to the interpreters, politicians are only puppets of superordinate puppeteers . Numerous choices of words and ideas from the spectrum of Reich citizens can be found: for example, the leaders ruling in Germany would be administrators for a power that pulls the strings in the background. This coincides with an opinion already expressed by Naidoo that Germany would not be a fully fledged state and would still be occupied. The tone of the song is sometimes martial and aggressive: if the sung about did not change, they would force them to do so in the form of an angry mob . The text also mentions a common conspiracy theory called " Pizzagate " and the so-called Babylon system . There are also several puns: “being insightful” is used here as both “showing insight” and “being able to see with only one eye”; likewise “limb” is used not only for extremities but also for the dimensions of the limb . The word “ people's representative ” is also mocked with “ people's traitor ” and “people-in-the-face-kick”.
Criticism and reactions
After its publication, puppets received wide media coverage and became a controversial scandal song. He was accused of being close to right-wing populism and - by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Federal Agency for Political Education , among others - of subliminal and possibly unconscious anti-Semitism . He uses key words and phrases that he shares with the right-wing scene and calls for violence. Also in reviews of the album MannHeim from the music press, the title was described as conspiracy theory and negatively highlighted. The band members Xavier Naidoo and Rolf Stahlhofen both denied the allegations. The former stated that the song would be misleading, the latter said that the song calls for dialogue, not violence. The radio station Bremen Vier canceled its planned collaboration with the group after the song; he no longer wanted to make a recommendation for a concert of this, as he could not stand behind her statements. The Mannheim SPD was outraged by the title. She could not understand how a band that cultivated the image of a multicultural music project could write such texts, and was waiting for an opinion. The musicians then had a three-hour conversation with Peter Kurz , in which, according to spokesmen for the authorities, there was an "intensive exchange".
success
Although Marionetten did not appear as a single, the song made it into the official German single charts and reached position 56 in one chart week.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Album credits. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Lyrics. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Excerpt from an interview with Xavier Naidoo. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Mercury Article. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ^ The press articles. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Profile article. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Nordbuzz album review. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ laut.de album review. Retrieved October 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Sons of Mannheim - Marionettes. austriancharts.at, accessed on October 19, 2019 .