No roots

This article deals with Alice Merton's debut single, for her extended play of the same name see No Roots (EP) .

No roots
Alice Merton
publication	2nd December 2016
length	3:55
Genre (s)	pop
Author (s)	Alice Merton, Nicolas Rebscher
Award (s)	* German music author award Youth cultural advancement award
album	No Roots EP / Mint

No Roots ( English literally means "no roots"; mutatis mutandis to "without origin") is a song in Germany living pop singer Alice Merton . The track is the debut single and first single from their No Roots EP of the same name and from their debut album Mint .

Creation and artwork

The song was written and produced jointly by Alice Merton and Nicolas Rebscher, the latter also arranged and mixed the piece. Merton's manager Paul Grauwinkel was the executive producer. The mastering took place at TrueBusyness Mastering in Berlin under the direction of Sascha Bühren. The single was released under Merton's own music label Paper Plane Records Int. or in the United States under Mom + Pop Music and published by BMG Rights Management and Budde Music.

On the cover of the maxi single - in addition to the artist name and song title - only Merton's upper body can be seen from the side against a black background. She wears a gold top that was designed by Susann Bosslau. The photography and the artwork for the cover image are from Merton's manager Grauwinkel. The cover image was presented for the first time on November 7, 2016 on various social media platforms. The same cover picture was used for the No Roots EP .

Publication and promotion

The original release date of the single was set for November 18, 2016, and No Roots was finally released as a single download on December 2, 2016. In advance of this, Merton posted occasional pictures of himself with quotes from the song until the single was released. The release as a physical sound carrier followed in the wake of the No Roots EP of the same name on February 2, 2017. In the United States, No Roots was first released on February 3, 2017.

In order to advertise the song and yourself, a tour of all radio stations in Germany followed, including MDR Jump , Bayern 3 and MDR Sputnik . In the UK, Merton was part of the BBC Introducing radio show on March 18, 2017. On television, she appeared on prime-time TV on the ProSieben show Schlag den Henssler , where she sang a medley of Hit the Ground Running and No Roots . Furthermore, there were some appearances on the German music channel VIVA . There she appeared with an acoustic version in the programs VIVA Top 100 and VIVA Elevator Music. On February 9, 2018, she appeared with No Roots on the American late-night show The Tonight Show . Another live performance with No Roots in Germany took place during the 2018 Echo Awards .

In May 2017, No Roots became Vodafone's official promotional song . The song accompanied their commercial and was thus played in various commercial breaks. The song was also featured in an episode of the American television series The Blacklist .

background information

For No Roots is the first release of Alice Merton as an independent artist. In 2015 she worked on seven titles on the debut album The Book of Nature by Fahrenhaidt as an author and singer. The album was placed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and was in the top 20 of the album charts in Germany.

Before No Roots was released , Merton had a few offers from major labels . They liked the piece, but wanted to change a few things. Merton stood by her production and refused changes, out of necessity she founded her own label Paper Plane Records together with her manager Paul Grauwinkel .

content

The lyrics to No Roots are in English; Translated into German, the title means “No roots”. The music and the text were written jointly by Alice Merton and Nicolas Rebscher. Musically, the song moves in the area of pop music . The piece begins with the first verse and a subsequent bridge and refrain . This structure is repeated with the second stanza. After the second chorus, there is an intermediate piece that reproduces parts of the beginning of the first stanza. This is followed by a third and final refrain without a bridge. The tempo is 116 beats per minute .

As the title of the song suggests, the content is about the fact that someone does not have a permanent home and feels more like a kind of global citizen . In an interview on the television program Kunscht! of the SWR , Merton described the content of the piece as follows: “ No Roots is about the story of her life and that she has moved very often in her life. She lived in many countries (Germany, Great Britain, Canada and the United States). She said she had moved a total of twelve times by the age of 24, and her home was never in one place, but always with the people she really loved. "Merton wrote the song when she visited her parents in England. She had gotten to a point by this point where she felt pretty lost. Then she decided to write a song that would help her to feel better in the situation ("I got to a point where I was feeling quite lost. So I decided to write a song that would make me feel better", she explained "" ).

"And a thousand times I've seen this road, a thousand times. I've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. I've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. I've got no roo (uh uh uh uh) ts. I've got no roo (uh uh uh uh) ts. " - Refrain, original excerpt

“And I've seen this street a thousand times , a thousand times. I have no roots, but my home was never on the ground. I have no roots, but my home was never on the ground. I have no wu (uh uh uh uh) ruffles. I have no wu (uh uh uh uh) ruffles. " - Refrain, translation

Music video

The music video for No Roots was filmed on November 13, 2016 at Fabrik 23 in Berlin and premiered on January 9, 2017 on YouTube . The video can be divided into three sections, which can be seen alternately over and over again. The video begins with two scenes in which Merton sings the song and dances to himself in a light and a dark room. In some shots, three men suddenly appear who seem to want to move Merton away. From the intermediate piece after the second chorus, there is a black and white scene in which the men (played by Emre Aksu, Don Chuaydee-Gehm and Maximilian Elske) appear again and sing the song together with Merton and dance to it. The total length of the video is 3:56 minutes. Directed by Maximilian Stolarow. To date, the music video has over 225 million views on YouTube (as of June 2020).

Contributors

Song production Sascha Bühren: Mastering Paul Grauwinkel: artwork (cover), executive producer , photographer (cover) Alice Merton : composer , songwriter , music producer Nicolas Rebscher: Mixing , arrangement , composer, songwriter, music producer BMG Rights Management : Publisher Budde Music: Publisher Mom + Pop Music: Music label Paper Plane Records Int. : Music label TrueBusyness Mastering: recording studio

Music video Emre Aksu: actor Timo Bloom: hairdresser , make-up Emma Breuer: Set Assistant Susann Bosslau: Styling Don Chuaydee-Gehm: actor Maximilian Elske: actor Paul Grauwinkel: Executive Producer Hannah Groß: styling assistant Patrick Jankowski: lighting design Alice Merton : actor Maximilian Stolarow: cameraman , director

reception

Reviews

In the category “Matuschke's Favorite of the Week” by Bayern 3 , No Roots was chosen as the favorite song of the 3rd calendar week of 2017.

The US Billboard magazine placed No Roots in a survey of critics at position 81 of the best songs from the year 2017th

Awards

In November 2016, No Roots was awarded the youth cultural advancement award in the “Acoustic Pop” category.

On March 15, 2018, No Roots was awarded the German Music Author's Prize as "Most Successful Work 2017".

Charts and chart placements

No Roots reached position two in the single charts in Germany and stayed in the top 10 for a total of seven weeks and in the charts for 39 weeks. On April 21, 2017, No Roots made it to the top of the iTunes charts in Germany for the first time . In Austria the single reached position three and stayed in the top 10 for ten weeks and in the charts for 30 weeks. In Switzerland, No Roots reached position 12 in the charts in 51 chart weeks. In the United States, No Roots made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in early April 2018 . The single was placed in the chart for three weeks and reached its highest level at position 84. In addition, the single placed at the top of the US Adult Alternative Songs and at the top of the US rock airplay charts . On April 15, 2018, the single finally reached the UK charts, where it has so far reached position 86. In 2018 the single also reached the Canadian single charts and reached its highest rating at position 97. Furthermore, the song reached number 41 in the French single charts. In 2017, the single was 14th in the annual charts in Germany, 13th in Austria and 38th in Switzerland. In the German airplay annual charts , the single was sixth, making it the second most played title by a German artist after OK ( Robin Schulz ).

For Merton as a writer and performer, this is the first chart success worldwide. For Rebscher as an author, No Roots is the fourth chart success in Germany, as well as the third in Austria and Switzerland after House Party ( DJ Antoine ) and Is there someone ( Adel Tawil ). It is his first top 10 success in Germany , with No Roots replacing the most successful single to date, Ist da haben (highest ranking 33). As a producer, it is his first chart success in all three countries. In the United Kingdom and the United States, it is Rebscher's first chart success in his writings and producers.

Chart placements Charts Top ranking Weeks Chart placements  Germany (GfK) 2 (39 weeks) 39  Canada (MC) 97 (1 week) 1  Austria (Ö3) 3 (30 weeks) 30th  Switzerland (IFPI) 12 (51 weeks) 51  United States (Billboard) 84 (3 weeks) 3  United Kingdom (OCC) 52 (9 weeks) 9

Annual charts Charts (2017) placement Annual charts (2017)  Germany (GfK) 14th  Austria (Ö3) 13  Switzerland (IFPI) 38

Awards for music sales

In December 2018, No Roots was awarded a triple gold record in Germany for over 600,000 copies sold. Worldwide, the single received a total of one silver, two gold and seven platinum. This is Merton's first single award. No Roots has sold more than 1.6 million times worldwide so far.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Germany (BVMI)	3 × gold	600,000
France (SNEP)	platinum	150,000
Italy (FIMI)	2 × platinum	100,000
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	30,000
Poland (ZPAV)	platinum	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
United States (RIAA)	gold	500,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver	200,000
All in all	1 × silver 2 × gold 7 × platinum	1,620,000

Web links

• Music video for No Roots on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Alice Merton and her hit "No Roots" / Kunscht! youtube.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Alice Merton reveals what calms her down and what she likes besides music. youtube.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Alice Merton. allaccess.com, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Alice Merton. instagram.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Alice Merton - No Roots. discogs.com, accessed June 29, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Alice Merton. facebook.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Alice Merton - No Roots. austriancharts.at, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Alice Merton. instagram.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Alice Merton. instagram.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Alice Merton. instagram.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
11. ↑ Schlag den Henssler, ProSieben, September 30, 2017.
12. ↑ VIVA Top 100, VIVA Germany, April 13, 2017.
13. ↑ VIVA Elevator Music # 211, VIVA Germany, April 16, 2017.
14. ↑ Alice Merton on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. nbc.com, accessed May 4, 2019 . 
15. ↑ ECHO Pop 2018, VOX, April 12, 2018.
16. ^ Vodafone: Song from the GigaDepot advertisement. musikradar.de, accessed on May 2, 2017 . 
17. ^ The Blacklist Soundtrack. tunefind.com, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
18. ^ Fahrhaidt - The Book of Nature. discogs.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
19. ↑ Newcomer Alice Merton: “No Roots”, but soul. n-tv.de, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
20. ↑ No Roots by Alice Merton. songbpm.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
21. ↑ Chartbreaker: How Alice Merton Turned Her Nomadic Past Into A Pop Hit. billboard.com, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Singer-songwriter Alice Merton explores her nomadic past on “No Roots”. thelineofbestfit.com, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
23. ↑ Alice Merton: Merton in an interview with The Voice of Germany . S9E10, Sat.1 , October 13, 2019.
24. ↑ Alice Merton. facebook.com, accessed May 14, 2017 . 
25. ↑ Matuschke's favorite: Lina Maly with “waxing”. bayern3.de, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
26. ↑ Billboard's 100 Best Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks. billboard.com, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
27. ↑ Alice Merton and her hit “No Roots”: Strong performance. swr.de, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
28. ↑ Homepage of the German Music Author Award. musikautorenpreis.de, accessed on April 19, 2018 . 
29. ↑ Alice Merton - German Chart Performance. itunescharts.net, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
30. ↑ Alice Merton - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed January 13, 2018 . 
31. ↑ Alice Merton - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed April 7, 2018 . 
32. ↑ lescharts.com - Alice Merton - No Roots. Retrieved March 24, 2019 . 
33. ↑ Alice Merton - No Roots (Chanson). lescharts.com, accessed September 27, 2017 . 
34. ↑ Michael Schmich: Annual Airplay Charts 2017 entirely dedicated to Ed Sheeran. radioszene.de, January 9, 2018, accessed on May 27, 2020 . 
35. ↑ Alice Merton - No Roots. officialcharts.de, accessed on May 14, 2017 . 
36. ↑ Alice Merton - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed April 22, 2018 . 
37. ↑ Alice Merton - No Roots. hitparade.ch, accessed on August 27, 2017 . 
38. ↑ Alice Merton - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed April 2, 2018 . 
39. ↑ Alice Merton. officialcharts.com, accessed May 5, 2018 . 
40. ↑ Single year charts 2017. officialcharts.de, accessed on January 3, 2018 . 
41. ^ Annual Singles Singles 2017 hit parade. Austriancharts.at, accessed on January 6, 2018 . 
42. ^ Swiss annual hit parade 2017. hitparade.ch, accessed on January 3, 2018 . 
43. ↑ Gold / platinum database. musikindustrie.de, accessed on December 3, 2018 . 
44. ^ Les Certifications. snepmusique.com, accessed January 31, 2018 . 
45. ^ Certificazioni. fimi.it, accessed on December 3, 2018 . 
46. ↑ Gold & Platinum. ifpi.at, accessed on March 12, 2018 . 
47. ↑ bestsellery. bestsellery.zpav.pl, accessed on July 11, 2018 . 
48. ↑ precious metal. hitparade.ch, accessed on December 18, 2018 . 
49. ↑ Gold & Platinum. riaa.com, accessed November 9, 2018 . 
50. ^ BRIT Certified. bpi.co.uk, accessed July 18, 2020 .