by Michael McCarthy
It is, perhaps, weird but once in a while an album in a language I don’t even know will somehow speak to my soul just as loudly as an album with moving English language lyrics. Right now I’m listening to a new album by a German artist I like. Anomalie Pt.1 by Madeline Juno. I’ve been following her for a few years now. She’s definitely one of those foreign artists where I feel like the sound of her voice and the music is so good that I think people who don’t know the language (German) would like it. And at least there are some English language titles that at least paint a picture of what the album is about: “Mediocre,” “Center Shock,” and “Fuck Marry Kill.” Oh, I should probably mention that Madeline is kind of edgy.
If you like the music of the German artist Nena, you’ll love Madeline Juno. And if the only Nena music you know is the song “99 Luftballons” (“99 Red Balloons”), you’re missing out on some truly remarkable music. While a lot of German music is extremely cheesy, Nena and Madeline Juno’s music is what one might call credible. At the very least, it’s truly artistic and on par with the music in the rest of the world in terms of the production values and style.
There’s a type of German pop music called schlager and I definitely would not call Madeline Juno or Nena schlager. Technically, I think schlager just means popular music but I see it used more often when talking about the extremely cheesy synth pop artists that tend to dominate the German charts. Look at it this way, David Hasslehoff of Baywatch and Knight Rider fame had a hugely successful music career in Germany. I’m not kidding. He released several albums and they all did well. But did he release music in the rest of the world? To be honest, I can’t say for sure whether he did or not but I do know that he didn’t release music in the United States. Maybe one album very recently but that would be it. But you’ve heard Hasslehoff’s music on Baywatch more than likely and it’s very, very cheesy. And Madeline Juno and Nena are like the exact opposite of that.
I have nothing against David Hasslehoff and I’m not even trying to diss his music. But even he would have to admit that it’s pretty cheesy stuff. But he conducted his music career in Germany brilliantly. He knew what kind of music they liked and he gave it to them. Perhaps he would have made the same music if he’d had a record deal in the United States, but I can’t help but feel that his music was tailored specifically for German audiences. Which would have been a smart move on his part. Especially if he had realized that he wasn’t going to get record deals in the rest of the world. That said, his music was in English, but in terms of the songwriting style and over all sound, it was like pure German top 40.
FYI, Hasslehoff isn’t the only star to release music in a foreign country. Alyssa Milano – yes, the actress – released a handful of albums in Japan in the late 80s and early 90s. I actually have one of her CDs somewhere. It was truly awful. If I understand correctly, her Dad wrote the songs. But she released at least three albums, all in English. I think the one I bought (about 30 years ago) was the last one. I don’t now if it was supposed to be the best one. Honestly, I don’t even remember the name of the album. But there was an especially silly song called “Do You See Me” on it.
I’ve gone off on a rant. Sorry. So let me just finish this by saying that Madeline Juno’s new album is brilliant. Excellent production and gorgeous vocals that can be appreciated by lovers of artistic pop music all over the world, not just those who speak German.

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