Badge Music Blog

Pop musik: the sound of the charts in ... Germany

In a new series, Andrew Khan examines the international language of pop – beginning with Germany

As it's Europe's largest country, and one of the few that doesn't seem to be teetering on the brink of insolvency, the importance of Germany to boosting international sales will be understood by pop superstars on both sides of the Atlantic. Justin Bieber may have been famously unfamiliar with the concept of "German" but his peers, from Lady Gaga to Cheryl Cole, are regular fixtures on the nation's primetime TV. Other British and American acts eyeing a lucrative slice of the market, however, will have to compete with one of the strongest domestic music scenes in the world.

German pop's primary showcase is Viva, MTV's less obnoxious sister channel. The presenters – bright, diverse and confident – project a vision of the country that couldn't be further removed from British tabloid cliches. As the Turkish-German hip-hop of Eko Fresh runs into Peter Fox's gruff dancehall, the stark paranoia of Angela Merkel's warning of a "failed" multicultural society also seems a world away.

The international resurgence of thumping Euro dance, a genre that never vanished from Germany, has seen Groove Coverage, Cascada and Fragma return to Europe's charts. The veterans have been eclipsed, however, by breakthrough act R.I.O, whose winning combination of two-dimensional house and singing loudly has taken the nation by storm.

Nonetheless, while dance-pop might be painting the world in neon colours, there's also an adult sensibility to much of the rest of Germany's chart music. Overt seriousness isn't a prerequisite for success but neither is it punished. Lena's attempt to retain her Eurovision crown with Taken by a Stranger, a wild-eyed piece of psychosexual drama, may have looked incongruous on the night but wouldn't have been out of place at home.

Frida Gold's Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen, although one of the biggest songs of the summer, sounds much more appropriate in the softer light of autumn. Even if the lyrics about urban malaise aren't understood, the tone is unmistakably chilly. It was chosen, rather boldly, as Germany's team anthem for the Women's World Cup. The hosts were knocked out in the quarter finals by a Japan side whose theme song, it's safe to assume, was more upbeat.

Perhaps the finest German pop single of last year, Valentine Romanski's Black Sheep, was no more comfortable to listen to. Although firmly within the chart mainstream, with stirring strings and an irresistible chorus, the lyrics are a parade of images closer in spirit to Last Exit to Brooklyn than Gossip Girl. The video, set in a forest worthy of Caspar David Friedrich and rich with references to the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, served to highlight the song's lineage.

More familiar to international audiences, Tokio Hotel have captured a fan-base stretching from Japan to Mexico. Androgyny is nothing new to pop-metal but vocalist Bill Kaulitz's high cheekbones and flamboyant dress sense ensure a great deal of squinting is required to determine his gender. The music is disappointingly prosaic angst-fuelled emo though, with little of the flash their image promises.

Exploring the same territory with much more élan are Jennifer Rostock. The music is rarely as spectacular as singer Jennifer Weist's tattoos, but recent album Mit Haut und Haar remains several cuts above American counterparts such as Paramore.

The willingness to accept melancholy or menace extends to music the nation imports. Hurts, with their buttoned-up collars and frosty pseudo-Ballardian aesthetics, were laughed out of Britain as posturing new romantic revivalists. In Germany, they went platinum.

With Britain choked by the maudlin "new boring" of Ed Sheeran and Mumford and Sons, we could do worse than look to our neighbours for a reminder that pop which isn't aimed squarely at the dancefloor doesn't have to mean flabby acoustic self-pity.

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