Record will be released on Friday
As if in a frenzy: This is what Helene Fischer’s new album sounds like
Helene Fischer is back: her new album “Rausch” will be released on Friday
© Britta Pedersen / DPA
Helene Fischer is back: three years after her live album, the German pop star’s new album “Rausch” will be released on Friday. It’s more personal than ever, says Fischer.
Helene Fischer’s new album is called “Rausch” and the past few days and weeks must have felt something like that for all those who follow their lives with a certain curiosity. The reports rushed in in quick succession: a planned, gigantic concert in front of around 150,000 people in Munich, media reports about a pregnancy, an announced collaboration with old show master Stefan Raab (54). What could almost be overlooked in all that time was the machine that keeps Fischer’s career going: new music. That is changing now. “Rausch” has been on the market since Friday.
The work, filled with 24 songs, is likely to strengthen the curiosity of Helene supporters rather than restrict them. The record should deliberately be read as an autobiographical work. “I wrote a lot of the songs and am more personal than ever, because the songs tell from my life,” says Fischer of the German press agency. This is interesting because, of course, their life is not entirely visible. When asked about reports of pregnancy, she said, for example: “Please understand that I do not want to comment on private matters.” On Instagram she wrote of an “overwhelming and unique feeling”. She literally did not speak of pregnancy.
For “intoxication” you need dance-able shoes
Anyone who hears themselves through “intoxication” can go on a search for clues. But at first you might be tempted to put on dance-ready shoes. Fischer’s biggest hit is “Atemlos durch die Nacht”, with which she left her hit image behind and rose to become a German dancing queen. Many songs in this category can be found on “Rausch”, such as “Love is a dance”, “When everything goes crazy” or “Blitz”. It’s about falling in love and what follows from it – underlaid with perfectly produced electronic beats. One should beware of overinterpretation.
The situation is different with quieter numbers with piano or sometimes strings that use the head more than the legs. For example the song “Volle Kraft vor”, which was published in advance and thus almost put in the shop window. In it, Fischer celebrates a farewell, which is necessary to set off for new shores. “Full speed ahead, back out to sea. It hurt, but I have to move on – and so do you,” it says.
A memory of Florian Silbereisen
Everyone who knows the singer a little should have thought of Florian Silbereisen (40) at least once while listening. The two were in a relationship for ten years. At the end of 2018, Fischer then made her new relationship with the acrobat Thomas Seitel public. One listens with similar interest to the piece “Alles von mir”, a love hymn that could be quoted 1: 1 as a marriage saying in front of the altar. “For today, forever I stay with you, through ups and downs, no matter what happens. I give you my word. To a life with you,” sings Fischer. And the head cinema starts.
It is also noticeable that Fischer’s vocals seem a bit rougher than before. Not like Bonnie Tyler, but more mature. And that there are also songs to be found that can be read politically. For example, “angel without wings”, which caregivers and kindergarten teachers can feel addressed. But everything is well dosed. The title “Rausch” does not mean that the irrational suddenly reigns in the Helene cosmos.
Long work on the new album
The new music is advertised in part with the fact that you can watch how Helene Fischer “reinvented” herself. She gave herself enough time for it – she worked on the album for more than a year and a half. The height of fall is also very high. Nobody comes through Fischer in German show business anymore. Every step needs to be well thought out. On Saturday evening (October 16, 9.45pm) she will be leading through her new repertoire on ZDF in her own music film (“Im Rausch der Senses”).
What remains? In the song “Exactly this feeling”, Fischer sings: “Life sets the course for us. But I know that deep down inside we are still the same.” Many listeners should be reassured by these sentences.