There are not too many occasions in the recent past that German-speaking artists gained popularity by performing country music. Undoubtedly, Alexander Eder made that. One performance at a talent show (which he even not registered for by himself) was a huge first step into the spotlights of the German, Austrian and Swiss music scene. On 30th October 2020, the released his debut album Schlagzeilen.
Alexander Eder – About The Artist
Alexander Eder is an Austrian artist, who was born in Neuhofen. He is nowadays 21 years old. He became popular by this interpretation of Josh Turner’s Your Man, which he sang at the blind auditions of the 2018 season of the German The Voice. After releasing a few singles, Schlagzeilen (which means “Headlines”) is the debut album of the Austrian.
Alexander Eder – Schlagzeilen – Track by Track
The fourteen track album lasts 46 minutes.
1. Ich auf dem Cover
The album starts with a happy-sounding track, which is fully of irony and humor. Ich bin auf dem Cover (“I am on the cover”) rather describes the song of a rock star, who is hailing for more publicity (after being in the Playboy magazine etc.). The cool end of the chorus is though Omi, bist Du stolz? (“Granny, are you proud?”).
2. Alle guten Dinge
After this tongue-in-cheek start of the album, the following track is a straight one. Alle guten Dinge sind frei (“All good things [in life] are free”) is a track of friendship and trust. The track moves somewhere between German Schlager and rock. The backing vocals will definitely turn this song into a great sing-a-long at live shows.
3. Wie du
A dark and intense breakup song. Eder’s dark voice is so amazing in tracks like that – it simply adds additional pain to the emotions of this song.
4. Kein Liebeslied
Kein Liebeslied (“No love song”) describes the emotional breakdown after a failed relation. No more love songs in the radio – Alexander Eder claims that he would rather listen to Kurt Cobain in this situation. Feels to be a rocker at heart. I really enjoy to listen to these kind of tracks by Eder – such a great fit again of his voice and the contents
5. Zu schön, um wahr zu sein
A deep and lovely ballad – quite a long one as well (4:44 minutes). I struggles with the song a bit at the beginning – but the more you get into Zu schön um wahr zu sein (“Too beautiful to be true”), the more it becomes deep and fascinating.
6. Deine SMS (feat. Lika Doss)
Lika Doss is very interesting artist, as she is a psychologist in real life. Nothing too mental in this duet, which is a very modern pop track with strong hip hop elements (yeah, Eder can do that, too… Reasonably at least). Nice additional touch on the album.
7. Mit euch an meiner Seite
Mit Euch an meiner Seite (“With you on my side”) is a rock track about teenager experiences, friendship, first love, first alcohol, some of the good and bad things you do in these ages. Powerful track, love it.
8. Ich will noch nicht nach Hause
If you would have recorded this one with a stronger electric guitar power, the chorus would be close to a dark hard rock track. Live on stage this one might cause some long-haired men to move their head to the rhythm. Love that track, which is dealing about a long party night.
9. Lauf mich frei
Lauf mich frei is a beautiful pop/rock track, which Eder also selected as one of his singles released before the album. Quiet verses, paired with a very present and powerful chorus.
10. Lazy Song
Lazy Song describes the morning after a club (and quite alcoholic) night. Staying in bed til late afternoon, just drinking tea – it is far too much light outside. It is really fun to listen to this hangover song, which is having quite a nice groove. Despite the title, the song is a German lyrics one, by the way.
11. Lederjackenjunge
The – again quite strong in bass – song Lederjackenjunge (“Leather Jacket Boy”) is in fact describing the process of finding love – the Lederjackenmädchen (“Leather Jacket Girl”).
12. Alles wird vergehen
Alles wird vergehen (“Everything will end”) is having quite a sad song, which still also has an optimistic message, that bad periods will end at their time as well. The chorus is very strong, but overall it is a track which is not touching me too much.
13. Your Man
Will he do it again? He does it again! After his national TV breakthrough, Alexander Eder adds the Josh Turner song to his album as well. Still a great version.
14. Gut darin (feat. Buffalo Bells)
The album finishes with a German lyrics country music track, which has been recorded with the Austrian country band Buffalo Bells. The simplicity of the track makes it feel like German Schlager, though. The track is creating good mood, I would love to have one or two more tracks of that kind to see whether this style of music fits to Eder. At that track, I struggle a bit with it.
Alexander Eder – Schlagzeilen – Spotify
Here is the Spotify widget for Schlagzeilen:
Alexander Eder – Schlagzeilen – My View
In the early 2000’s, especially between 2010 and 2016, there was a very successful band project, Unheilig, The genre has been named Neue Deutsche Härte (“New German Hard Music”), which is combining pop with darker metal elements. Alexander Eder is maybe too soft in his song selection to fit into that genre, but overall, I thought about the Unheilig music a lot. The Austrian could potentially take the gap in the German music landscape which occured after the project split up. Alexander Eder has a great deep voice, which is causing a lot of presence. It is hard to determine a right genre between rock, pop, Schlager and even a slight touch of hard rock. It is quite unique – and that leads to a great sound and a really good album.
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I simply love alexander voice ande his energy. I wish him all success
Yeah, I agree. Very unique and characteristic voice