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Vanessa Mai – Metamorphose

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Vanessa Mai - Metamorphose

Vanessa Mai - Metamorphose
3.7

Rating

 3.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Much better than "Mai Tai"
  • Very modern pop tracks

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Very mainstream-alike production
  • Some weak spots

The third Vanessa Mai album review: after I really liked her 2020 release Für immer and absolutely struggled with the 2021 Mai Tai, I was really curious how my feelings about the 2022 album would be. I did not like the first Metamorphose single releases too much, but the later ones felt really good – so here are my full thoughts about the 12th August 2022 publication.

 

Vanessa Mai – About The Artist

Vanessa Mai has grown her popularity massively over the last years in Germany. Some people are simply amazed by the – very often really nice – pictures on her social media accounts, others love her music… And I am sure that there are a lot of people who belong to both groups. More bio can be found in the Für Immer review.

 

Vanessa Mai – Metamorphose – Track by Track

The fourteen track album lasts 36 minutes.

1. 747

The opener sets a very clear direction for the whole album: Vanessa Mai is moving away from schlager, the new album is much closer to pop music again. Unfortunately, 747 also comes with this a bit too vapid lyrics in the chorus. Nonetheless, when I listened to the single for the first time, I felt much more optimistic about this album than my thoughts have been in the previous album review.

2. Süchtig

Okay, that’s maybe the worst song to proof my argument above that Vanessa Mai is moving away from schlager. I just don’t like the word Süchtig too much – in German, it is much closer to drug-addicated than in English, where it is more general:

Ich komm nicht klar
Doch, Baby, es ist wahr
Du in meiner Nähe, ist was ich will, jeden Tag
Und heut Nacht
Hältst du mich wieder wach
Ich finde keinen Weg, wie ich dir widerstehen kann
Mein Herz sagt zu mir
Ich bin süchtig nach dir
Mein Kopf kanns nicht kapieren
Ich bin süchtig nach dir

(“I don’t manage it all right
But, baby, it is true
You being close to me is what I want, every day
And tonight
You will keep me awake again.
I don’t find a way to resist you
My heart tells me
I am addicted to you
My head just does not get it
I am addicted to you”)

3. Happy End (feat. Sido)

Happy End is a collaboration with German rapper Sido. The song starts a bit of kitschy with the Vanessa Mai vocals, so that I feel that Sido’s presence in here really adds a nice different touch. Typically I am not that much into these rap-pop track – Happy End is a good one in my point of view

4. Vibe

A powerful rhythm, some electronic background melodies – this new song is indeed a rather modern German dance pop. I guess that Vanessa’s fans will love VIBE. Sizzling like Vanessa Mai’s Instagram feed:

Ich les deine Gedanken, wir sind voller Intentionen
Deine Art zu lieben, sprengt alle Dimensionen
Nichts kann uns mehr halten, folgen unseren Visionen
Heute Nacht

(“I read your thoughts, we are full of intentions
Your way of loving breaks all dimensions
Nothing can stop us any more, we follow our visions
Tonight”)

5. Melatonin (feat. ART)

Melatonin is another pop-rap collaboration. However, this song rather feels like a duet,t here are more changes in the leading vocal role. Not a bad one.

6. Zehenspitzen

“Baby, I am standing on my tiptoes whenever we kiss” – that’s about the translation of the main message of this track. Melodically, it connects to the two songs before – Zehenspitzen has a strong R&B touch.

7. Summer Nights

Summer Nights in fact has a nice summer vibe song. However, I struggle with lyrics like these ones

Show me love
Es ist einfach, Babe
Don’t be too scared to touch
Wir bleiben wach
Himmelskörper strahlen aufs Panorama Dach

Why do you have to switch between languages all the time? Most of the song is in German, though.

8. Schwarze Herzen (feat. CIVO)

All three collaborations of Vanessa Mai with rappers have made it as single releases. Schwarze Herzen (“Black Hearts”) is thereby the by far weakest one of all three to me. The melodic parts don’t have the catching vibe of other songs – and CIVO feels also comparably weak compared to artists like Sido.

9. Stadtbezirk

A long summer night in your borough – that’s about the topic of the track. Unfortunately, the song does not add too much to the portfolio of tracks on Metamarmorphose. Better than average, but not that special.

10. No Hard Feelings

These 2:38 minutes are one of the most characteristic ones of the album. Not really a ballad, but almost as close as these 14 songs get. A nice intimate song with a great arrangement. Very good one.

11. Bitte geh nicht

Just 2.11 minutes – the album is in fact very mainstreamed, only one song is longer than three minutes. But Bitte geh nicht (“Please don’t go”) is the shortest listen of all tracks in here. It still manages to leave a mark in the listener’s mind – thus, it feels to be a really good one.

12. Als ob du mich liebst

Mike Singer is a German pop singer. This song has originally been released as a “Mike Singer feat. Vanessa Mai” single. Despite more than two million streams on YouTube only, I don’t like this track too much. I simply feel that Mike Singer is too thin in his latest recordings.

13. Aus und vorbei

Yeah, there is some studio adjustment in this one, but I really like Aus und vorbei (something like “over and out”). Melodically and from the vocal side, it gives a very different sound of Vanessa Mai. A very nice statement on the final straight of this album.

14. Unendlich (feat. Andrea Berg)

A good, old family collaboration at the end of the album: Vanessa Mai is doing a song together with her mother-in-law, Andrea Berg. Two big names in German music and a good song. Finally, this also means that the Metamorphose closes with a schlager track. Good song, but strange message.

 

Vanessa Mai – Metamorphose – Spotify

Here is Vanessa Mai’s 2022 album on Spotify:

 

Vanessa Mai – Metamorphose – My View

“Metamorphosis – this means trasformation, change, movement. Everything is changing. Nothing stays as it has been”. That’s what the press release to the album is stating in the very first line. Even though they later say it is rather a metaphor for Vanessa Mai’s career rather than for this album only, I am not sure if this album made it. At least Vanessa Mai is more pop-ish now, she is more modern again. Yeah, she is also auto-tuning, but that’s nothing too special in the music industry. The album is not a top class one like Für immer has been to me – but it is a huge step after the lousy Mai Tai one. Thus, I highly appreciate it.

 

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