Und alles dreht sich

Background

Nena's third solo album Und alles dreht sich ("And Everything's Spinning") is aptly titled since it marked a turning point in both Nena's career and in her personal life.

The album represents the commercial low point of Nena's career. Following the modest success of its predecessor Bongo Girl, her record contract with Sony had not been renewed. Und alles dreht sich was therefore published by the relatively obscure label RMG Music Entertainment, which ceased trading shortly afterwards. The album remains the only Nena album neither to have made it to the top 50 in her homeland, nor to have produced a single chart hit, however minor. Commercially her career thereafter marginally improved during the remainder of the 1990s before the 2002 album Nena feat. Nena relaunched her career.

The album also came at a pivotal point in Nena's personal life. Having separated from Benedict Freitag (the father of her first three children, the first of whom died at the age of 11 months), Nena released the album shortly before she met Philipp Palm (her current partner, 20 years younger than Freitag). By the time Nena was promoting the final single to be released from the album, she was already pregnant with their first child.

Despite the lack of commercial success, the album contains many of the ingredients of Nena's success in the 21st century. Her voice had matured, the themes of the songs (concerns for the environment, relationships and positive spirituality as an antidote to self-doubt) recur throughout her work and in writing them she collaborated with former members of the Nena band. The album ends with the ethereal "Ich bin die Liebe", a song which would not have been out of place on Enya’s album A Day Without Rain which it preceded by 6 years. Written by Carlo Karges (co-writer of Nena's best-known song, "99 Luftballons"), the lyrics comprise an inner conversation between Nena and a voice in her head, "Die Liebe" (Love). Nena sings the song in two different vocal styles in order to differentiate who is speaking. 18 years later the song has been reprised as one of the bonus tracks on her 2012 Du bist gut album. This latter rendition was, perhaps more appropriately, performed as a duet – Nena taking the part of Love, her son (Sakias) the role of the person uplifted by her advice.

Track listing

1. Ich Halt' Dich Fest 3:48 (I Hold You Tight)
2. Hol' Mich Zurück 3:30 (Get Me Back)
3. Weisse Wolke 6:10 (White Cloud)
4. Vor Deiner Tür 3:47 (In Front Of Your Door)
5. Heimweh Nach Gestern 3:55 (Homesick for Yesterday)
6. Armer Weisser Mann 4:06 (Poor White Man)
7. Einmal Noch Und Immer Mehr 4:19 (Once Again and Even More)
8. Wach' Auf! 5:33 (Wake Up!)
9. Touristen-Song 3:06 (Tourist Song)
10. Viel Zuviel Glück 4:00 (Much Too Much Happiness)
11. Verzeih' 2:21 (Forgive)
12. Ich Bin Die Liebe 6:09 (I Am (the) Love)