Nena
Chokmah

After definitively closing the band chapter with the good "Eisbrecher" from 1986, which didn't match the first two but was a definite step forward from its frankly inferior predecessor "Feuer Und Flamme," the lovely Nena Kerner embarked on a solo career. Unfortunately, this didn't bring her international chart success, but it certainly confirmed her undeniable vocal talent, personality, and honesty, despite a qualitative journey marked by many ups and downs. "Wunder Gescheh'n" from 1989 is an excellent start, showing that Nena was ready to stand on her own, looking beyond new wave and offering refined arrangements and beautiful melodies, albeit with some (sweet) naivety. This was followed by two not-so-memorable efforts like "Bongo Girl" (1992) and "Und Alles Dreht Sicht" (1994), which offer little more than fairly conventional pop-rock that highlights the bright and enthusiastic voice of the German singer but proves to be only occasionally personal and convincing. The second highlight came in 1997 with "Jamma Nich," a highly pleasant album that ventured into more lively and captivating electronic sounds, followed the next year, perhaps a bit too hastily, by another unremarkable and indifferent effort like "Wenn Alles Richtig Ist, Dan Stimmt Was Nicht."

We thus arrive at the dawn of the new millennium, and Nena's sixth album surpasses all optimistic expectations. Disorienting, perhaps even for the singer herself, and completely different from any of her previous releases, both solo and with the band, "Chokmah" is the undisputed highlight of her production.

The credit for this radical and successfully executed transformation can be attributed to producer Florian Sitzmann, who persuaded Nena to set aside previous recordings and ideas to start a new project from scratch. No ties to the past, then, "Chokmah" was to be a solid and unified structure, with sophistication and stylistic exploration as its pillars. The result is an album strongly influenced by soundscapes from across the Atlantic; soul, urban, hip-hop, and a strong electronic connotation; a new world, and a new way of presenting and singing for Nena, no longer the "joyful warrior" armed with a smile and short hair from her '90s, but a more mature, thoughtful, and sophisticated woman exploring the limits of her artistic abilities. Introspective, feminine, dynamic, and captivating, "Chokmah" astonishes and impresses with the fluidity, care, and coherence of its musical discourse, in which each song is an integral part yet possesses its independent identity. Masterpieces like "Silbermond" and "Lichtarbeiter" restore Nena to an "avant-garde" dimension that she had missed since her band days, striking immediately with the imaginative power of the melodies, enigmatic and nocturnal; Nena's voice is that of a restless and enchanting siren, intense, sensual, and elegant, while "Ich Hor Mir Zu" opts for a more intimate and bittersweet semi-acoustic soul/folk approach, equally refined and softly disorienting. "Club Der Leisen" instead expands, relying on minimal electronics and urban/jazzy atmospheres, combined with a languid and disenchanted singing/flow, reminiscent in approach and musicality of the more experimental Falco from his posthumously published recordings, especially "Ecce Machina." With "Rede Lieber Nicht Zuviel", Nena further develops this connection with the black microcosm, delivering a quirky, brilliant, and ironic performance of alternative hip-hop à la Imani Coppola, as well as a simpler but fine R'n'B ballad "Carpe Diem" in a more radio-friendly perspective, a sweet awakening song in contrast with the generally evening/nocturnal atmospheres of the album. The initial title track retains some vague new wave reminiscences in the arrangement, evolving into a very dynamic and deliberately disorienting musical discourse that, especially in the decisive vocal approach of the refrain, closely resembles the Sheryl Crow of the '90s, a similarity I noticed in some instances of her double album "Cover Me" from 2007 and that can be easily found in episodes like "Heute Hab Ich Die Sonne Mit Dem Mond Verwechselt" and "Lass Die Leinen Los", compelling mid-tempos offering an effective slow-verse powerful-dynamic-chorus formula.

Extending the parallelism with the American singer-songwriter further, it can be stated that "Chokmah" is Nena's "The Globe Sessions," a continuous search for refined and original expressive solutions, not necessarily bound to radio standards and an ongoing, intriguing flow of emotional chiaroscuro. In Sheryl Crow's case, such a move was largely predictable given her background, which cannot be said for Nena, for whom this album arrives as a bolt from the blue, making it even more fascinating and enjoyable to discover step by step, wondering at each stage of the journey what surprises the next song will hold. The shift towards "black" sounds is an artistic choice executed with intelligence and planning, not a clumsy and inelegant jump on the current trend bandwagon. And the pleasant rapped rendition of one of her classics, "Leuchtturm", ideally concludes this ebony and ivory connection that, however, doesn't compromise an identity that remains recognizably European, emphasized by maintaining her mother tongue, a choice not only of identity but also a significant added value in terms of style and originality, at least as far as I am concerned.