Annett Louisan - Das optimale Leben (Gold Edition) (2025) [Hi-Res]

Das optimale Leben is the third studio album by German chanson and pop singer Annett Louisan, released in August 2007. A new edition with bonus material (remix / live) is now available.

It is – with all due modesty – nothing less than a small revolution in contemporary music. Annett Louisan reinvents the chanson; she nurtures the hope that sophisticated song can hold its own against the current neglect of the pop mainstream; and she casually refutes all those who say it's impossible to reach those over 25 who want to be entertained with musical intelligence. Annett Louisan, this young woman of petite stature and great stature, is the new grande dame of German chanson. What attributes have not been attributed to her in the past years of her existence in the public spotlight: Pop Lolita, sexy, wicked, clever, a femme fatale, a vamp, adept at "playing" with love, men, and words – all of it is true and nothing of it. Her debut was a demonstration of her talent, a hint of potential: Voilà, here I am, sensual, emotional, clever, free, modern, yet classically "bohemian" – but above all, honestly: she herself had no inkling of the success that would follow.

Her second album, the difficult second, generated an overwhelming uproar of enthusiasm for the young chanteuse, it expanded her musical spectrum, and it established the artist. People now spoke timidly of the "new German chanson," and she nimbly leaped over the shadows cast by the clichés of hasty critics. The only thing that remained "unspoken" here was something that only a long period of reflection, perhaps also a bit of aging, brings forth – something that turns prudence into wisdom and promises a genuine, authentic pleasure: namely, the speculations about "The Optimal Life." And that's what she calls her latest, her third album. Annett Louisan is well-prepared, focused, and quick-witted, and together with her congenial lyricist Frank Ramond and composers Matthias Hass and Hardy Kayser, she has taken all the time necessary for a major topic.

Her new chansons are now more than subtle observations of everyday life. They are short essays on the big questions of adulthood – which, if we're honest, are mostly questions of love – and when she sings about the "choses de la vie," she is expressive without being pathetic. You can feel in every line: Here, someone is telling the story of things she understands, thoroughly contemporary and without pose. These are clever approaches to life as a whole, evocative and dazzling even in their melancholy. She completely avoids grand social criticism, not wanting to point the finger. Instead, she tells of her winding paths to the optimal life – the way everyone wants to live it, and how it always turns out differently: funny, sad, sarcastic, warm, casual, uptight – somehow anything but optimal, but one mustn't stop dreaming about it. Unfortunately, all too often, these paths are met with high hurdles. Annett Louisan demonstrates how to overcome them with almost uncanny composure in "Er," a drama of ancient Greek proportions, capable of driving men into joyful solitude – the humor is so dark that, despite the cha-cha, your feet inevitably lose their rhythm. Likewise, "When One No Longer Loves Each Other," a bittersweet, stripped-down statement about dulled feelings, reduced to mere compassion. Unexpected "little incidents" also lie along these paths, those that set the major course of life and keep the secret of existence forever hidden. But in Annett Louisan's work, there is no trace of pessimism; rather, it is subtle subversion, thoughts as sharp as a foil, but not a crude saber.