Herbert Gronemeyer: “You can’t have beauty without sadness.”

Herbert Grönemeyer has released a new album and it has a lot to say about the state of the world and love.

The interview with Herbert Gronemayer at Coburg Palace began in an unusual way. Because the first question came from him.

Herbert Gronemeyer: Is your name Friederike? That’s funny. My mom already had two sons and she really wanted a girl. You told me that very kindly, too. Then she would always say to me, “Your name should be Frederick.” In my children’s books is Herbert Gronemeyer and below is Fredericke Gronemeyer. For a long time I thought I always had to explain to people that I hadn’t become Frederick after all.

What would have happened to Friedrich Gronemeyer?

A very attractive woman.

Your sixteenth album has just been released. It’s almost like going back to the first albums. You can hear a little Neue Deutsche Welle and tunes from the 80’s.

This is correct. “Angstfrei” features a “Männer” rhythm, which is also the way it is played on the piano. But we didn’t overdo it by keeping it contemporary. It was an attempt to bring the quality and songwriting of the 1980s into the present.

Tao is so sad. There is a sentence: “I don’t think everything is so beautiful.” Later you say, “I don’t think everything is so nice.” So in the end there is doubt about one’s perception?