WEEKEND MUSIC PT. 69: IN CONVERSATION WITH KING PRINCESS
King Princess grew up in New York and has already left their mark on the music scene at…
WEEKEND MUSIC PT. 70: IN CONVERSATION NINA AND LOTTA FROM BLOND
Numéro Berlin meets Nina and Lotta Kummer from the Chemnitz-based band “Blond”. Together with Johann Bonitz they form an exciting act in Germany’s landscape. In this interview they talk about their latest album, their often feminist lyrics, their place in today’s music scene, from festival lineups to their thoughts on manifestation.
“We’re just loud by nature. So our topics naturally come out loud too.”
Clara Butković: The title of your latest album is: “Ich träum doch nur von Liebe” – “I’m Just Dreaming of Love”. Right now, so many young people feel that dating has become difficult and frustrating. Do you think this is a new topic, and do you have any ideas on how to deal with frustration in dating?
Nina Kummer: The title isn’t just about romantic love, it is about the dream of people being kinder to each other. And if you look at dating, specifically heterosexual dating, there has been a change. Women are now more independent from men. Expectations for men as a kind of life enhancement have become higher or just more normal. Women are consciously single now.
CB: I’ll quote from your song “Hot”: „Die Redflags wehen im Wind
Ghostet er oder stalked er mich mal?
Geh ich auf Dates, schweb ich ihn Gefahr“
– “The Red Wings blowing wind ghosted or stank me, sometimes I go on dates, I float in danger.” Women face different dangers in dating than men. You often address feminist topics in your songs in a very loud way. Do you feel feminism needs that loudness to be heard?
NK: We are just loud by nature. So it naturally happens that most of our topics are discussed loudly.
CB: Can you explain more about how a song of yours comes together?
Lotta Kummer: Our third band member Johann taught himself production during Corona. We were able to start making music in Chemnitz back then. The topics usually come from Nina.
NK: Not all songs come together in the same way. Usually there is a theme and then we discuss it with Johann and figure out how to translate it into music. We get closer step by step. The lyrics change hundreds of thousands of times until only the core remains. The idea is always there, but everything goes on a thousand journeys, which is actually a lot of fun.
“We were two women and someone with a visual impairment on stage, and that alone was enough for people to turn on us.”
CB: You criticize capitalism in its everyday form, for example in the song SB- Kassenlover. Where do you find the courage to provoke when you address uncomfortable topics?
NK: Sometimes we already know when people will get upset, like when we made a song about the clitoris. We also released videos showing stretching exercises, where after some time you can pleasure yourself. We knew the trolls online, the men, would react because a woman was talking about her own pleasure.
LK: But we were into it. It is kind of awesome because at least it gets people talking about the topic.
NK: We are two women and someone with a visual impairment on stage. That alone was already enough for people to come at us. We thought, you feel provoked just by our presence, then we might as well really hit that nerve.
CB: In your early days, you were the opening act for bands like Von Wegen Lisbeth, AnnenMayKantereit and Kraftklub. I noticed all these bands had only male members. Do you feel that in recent years there are more bands with female members on stage?
LK: We wrote a song called “Männer” „Men“ about lineups. It is a few years old but still very relevant. Many festivals say, “We do not have female headliners, where should they come from?” In Germany, it is hard to find a band with female members. To headline a festival, you have to work your way up. There are so many small female bands that are not supported.
NK: At least some all-male bands are becoming aware of their role and make space for female bands as opening acts.
CB: Your music videos are elaborate and well produced. Why is that quality so important to you?
NK: The visuals are part of the art and a way to address topics. For our last album, we consciously worked with video artists who come from short film backgrounds. We are not video artists ourselves, others are much better at that.
CB: I also want to briefly ask about your podcast „Das muss man dabei gewesen sein“ –
“You Had to Be There”:
The concept is that listeners can retell your stories as if they were their own. You also say that listening makes you popular and successful. It sounds a bit like manifestation. Do you engage with manifestation?
NK: Say ‘manifest’ and I immediately step back. Manifestation always reminds me of the idea that you just repeat a wish enough times and it will come true. Some people face barriers that cannot be ignored. It is not always an individual problem, a lot of things are societal problems. These problems are turned into individual ones, even though they are structural. People focus on optimizing themselves instead of addressing the bigger picture.
CB: I get the sense that your shows have a really chill vibe, where women can go shirtless without being sexualized. Do you feel that too?
NK: I wouldn’t really put it that way. You can’t really control this vibe.
LK: I love our fans. It is noticeable that our fans, the “Blondinators”, see themselves as a group and have a great time together. They are not alone, they enjoy being with each other. They are genuinely really nice people. You cannot say everyone at a show is perfect, there are always a few jerks.
NK: What stands out is that about 80 percent of the audience are women. I think every space is more pleasant when there is a majority of women.
LK: Our music and topics already filter out some real jerks. These are themes that are somewhat feminist. We are just extremely grateful for our fans. The atmosphere at the shows is wonderful. The fans even help shape the program, which is totally absurd but really great.
