''Personal Jesus'' is the twelfth solo (and fourteenth overall) studio album by

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the Punk subculture, punk and New wave music, new wave movements in the late 1970s a ...

. It was released on July 16, 2010, in Germany and on July 27, 2010, in the US.

Background

In 2009, Hagen had herself baptized as an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Schüttorf Schüttorf ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Schüttrup'') is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in southwesternmost Lower Saxony near the Dutch border and the boundary with Westphalia ( North Rhine-Westphalia). The town of Schüttorf forms with ...

at the age of 54. The event would be echoed in the singer's twelfth solo album ''Personal Jesus'', centered on

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. The album has been described as "a blend of rock, blues, soul and gospel." It is a collection of covers of classics and traditionals, as well as lesser known songs. Hagen was inspired to make an entire album of gospel after the discovery of the gospel formation

Dixie Hummingbirds Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...

. Album production was helmed by long-time collaborator

Paul Roessler Paul Roessler (born August 27, 1958) is an American musician and record producer. Roessler was a prominent member of the L.A. punk scene during the late 1970s and 1980s. He played keyboards in bands such as The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Gra ...

, as Hagen desired to record the album "as tradionally as possible": "sure, you could do a lot with remixes, but I wanted to keep it simple and real," she explained. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and was self-financed, as Hagen explains "I had no idea if any company would be interested in it." The deal with Koch Universal happened only later on, through Hagen's manager Alex Grob, who knew Jorg Hellwig, the new head of the label.

Release and promotion

On June 15, 2010, the album was announced with a release date on July 16. On June 26, the album was put up for pre-listening exclusively on SoundCloud. The cover of "

Personal Jesus "Personal Jesus" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released as the lead single from their seventh studio album, '' Violator'' (1990), in 1989. It reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 28 on the ''Billbo ...

" by

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

was released as lead single. On December 14, Hagen performed on the French TV show ''

Taratata ''Taratata'' is a French television music show showcasing live and pre-recorded footage of current acts. Presented by Nagui since its début in 1993, the show was initially shown on France 2. The show often involved surprise and unlikely duets, as ...

'' to promote the album.

Track listing

References

2010 albums Nina Hagen albums {{2010s-punk-rock-album-stub