Du bist gut (“You’re Good”) is the 16th studio album of the German pop singer Nena. The album was recorded in Iceland and released on 2 November 2012 by The Laugh and Peas Company, the record label run by Nena and her partner Philipp Palm. The cover artwork is designed by Nena’s daughter Larissa, and her son Sakias duets with her on a couple of tracks. The album peaked at #2 in the German album charts.

Du bist gut comprises one CD of 15 songs (14 original, 1 reworking of a 2001 album track), and the “de luxe bonus edition” has a second CD comprising studio reworkings and live performances of earlier recordings.

The album covers many of the themes running through Nena’s previous work, “Freiheit” (Freedom) and “Frieden” (Peace) being obvious examples. However it differs from many of its predecessors in that there are fewer fast songs and in “Ich habe dich verloren” (I have lost you) Nena writes an unremittingly bleak lyric, which is unusual for one so accustomed to put a positive spin on all sorts of setbacks and misfortune. As ever, Nena experiments with stylistic variations including the 7-minute synthpop title track and the acoustic guitar backed “Lautlos” (Silently) which intimately showcases her voice and carefully crafted enunciation like few others have in her 30-year career.

Throughout her career, Nena’s lyrics have evoked imagery of flying as a sign of well being and so it is with “Deine Flügel brechen nicht”. Its lyrics are written from the perspective of someone struggling for inspiration. It culminates in the despairing, “Hilf mir Gott, wo ist mein Licht” (God help me, where is my inspiration?) before Nena’s son takes over the vocals repeating the reassuring song title, "your wings aren’t broken”.

Du bist gut received a mixed reception.

Reviewing the album for Radio Berg, Claudia Nitsche described it as, “Rarely fresh, rather slow and sometimes sad.... Nevertheless, accepting that Du bist gut is an eclectic affair, the songs are unmistakably Nena, a fact which will very much suit the fans. And as mentioned, sometimes it really sounds good, the electronic title track being amongst the bravest compositions.".

Ulf Kubanke of laut.de however, could see little positive in the album, describing Nena as, "past her artistic zenith," and the album as, "a collection of half-baked suggestions and ideas mutilated from the outset. All integrated nicely in Nena's shopping channel presentation of sweet awakening spirituality."

Du bist gut was released whilst Nena was enjoying regular exposure on German national television as a juror on The Voice of Germany. However, a month after the album's release, she made two TV consecutive appearances which tarnished her reputation. Firstly she attracted criticism for her appearance on the chat show “Wetten Dass...?” by refusing to answer questions about the past and being implausibly positive about the present. Less than a week later she was thought to be unduly brusque as a juror on The Voice of Germany in dismissing an act that were not to her taste.

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Wikipedia