Good News (Lena album)

Good News
Studio album by Lena
Released 8 February 2011
Genre Pop
Length 38:40
Language English
Label Universal Music Germany
Producer Stefan Raab, Reinhard Schaub[1]
Lena chronology

My Cassette Player
(2010)
Good News
(2011)
Stardust
(2012)
Singles from Good News
  1. "Taken by a Stranger"
    Released: 22 February 2011
  2. "Who'd Want to Find Love (German radio single)"
    Released: 15 July 2011

Good News is the second studio album released by German singer and songwriter Lena Meyer-Landrut. It was released in Germany on 8 February 2011 through Universal Music following Meyer-Landrut's win of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010. The album includes the songs performed by Lena during the televised preselection process for the song she would perform at the 2011 contest to defend her title. The album debuted at number one in the German albums chart and has been certified platinum in Germany indicating sales of over 200,000.[2]

Background

The album combines all the songs performed by Lena in the national final for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, Unser Song für Deutschland (Our song for Germany). More than 600 songs were sent to Meyer-Landrut and Raab as possible entries. Some songwriters who had previously collaborated with Lena on her debut album My Cassette Player entered songs for the contest, such as Daniel Schaub, Pär Lammers and Rosi Golan. A number of other songwriters also entered compositions, including Nicole Morier (who previously worked with Britney Spears and Tom Jones), Erroll Rennalls (who wrote the Tom Jones single Sex Bomb) and Aloe Blacc. Lena and Raab also collaborated to write two songs for the album - "What Happened to Me" and "Mama Told Me". The field of songs was reduced from over six-hundred to twelve, all of which feature on "Good News". The production of all songs began in December 2010.[3]

The album was released on 8 February 2011 after all the songs had been revealed during the two semi-finals of the national selection process. The album cover was shot by Sandra Ludewig and the booklet was designed by Berlin design firm Eat, Sleep + Design.

At the final of Unser Song für Deutschland, "Taken by a Stranger" was chosen to represent Germany at the contest with 79% of the public vote. It was released as the album's first single on 22 February 2011.

Reception

Critical reception
Review scores
Source Rating
Laut [4]
CDStarts [5]
LetMeEntertainYou [6]
Pooltrax (Positive)[7]

Good News debuted at number one on the German Albums Chart in its first week of release. It also topped the German Downloads Chart in its debut week. In its second week the album dropped to number two in the German charts following the release of Roxette's comeback album, Charm School. In the second week of release, the album was certified Gold for sales of over 100,000 copies.[8] It returned to number one in its third week of release in Germany. In Austria, Good News debuted at number eight but has since peaked at number seven.[9] In Switzerland the album debuted on the chart at number 27, before rising the following week to number fifteen.[10]

Following the final of the German national selection process on 18 February 2011, the winning song "Taken by a Stranger" debuted at number 2 on the German Singles Chart. The song also debuted on the Austrian and Swiss singles charts at numbers 32 and 45 respectively. Four additional tracks from the album appeared on the German singles chart following their performance on Unser Song für Deutschland based on downloads only. The song which ended up as runner-up in the contest, "Push Forward", charted at number 15; "Maybe" entered at number 53; "A Million and One" at 55; and "Mama Told Me" at 58.

Re-release

The Platinum edition of the album was released on 16 September 2011 including two new tracks, "What a Man", a Salt-n-Pepa cover which was released earlier in September, and "Who'd Want to Find Love", plus five live versions from the "Good News Tour"; "Satellite", "Taken by a Stranger", "Good News", "New Shoes" and "I Like to Bang My Head".

Track listing

Standard listing[11]
No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "Good News"  Audra Mae, Ferras AlqaisiStefan Raab, Reinhard Schaub 3:05
2. "What Happened to Me"  Lena Meyer-Landrut, RaabRaab 3:37
3. "A Million and One"  Erroll Rennalls, Stavros IoannouRaab, Schaub 3:11
4. "Maybe"  Daniel Schaub, Pär LammersRaab, Schaub 3:06
5. "I Like You"  Rosi Golan, Johnny McDaidRaab 2:51
6. "Mama Told Me"  Meyer-Landrut, RaabRaab 2:51
7. "Push Forward"  Daniel Schaub, Pär LammersRaab, Schaub 3:37
8. "A Good Day"  Mae, Todd Wright, Scott SimonsRaab, Schaub 3:19
9. "Taken by a Stranger"  Gus Seyffert, Nicole Morier, Monica BirkenesRaab, Schaub 3:24
10. "Teenage Girls"  Viktoria Hansen, Lili Tarkow-Reinisch, Yacine AzeggaghRaab 3:13
11. "That Again"  RaabRaab 3:03
12. "At All"  Aloe BlaccRaab 3:21

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart[9] 7
German Albums Chart[12] 1
German Downloads Chart[13] 1
Swiss Albums Chart[10] 15

Year-end charts

Chart (2011) Position
German Albums Chart[14] 20

Sales and certifications

Country Certifications
(sales thresholds)
Sales
Germany Platinum[15] 200,000+[16]

Release history

Region Release date Format Label
Germany 8 February 2011 CD, download Universal Music
Austria
Switzerland 11 February 2011[17]
United Kingdom 28 February 2011[18] Download Island Records
Europe 15 May 2011[19] Universal Music
Australia
Germany 16 September 2011[20] CD, Download (Platinum Edition) Universal Music

References

  1. "Reinhard Schaub, producer, official website". Schaub-factory.de. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  2. (German)
  3. "Good News (Album) – Wikipedia" (in German). De.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  4. ""Good News" von Lena – laut.de – Album". Laut.de. 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  5. "Lena Meyer-Landrut - Good News - Musik und Videos". CDstarts.de. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  6. "hitchecker.de". Letmeentertainyou.de. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  7. "Lena: Good News | CD Kritik". Pooltrax.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  8. Lena enters German single charts with five songs
  9. 9.0 9.1 "Lena - Good News (Austrian Album Chart)". austriancharts.at. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Lena - Good News (Swiss Album Chart)". hitparade.ch. 2011-02-27. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  11. "Sigue en directo la primera semifinal de Alemania". Eurovision-spain.com. 2011-01-31. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  12. musicline.de - Chartverfolgung - Lena: Good News (Longplay)
  13. "Lady Gaga stürmt internationale Download-Charts - media control". Media-control.de. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  14. "VIVA Album Jahrescharts 2011 - 2011" (in German). Chartinfrance. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  15. "Bundesverband Musikindustrie: Gold-/Platin-Datenbank". Musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  16. "List of music recording certifications - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  17. Steffen Hung. "Lena - Good News". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  18. "Good News: Lena: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  19. "Deutschland: Lena | Das Erste: Eurovision Song Contest - Teilnehmer". Eurovision.de. 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  20. "Good News (Platin Digipack Edition): Lena: Amazon.de: Musik". Amazon.de. Retrieved 2012-02-18.

External links