#jenniferberning

[jenniferberning]

Unglaublich, dass dieses Gedankenschloss nun wahr geworden ist: Unser Musikvideo zu meinem neuen Song ‪#‎ColouredLines‬.

https://youtu.be/bY9HxZehONg

[jenniferberning]

“Jennifer Wants To Be Close To The People” (newspaper article translation)

Young Herzlaker loves playing in front of small audiences or in living rooms / 21-year-old writes many songs herself.

A sunset in front of the nuclear power plant in Lingen: Even this scene is an inspiration for Jennifer Berning’s songs. Rail and car rides also help her get ideas. - by Lara Gerdes

Herzlake. One week without singing or playing the guitar? For Jennifer, that would be "the end of the world". The 21-year-old from Herzlake has been playing music since she was 13 and admits: "I would disappear in my room for days just to play guitar and sing." It all began when she watched YouTube-Videos by other musicians. She quickly realized: "That’s what I want." At first she took classes to play the electric guitar, since she really liked rock music. But because of her aversion to "notes and barren theory", she simply taught herself how to play guitar chords and sang to her learned pieces. Since her voice sounded "very fragile and soft", she focused more on melancholic songs. Even today she is very critical regarding her singing. "I’m constantly trying to improve" the musician, who often plays her music by instinct, explains. Emotions - a big word in Jennifer’s life. With her music, she wants to touch people and convey emotions. Instead of big concerts, she prefers gigs in front of a small audience or "living room shows" with 30 to 40 listeners. "That way, it’s easier to be close to the people." She felt it in 2012 on her Straßentour. "When I played 'Regen und Meer' by Juli, a woman suddenly started crying", the Herzlaker remembers this very moving moment. During that tour, she visited seven German states and played in 15 cities, including Münster, Hamburg, Berlin und Dresden. Thanks to that tour - along with her gig at the Kulturforum in Lingen with about 400 listeners, her biggest musical adventure so far - she did not only gather new experiences, she also found her own style. Over the last three years, she found a home among the "singer-songwriters". "That’s homemade music in its simplest way", the singer, who also composes her own songs, says. In her songs, the 21-year-old wants to convey issues that spoken language could barely express. For example, she dedicated her song "Under The Ashes" to a good friend whose house burned down. In that song, she describes how his friends could be his home and how they will always be there for him. So far she has written ten songs, only two of them are in German. Another ten "drawer corpses", what she calls unfinished songs, still wait for their completion.

Quote: "I won’t let theory or professionalism get in my way. Music will always be my hobby." Jennifer Berning, 21-year-old singer from Herzlake.

Most of the time, she deals with her own feelings in her songs. But through metaphors, she tries to produce pictures that fit to other people’s stories so she reaches that level of emotion that’s inside of every human being. During her creative process, she gets inspiration from many different things. "Rail rides are totally inspirational", the 21-year-old, who also plays in her parents’ restaurant from time to time, realized on her Straßentour. Also the songs she sings along to in her car are perfect templates for her own songs. Even the nuclear power plant in Lingen was an inspiration to her. She cherished the colorful sunset behind the big NPP within her song "Blue Eyed". "How often do you find those contradictions inside of yourself. Love and hate, pain and numbness, reason and passion - things that don’t fit together or don’t match at first sight", Jennifer explained her song. For her future, Jennifer, whose voice resembles Joni Mitchell’s, has her own plans: a second Straßentour, an EP (Demo) or maybe even an album. She will spend the fifth semester of her cultural science studies at the University of Hildesheim in England. There, and also in Ireland, she wants to go busking and play in pubs. Right now, for Jennifer, one thing is for sure: "I won’t let theory or professionalism get in my way. Music will always be the hobby my heart belongs to." She wouldn’t want to play music for a living. Her dream is to reach many people without causing a "hype".

© Münsterländische Tageszeitung, 20. März 2015