Artist

Lena

Lena Meyer-Landrut, Eurovision winner

Hanover, Germany • b. 1991

Lena is a musician from Hanover, Germany, active since 1991. Their discography on Gatefold includes 6 records.

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Photo of Lena

6

Albums tracked

7

In collections

1991

Since

Biography

There are multiple artists with this name: 1) Lena Meyer-Landrut (born 23 May 1991), also known by her stage name Lena, is a German singer. She represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway, and won the contest with the song Satellite which also became #1 in European charts. 2) Lena is a French dubby techno project by Mathias Delplanque. 3) Lena, aka Lena Griffin, is a multi-instrumentalist and ambient musician based in Portland, Oregon, United States.

The Arc of Lena

The pivots — what forced Lena to reinvent.

  1. The Eurovision Gold Rush

    In 2010, the Raab machine threw her into the studio with cheap acoustic guitars, brass stabs, and retro-pop beats. The debut record, My Cassette Player, sounds like a hurried rush job. It was written in days because they had to capitalize on the massive European hype. Still, her weird vocal phrasing made those bubblegum tracks hit way harder than they had any right to.

  2. The London Independence

    By 2012, she wanted out of the TV-show novelty shadow and went to London to work with Swedes and Brits. Stardust was the pivot point. The sound shifted to big, organic indie-pop. You can hear it in the title track's massive drums and handclaps, which sound closer to Florence and the Machine than German television variety shows.

  3. The Electronic Shift

    She hired Isabella Summers from Florence and the Machine to co-produce Crystal Sky in 2015. They threw out the acoustic guitars entirely. They brought in heavy synthesizers, glitchy vocal chops, and dark, massive basslines. It was a deliberate, sharp turn into moody electronic pop that finally killed off her old retro-girl image.

Influences

  • Kate Nash — Lena openly cited Nash's Foundations as the blueprint for her early singing style. You hear it in the deadpan, highly stylized British-accented delivery on her early singles. She basically took Nash's bedroom indie-pop vocal mannerisms and used them to win a massive European pop contest.
  • Adele — During her 2010 TV run, Lena covered Adele's My Same, which actually pushed Adele's debut album back onto the German charts. That bluesy, rhythmic vocal swing heavily informed the retro-soul vibe of My Cassette Player. It was her main reference point before she pivoted to electronic pop.
  • Florence and the Machine — Lena hired Florence's key collaborator Isabella Summers to produce and co-write several tracks on Crystal Sky. You can hear the grand, theatrical drum patterns and sweeping vocal arrangements directly mimicking Florence's Lungs era. It was the catalyst for her entire electronic transition.
  • Lykke Li — Lena covered Li's Youth Novels tracks on her early promotional tours. The Scandinavian artist's template of combining cold, sparse percussion with high-register pop hooks is all over Lena's mid-period output. You hear it clearly on the minimal synth-pop arrangements of her 2015 B-sides.
  • Lily Allen — Allen's breezy, sarcastic ska-pop style was a major touchstone for Lena's early live sets. The bouncy, brassy pop of her second record, Good News, heavily borrowed the suburban-candid lyric style that Allen popularized. It was the bridge between her TV persona and her self-written material.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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