The German hip-hopper Thomas D. had emphasized it again and again: His task in the casting show "Our star for Baku The challenge for him is not only to sit in front of the jury and find the German Eurovision Song Contest participant, but also to produce an album with the winner.
Roman Lob is "Our star for Baku"
So the matter should be taken seriously. Winning the show should be the start of a career and not just a ticket to a contest. The first step on this way is now done. The album "Changes is finished.
Church organ as initial spark
"Changes" entered the charts only hesitantly
Roman Lob learned his first notes on the piano from his grandfather, who played the organ in the church in his hometown of Neustadt Wied. He has been making music since he was eight years old. The piano was later followed by the drums, and in the music club of the secondary school he then discovered his voice. It is on the one hand soulful, warm and friendly, on the other hand of impressive power and above all of absolutely sure intonation.
Throughout the casting weeks for Baku, Roman Lob was never the weird bird or the quirky outsider: his interpretations always felt right and had real emotion. Exactly this authenticity finally let him win the competition.
Not for the first time
Already in 2006 Roman Lob had started an attempt to land in a casting show. Germany is looking for the Superstar he made it into the top 20 at the age of 16. But a laryngitis prevented his further participation. He turned down the offer of a free ticket for the next year. Instead, he devoted himself to his training as an industrial mechanic. So music remained a leisure activity. Lob played and sang in various bands, but he could not quite give up the dream of stardom. In 2008 he already applied once at an ESC pre-selection, but remained unsuccessful at that time.
Topics
Eurovision Song Contest
Germany
Isabella Levina Lueen
Solid craftsmanship
HipHopper Thomas D is Roman’s mentor
The days of locking yourself in a studio for several months to make a pop album are over. Roman Lob spent only a few weeks after his casting victory on Thomas D’s farm. There in the Eifel, a perfect pop album was created, which you can hear that it should please as many people as possible.
So among the 13 songs there is everything that the pop mainstream can handle: The opening track "Call out the sun" comes cheerfully upbeat, the title song "Changes" allows himself small excursions in the direction of Michael Jackson and shows that Lob can also be funky, songs like "Conflicted" or "Alone present him as an expert in the field of the power ballad. It really becomes beautiful with the quieter tones, such as the ballad "Day by day" or the stripped-back soul number "After tonight".
All this is, of course, excellently produced, and the songs are perfectly composed as if on a drawing board. Roman Lob’s voice handles the repertoire with ease, but something is missing: maybe it’s the great melody that you can’t get out of your head, maybe it’s the ventures not taken in the arrangement that could set this production apart from the average. Just doing everything right is not a great art, and maybe four weeks are just a little too short to present an album with a personal touch.
In the shadow of Lena
The girls love Roman
Compared to Lena, who won the ESC in 2010 and brought it to Dusseldorf, Roman Lob performs musically better. His vocal abilities are undisputed, and he is able to interpret a song in a way that makes the audience feel comfortable. And he comes across as likable because he has remained the boy next door: one who always presents himself as solid and humble, and whose goal is a little house for future children rather than a life of glitz and glamour.
The song "Standing still, written by successful pop jazz artist Jamie Cullum, among others, definitely has what it takes to finish in the top third in Baku. However, it is doubtful whether Roman Lob will be able to captivate a European audience with his performance.
His album "Changes was slow to enter the German charts, and he himself says: "If you mess up in Baku, you have to tell yourself: Cheer up, you can go on, you have to be able to lose."