Top Ten Leony Songs
Leonie Burger, better known by her stage name Leony, is a German pop singer and songwriter.She rose to national fame after a remix of her Vize collaboration "Paradise" featuring then-much hyped rapper Capital Bra (under his pseudonym Joker Bra) became a platinum certified top ten hit in Germany and Austria in 2020. Although Leony did not appear in the video and it was predominantly marketed as a Capital Bra single, her subsequent releases proved to be successes too. In 2021, "Faded Love" became a staple on the radio that put her on the map as a solo artist, and her song "Raindrops", a collaboration with singer and rapper Katja Krasavice, became her first number 1 hit in Germany. One year later, the top ten hit "Remedy" became one of her biggest singles to date. In 2023, Leony released her debut album "Somewhere in Between". It is conceived as a 2 disc album featuring a pop disc and an acoustic disc, and contains a few, if not all, of her previously released singles, as well as new material.
Next to her career as a singer, she has also written successful songs for other artists, including Tokio Hotel, Tom Gregory and Capital Bra.
"Remedy" is an 80s-flavored, uptempo synth-pop bop in the same vein as "Blinding Lights" and "Physical," and it very much plays in the same league as these two. With a dynamic beat and an irresistibly catchy chorus filled with explosiveness, "Remedy" rightfully became something of a signature song for Leony. In a just world, this would've been her international breakthrough and a viral hit.
"Faded Love" is a prime example of an interpolation of a famous song that is done right. While using the melody of "Dragostea din teï" as its chorus, the power-pop background and Leony's soft, velvety vocals give it a completely different feeling. Leony makes it completely her own. She interpolates it as if the melody was always meant to be used in this context. "Faded Love" is not a sing-along dance song but a sincere, contemporary pop song.
"Raindrops" is Katja Krasavice's collaboration with Leony and became the latter's first and the former's fourth number-one hit in Germany. It exists in two versions: one bilingual in German and English (Katja singing German and Leony singing English - this version can be found on Katja's third album), and one entirely in English (both sing in English - this one can be found on Leony's debut album).
The song begins minimalistic, for the first half almost entirely consisting of drums, bass, and vocals. However, its melody is a brutally addictive affair. It culminates in a climactic synthesizer solo and, ending right after said highlight, it almost demands a replay.
The title track of Leony's debut album has one of the best pre-choruses in recent pop history, a section whose prominence faded ever since the 2010s. It's an intense, dramatic buildup between an unassuming, neat verse and a larger-than-life sing-along chorus. You can feel the tension rise up, anticipating a relief, in a similar fashion a movie score prepares you for a big reveal. This part elevates the song to being a prime example of good pop craftsmanship.
The only ballad on the pop disc of "Something in Between," "Lifeline" is the album's emotional core. Whereas the pop disc is overall very danceable and energetic, and the acoustic disc contains minimalist, introvert pieces, "Lifeline" begins similarly quiet to the songs from the latter disc but erupts in a climactic, big final chorus, really highlighting the track's big, cinematic sentimentalism.
"I Can Feel," Leony's first post-debut album song as a lead artist, is a trance-flavored 90s throwback with soft, siren-like verses and hard rave kicks in the post-chorus. It recalls the most exciting, melodically captivating, yet ecstatically pounding specimens of one of the best EDM subgenres.
Leony originally wrote "Above and Beyond" for the 2021 season of "The Voice of Germany," where it was performed by the finalist couple Charlene & Florian Gallant. For the acoustic disc of her debut album, she recorded the song herself as a stripped-down ballad that's just piano and singing. This rendition brings out both the song's emotions and Leony's silky vocals, who can sing vulnerable and down-to-earth as well as belting out. Fans of Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" should be pleased.
Critics have compared "Waking Up," her collaboration with DJ Felix Jaehn (whose remix of "Cheerleader" even hit number 1 in the US but who had other hits over here as well), to the 80s, and I assume that was the intention. But to me, it rather evokes associations with mid-to-late 2000s songs that tried to sound like the 80s, like Groove Armada's & Mutya Buena's "Song 4 Mutya" or Moby's "Disco Lies." Those are good associations. I like these songs.
After her underwhelming debut single "Surrender," Leony's sophomore song "Boots" already showcases her big potential as a pop star. Despite not having been a big success, it already had the strong vocal performance, explosive chorus, and memorable lines that make her future tracks great pop songs.
