Our forthcoming special issue # 5 (2.2021) will be edited by Immanuel Nover and Kerstin Wilhelms and engages with German pop doing politics. Characterized by a broad rage of expressions, creativity, and an extensive outreach which is also reflected in its diverse audience, German pop music bears a critical as well as a subversive potential. On the downside, it is also prone to be utilized for populism and propaganda. Being aware that the boundaries between those scopes are often blurred, we will examine the full range of political poetics in German pop. In our special issue we especially focus on the diverse expressions and poetics of the political in contemporary German pop. Textpraxis # 5, which is entitled »Politics in German Pop Music,« especially points to the ability of the popular to construct and shape identities and to performatively create them as political entities. In this spirit, we explore how political identities that refer to nation, Heimat, gender, community, etc. emerge or, on the contrary, are undermined. Hence, we pay critical attention to racism, antisemitism, sexism, feminism, criticism, and deconstruction in contemporary German popular music.

This special issue will be released on November 1, 2021.