Tim bendzko
How being a father changed him
Tim Bendzko announced earlier this year that he had become a father.
© André Josselin
At the beginning of the year, Tim Bendzko announced that he had become a father. His professional life has changed since then, he says.
Tim Bendzko (36) has been a father for a few months. At the beginning of the year he gave in an Instagram post known to have received “reinforcement”. A lot has changed with the singer since then. Among other things, he is “much more difficult to plan because the priorities have totally shifted,” as Bendzko said in an interview with the news agency spot on news.
Ten years after his hit “Just a short time to save the world”, which brought him his breakthrough, the 36-year-old released his new single “No Problem” on May 28th. Looking back on his career so far, the singer says: “The last ten years have passed by in a flash.”
Ten years ago your song “Nur noch die Welt save the world” was released, with which you achieved your breakthrough. How do you feel when you think back to 2011?
Tim Bendzko: I have very positive memories about the song and my first album. I had waited so long for the moment that it was an incredible relief that my songs had received such great acclaim. Amazingly, however, my memories of the weeks before the publication are much better than of the time after. So many things have happened this year that I had very little time to enjoy and process them.
How do you look back on the past ten years? What were your biggest highs and lows?
Bendzko: At first it is a strange feeling to suddenly draw the first conclusions about my career. The last ten years have passed in a flash. The day my first album came out, my concert in the Waldbühne two years later, actually always when my own song is played on the radio, but also the little moments when fans tell me their personal stories about one of my songs, were absolute highlights. Of course, my whole life has changed, also in terms of my privacy, and I first had to classify that for myself and learn to deal with it.
Would you have believed at the time that you would still be successful as a musician ten years later?
Bendzko: I really hoped it would, but until about two to three weeks after the publication of “Nur noch die Welt save the world” I had very great doubts that I would even be able to do it for a few months.
What has changed in the music industry since then – negative as well as positive?
Bendzko: From my point of view, the speed at which you can produce and publish music has changed positively. If you wrote a song ten years ago and wanted to publish it, it felt like it took six months to get out. Today you write a song and if you want it can be streamed by anyone in the world a week later. At the same time, this new speed has also resulted in faster wear and tear on the songs. I used to listen to albums for months, if not years. Today, after just a few weeks, you ask yourself when your favorite artist will finally be releasing new songs again. But art takes time.
You recently became a father. How does being a parent influence your texts?
Bendzko: So far, the influence has been rather minor. I mostly write about things that were a long time ago or that occupy me for a long time. It cannot be ruled out that in a few years I will suddenly write a lot of songs about being a father.
How does being a father affect your professional life?
Bendzko: The motivation is somehow different. With my new responsibility, I’m no longer just doing it for myself. I have a lot less time to concentrate on songs. I can plan much worse because the priorities have totally shifted. But that also ensures that I don’t get bogged down. The time is simply too short for that.
What is your new single “Kein Problem” about?
Bendzko: The song describes the end of an event that you only go to because you hope to make new contacts. A see and be seen event. It’s three o’clock in the morning and the protagonist is not at all the type for such celebrations, is not at all good at small talk and knows that there is no point in staying there any longer. At the same time, he is afraid of missing out on a great opportunity or that it could even harm him if he just disappeared. But then he meets a like-minded person and decides to run away with her because he says to himself: If I don’t fit into the other’s world anyway, I have nothing to lose here at the end of the day.
Is there a new album coming soon?
Bendzko: Soon is a very flexible term. I’m definitely working on new songs right now and if this continues in the next few weeks I’m very confident that it will be something within the next twelve months.