Popakademie at About Pop in Stuttgart

The Stuttgart-based artist group Arthelps worked with young Ukrainians to build instruments from war scrap. Rocket parts were turned into a violin or a guitar. The Popakademie is supporting this project with musicians and productions, which is not only intended to create music, but also to send a message of hope and resistance. In addition to raising awareness of the ongoing war, this project also supports the creation of a new creative hub and art therapy training center, which is currently being built in the middle of Kyiv despite all the circumstances of the war. The project will be presented in sound and vision in a talk. This is followed by a work by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. Op.40 No.1 played by students of the Pop Academy together with the Ukrainian violinist Alina Kikhno.

Soffie, a student on the Popular Music Master's course, became famous with the song Für immer Frühling, which reached number eleven in the German charts at the beginning of 2024. It is considered a song of the protests against right-wing extremism in Germany and Austria.

Clara John, alumna of the Popular Music Master's program, is a singer-songwriter and describes her music as dream pop with retro synthesizers and ambient sound. In her songs, serious topics are softly packaged.

New name, deep lyrics in blurry beats: this is the new guise in which KIKI (Nora Seidel, alumna of the Master's program Popular Music M.A.) presents herself on her EP "Schlafen kann ich wenn ich tot bin". KIKI is mercilessly honest about the darker side of life and gives a very personal insight into the darker chapters of her path to adulthood. It's about being alone, fears, addictions and loss. The wrong people in life in the dreary maelstrom of the big city.