niwdeyen, music and more: Annika Jayne

Heartfelt, authentic songs in three languages. Stories taken from real life with a touch of romance. Quiet sounds that make waves. Melodies that touch your heart. These are the keys to Annika Jayne's music.

First inspired by American folk music, and later on also by French and German songs, it seemed only natural for Annika to express her emotions in these three languages.

In August 2016, Annika participated at the Labos Chanson at Astaffort, a songwriting workshop organized by Voix Du Sud, the famous songwriting school of Francis Cabrel. There she had the chance to work on French chansons together with Olivier Daguerre, Bastien Lanza and Davy Kilembe.

Regarding first experience on stage, she started performing during her time at university, taking the chance to play at Open Mic Nights and festivals. For instance, in 2007, she performed during the festival Heidelberger Herbst and also played twice at the French Week in Heidelberg. In between she played smaller gigs including two concerts in Paris. In the spring of 2014, after a baby break, she performed at the renowned Song & Talk at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Saarbrücken, a place introducing new singer-songwriters. Annika is performing in the Rhein-Neckar-Region on a regular basis since.

In 2009 Annika recorded her first album Fabulous Sceneries on which she introduces 12 songs in English and French which she wrote over the years. The album was recorded and produced by Amin Jan Sayed at syemusic studio in Viernheim. A special focus lies on the simple arrangements of the songs, concentrating on Annika's fine voice accompanied by acoustic guitar, e-bass, slide-guitar, cello, glockenspiel and accordion. In her songs she creates a warm sound, which is a mix of folk, chanson and chamber folk.

In 2016, Annika recorded four songs at timebirdmusic in Sandhausen together with Daniel Deboy (The Late Call) as well as other musicians. Three of the songs, Leaves in Autumn, Heart of Mine and Praying Hands have already been released earlier this year. The four songs will be released as an EP entitled Time To Spread Your Wings in 2020. The EP will also contain a bonus track in French called Petite Planète co-written with Franck Deschamps, which was released as a single on 6 March 2020.