NOGA is a German-Israeli-Austrian portrait of the Israeli electropop icon Noga Erez and her musical and personal partner Ori Rousso. The film shows the duo on the cusp of a global breakthrough. The musicians gained international renown through provocative indie-pop and hip-hop beats. While the band was working on their biggest album to date, their lives were thrown into turmoil by the tensions of art, personal conflicts, the Middle East conflict, and the war in Gaza. The documentary illuminates the immense strain on cultural figures from Israel, caught between sold-out international concerts, the pressure to assume political responsibility, and the heated debates and calls for boycotts abroad. Noga Erez was followed intensively for five years in this documentary.

The film is by Jono and Benji Bergmann, produced in cooperation with Babka Films, Film AG, Sperl Film- und Fernsehproduktion, and the broadcasters Yes Docu and RBB. The 95-minute film celebrated its world premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival 2026 in New York, screened shortly thereafter at the Munich Film Festival, and is currently shown in select arthouse cinemas.

The documentary is divided into chapters, each named after a song. The titles reflect the respective phase of Noga Erez's life and take on new meanings as the story unfolds. The song "NAILS," in the prominent remix version featuring Missy Elliott (by Noga Erez, Ori Rousso, Melissa Elliott – her share © by Mass Confusion Prod., admin. by Wixen Music Publ., Inc., for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland by MELODIE DER WELT), played a key role for Noga Erez and marked the turning point at which the documentary narrative begins. That a global star of this caliber contributed a feature track for an underground artist from Tel Aviv was considered a sensation in the music world and gave Noga's international career a massive boost.

The documentary uses the song and the glittering pop world as a stark contrast to later events. Just as her international career was poised to take off through such collaborations, war broke out. The "bad girl" image and attitude of the song clashed in the film with the reality of the artist, who suddenly faced boycott calls, canceled concerts, and hostility abroad due to her background. The music video for "NAILS" portrayed Noga Erez as controlled and self-assured, while the documentary illustrates the collision of pop fiction and pitiless reality.

The renowned Austrian production company RANFILM has produced a new music documentary series. In episode 2 (San Marino) of the 8-part series, Eurovision icon Valentina Monetta plays a central role.

The series follows the international artist Senhit on a musical journey across Europe (from Italy, San Marino, and Portugal via Greece to Austria). It is available on RaiPlay and San Marino RTV online.

"Crisalide (Vola)" (music: Ralph Siegel, lyrics: Mauro Balestri, © Meteor Musik Ralph Siegel Musikverlag, administered by MELODIE DER WELT) is arguably Valentina Monetta's most famous Eurovision song. She represented San Marino with it at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The song remains a cult classic among Eurovision fans to this day.

"Una giornata bellissima" (lyrics and music: Valentina Monetta, © Meteor Musik Ralph Siegel Musikverlag, administered by MELODIE DER WELT) is the title track of Valentina Monetta's 2013 album of the same name, produced by Ralph Siegel, which also includes "Crisalide."

She appears as an official special guest in the Pop Road documentary, and the episode focuses primarily on her and these songs.

The collaboration between Ralph Siegel and Valentina Monetta in the studio was one of the most unusual and fascinating partnerships in recent Eurovision history. When the legendary German "Grand Prix King," Ralph Siegel, began producing songs for the San Marino singer in 2012, two completely different musical worlds collided. Valentina Monetta originally came from the jazz, R&B, and reggae scene of San Marino. She was used to singing very freely, soulfully, and with a lot of improvisation (scat singing). Ralph Siegel, on the other hand, is known for his absolutely precise, classically composed arrangements. Both had to find a compromise between these two worlds, especially with "Crisalide."

Ralph Siegel wanted to prove that he could still write world-class ballads. The song was produced precisely to suit Valentina's vocal range, began highly emotionally, and then suddenly broke into a dance-pop track in the final third. Eurovision experts consider the song Siegel's best late-career work. Nevertheless, he narrowly missed the Eurovision final in Malmö. The Eurovision community still considers this a mistake.

"Una Giornata Bellissima," which has nothing to do with Eurovision, was a success, especially in San Marino and the Italian club scene. The song represents Valentina's musical roots with a very distinctive style.

The seven-part drama series "BASTA," about the life of Dutch football legend Marco van Basten, was officially released on September 4, 2026. The series is available exclusively on the Dutch streaming service "Videoland" (an offering from RTL Nederland), where all seven episodes were released simultaneously. A date for an international TV broadcast or for its acquisition by a major streaming service is still pending.

It's not a traditional documentary, but rather a high-caliber biopic series. It's based on Van Basten's successful 2019 autobiography. The series (starring actor Chris Peters) explores his meteoric rise at Ajax Amsterdam under mentor Johan Cruyff, his golden years and the goal of the century at Euro 1988, as well as his time at AC Milan. But above all, it shows the darker side of his career – the enormous mental pressure, a severe childhood trauma, and the brutal ankle injury that forced him to hang up his football boots for good at the age of just 28.

In episode 5, Marco meets Claudia at a club. She serves as a counterpoint to his wife, Liesbeth van Capelleveen, to whom van Basten remains married despite the marital crisis and difficult periods he experienced at the time.

The scene is musically underscored by

MORE AND MORE

Music: Michael Eisele, Dietmar Stehle, Oliver Reinecke, Frank Schlingloff, Giora Schein, Nosie Katzmann, Benito Benites, John Virgo Garrett III Lyrics: Nosie Katzmann, Tony Harrison-Dawson, Benito Benites, John Virgo Garrett III, Thea Austin

Publisher: Fenslau Musikverlag e.K., Get Into Magic Music Publishing GmbH, Hanseatic Musikverlag GmbH, Edition DAAM (Arabella/Universal), Edition Sounds of Cyborg (WCM), Edition ICM-Innovative Computer Music (Hanseatic/WCM), Neue Welt Musikverlag GmbH, Edition Songs of Logic (Arabella/Universal)

MELODIE DER WELT administers the shares of Get Into Magic and Fenslau Musikverlag.

The song fits perfectly into the series' timeline, as "More and More" by Captain Hollywood Project was released in July 1992. It was precisely at this time – during the 1992/93 season – that Marco van Basten experienced his last major career highlight at AC Milan (among other achievements, he scored four goals in a Champions League match against Göteborg and was named European Footballer of the Year in December 1992), before a devastating ankle injury brought his career to a halt. The song perfectly underscores the club and pop culture of this era in the series, capturing the energetic yet slightly melancholic atmosphere of optimism and new beginnings in the early 1990s.

The mastermind behind Captain Hollywood Project is Tony Dawson-Harrison, a US soldier stationed in Germany in the 1980s. Because he would dance in his uniform even while still in the barracks, his comrades nicknamed him "Captain." After his military service, he stayed in Germany and became one of the pioneers of the Eurodance wave.

Although Dawson-Harrison raps, the world-famous, hypnotic vocal melody was written by the German songwriting genius Nosie Katzmann. The song was a gigantic international success.

In September 2026, Penny launched a major, humorous value-for-money campaign featuring the legendary Eurodance hit "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat.

"MR. VAIN"

Words by JAY SUPREME and NOSIE KATZMANN, Music by STEPHAN ZICK and NOSIE KATZMANN © 1993, GET INTO MAGIC MUSIC PUBLISHING GMBH, FENSLAU MUSIKVERLAG E.K. (both administered by MELODIE DER WELT) & NEUE WELT MUSIKVERLAG GMBH

The TV commercial depicts an everyday situation familiar to many shoppers: A man strolls through the aisles of a Penny supermarket wearing headphones and in high spirits. He's so lost in his own world that he's completely detached and loudly singing along to the chorus of "Mr. Vain" ("I know what I want, and I want it now..."). The message behind it: Good prices at the discount store ensure genuine, carefree shopping moments and a good mood. A viral campaign is running on platforms like Instagram and TikTok alongside the TV commercial.

That Penny is focusing entirely on electronic beats and music culture right now is also evident in other projects. To coincide with the campaign, the discount store has just opened the influencer market "Penny Pünti" in Hamburg, designed entirely in the style of an electronic music club.

It's a signal that saving money at the discount store isn't a necessary evil, but rather fun and a source of pride. The combination of nostalgia for the carefree 90s (through the sound of Culture Beat) and modern TikTok memes appeals to both the older generation and Gen Z simultaneously.

"Mr. Vain" is one of the most successful German Eurodance exports of all time. A song like this immediately triggers the brain's reward center. This has even been proven in studies, for example, at McGill University in Canada. At the same time, the song remains incredibly catchy because it's cut off mid-hook, and the brain interprets this as an unfinished task, filling in the gap.

Eintracht Frankfurt presents its away kit for the 2026/27 season, incorporating key elements of Hessian apple wine culture. The campaign video blends humor with traditional Frankfurt pub culture. The centerpiece is the kit's distinctive Bembel (apple jug) design. "Was e Stöffsche!", the video proclaims with a double entendre.

The blue-gray kit, produced by Adidas and featuring blue ornamental elements, echoes the traditional Bembel look, and the eagle emblem makes it immediately clear where the team belongs. For those unfamiliar with Frankfurt, a Bembel is made of clay, which fires in a kiln to a white-gray color and is first painted with the typical cobalt blue pattern. During the firing process, table salt is thrown into the kiln, bonding with the clay quartz. This salt glaze makes the jug perfectly resistant to the aggressive acidity of apple wine. Since 2022, Frankfurt's apple wine culture has been recognized as an intangible UNESCO cultural heritage. This culture originated as a gastronomic emergency solution, its rise owed to a climate crisis, the nasty phylloxera epidemic, and a clever exemption granted to Frankfurt citizens in the 19th century.

In the background of the video, one of Hesse's most famous dialect anthems, "Unser Auto fährt mit Äppelwoi" (Our Car Runs on Apple Wine) by the band Adam & die Micky's, written by Dieter Adam and Hans Podehl, © 1974 by MELODIE DER WELT, can be heard. This is particularly relevant today, as the song was written during the first major oil crisis of 1973/74, which led to car-free Sundays. Gasoline prices are once again a constant topic of national discussion, just as they were back then. The refrain, "Unser Auto fährt mit Äppelwoi... und mir brauche keinen Sprit" (Our car runs on apple wine... and we don't need any fuel), has become a popular saying.

The new German comedy TV series, which premiered on Netflix at the end of February 2026, tells the story of an unsuccessful rapper who returns to his East German hometown Kacken an der Havel (that's a play on words, the towns name Kacken means pooping) after his mother's death. The town is entirely fictional. At the funeral, a boy plays an intense version of Mr. Vain on the piano (originally performed by Culture Beat, lyrics by Jay Supreme & Nosie Katzmann, music by Stephan Zick and Nosie Katzmann, © 1993 Get Into Magic Music Publ. and Fenslau Musikverlag, administered by MELODIE DER WELT, co-published with Neue Welt Musikverlag). He turns out to be his biological son.

The series has received mostly high praise from critics, and its quirky humor has resonated with both audiences and reviewers. Familiar German faces, such as Matthias Brandt as a rap producer and Veronica Ferres as the mayor of Kacken, clearly had a lot of fun with the show. Internationally, the series is perceived as a "brilliantly absurd series trip" that, despite its deep roots in the Brandenburg countryside, successfully addresses universal themes such as fatherhood and artistic ambition.