Süperstar '83 is the ninth studio album by Turkish singer Ajda Pekkan. It was released on 19 March 1983 by Balet Plak. With the release of the albums Süperstar (1977) and Süperstar 2 (1979) in the decade before, Pekkan succeeded in getting critical acclaim, however, following her poor results on the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 she stayed away from the music market for a while. Meanwhile, she released two records under the Yaşar Kekeva Plak label, but experienced various problems with the company. While Pekkan's disagreements with the company continued, in August 1982 she joined the musical Büyük Kabare with Metin Akpınar and Zeki Alasya. Some of the songs from this show, which were written by Fikret Şeneş, appeared in the third installment of the Süperstar album series.
Süperstar '83, which is almost entirely composed of cover songs, is a pop record in general, but it has jazz, disco and occasional oriental effects. The songs of American singers Amii Stewart and Donna Summer, and Italian singers Mia Martini and Mina, were included in the album with new arrangements, and some of these artists also influenced Pekkan's musical style. Şeneş, who wrote all the lyrics alone, worked on the theme of love by drawing a strong female figure and combining it with emotions such as deceit, impossibility and arrogance. Eight of the tracks were performed by Pekkan for the first time in this album, while the other two were songs performed by other Turkish singers in different albums in the previous years.
Instead of preparing a typical black phonograph record, the album was released on translucent phonograph records, becoming the first of its own in Turkey. As a result, the popularity of this type of phonograph records increased at the Unkapanı Recorders Market. The main part of the album's promotions occurred through the musical Süperstar Ajda '83. Additionally, Pekkan further promoted the songs by appearing on various programs on TRT and organizing concerts in different cities across Turkey. Aside from the popular songs "Uykusuz Her Gece" and "Bir Günah Gibi", the music videos made for the songs "Son Yolcu" and "Düşünme Hiç" were broadcast on television. These pieces continued to be popular for decades and became among the most famous works of Pekkan.
Music critics praised this album, which was described as one of the best among Pekkan's releases, and her decision to make an album consisting of famous cover songs after a period of depression in her career was welcomed by most commentators. At the 1983 Music Oscars award ceremony organized by Hey magazine, Pekkan was awarded as the Female Singer of the Year, while the album received the Light Music LP of the Year award. The magazine also chose "Uykusuz Her Gece" and "Bir Günah Gibi" as the second and third best songs of the year respectively. At the 1984 Golden Butterfly Awards, Pekkan won the Light Music Artist of the Year award. In 2010s, Hürriyet ranked the album 27th on its list of the best Turkish albums of all time.
Background and development In 1970s, Ajda Pekkan improved her career with her critically acclaimed works and gained reputation by performing songs both in her own language and in French, and organized events such as the Paris Olympia concert which made her known in other countries. In the second half of the decade, she started working with songwriter Fikret Şeneş, who played an important role in preparing the albums Süperstar (1977) and Süperstar 2 (1979). As a result, Pekkan launched a series of four LP records titled Süperstar. From these two albums songs such as "Baksana Talihe", "Bambaşka Biri", "Haykıracak Nefesim Kalmasa Bile" and "Ya Sonra" were popular hits and later became among the most praised of Pekkan's songs. These albums were also released in a period during which Pekkan published cover songs that were usually famous foreign compositions with Turkish lyrics by Fikret Şeneş. The name "Superstar", which was chosen as the title of the series and later became a nickname of Pekkan's, was first used by Hürriyet newspaper's then-boss Erol Simavi, who praised the singer's success in gaining fame outside Turkey and said, "It is not enough to call Ajda Pekkan a star, but we can do her justice by calling her a superstar."
Pekkan's increasing popularity outside her own country and in Europe, created a public desire for her to represent Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 and fix the country's general image following its poor performances in the contest in the previous years. Although she initially refused to participate in the competition as she found it "amateur", she finally accepted the offer given to her by TRT. She took part in the contest with the song "Pet'r Oil" and finished 15th, which left her deeply disappointed; the ranking had a shocking effect not only for herself, but also for the circles who were sure she would get a high rating. After the contest Pekkan left Istanbul and lived in London and Los Angeles for months. During this period, she tried to overcome the psychological problems arising from the problems she experienced in her career and private life. In Los Angeles, she fell ill with jaundice and went through a two-month convalescence. It wasn't until July 1982 that she fully recovered and returned to Turkey.
After "Pet'r Oil", the singer ended her contract with Philips Records and signed a new one with Yaşar Kekeva Plak. She also put an end to her career outside Turkey and started to release songs only in Turkey. Complying with the arabesque music trend that rose in the country, in September 1981, she released the LP record Sen Mutlu Ol from this company. However, when she was not satisfied with the results, she did not want to work with the same company for a second album. Upon her reluctance to record the second record, she was legally challenged by Yaşar Kekeva. During this period, Kekeva released seven songs that were prepared for the previous record but not released in it. These songs were published under a new separate record titled Sevdim Seni (1982) without Pekkan's permission. Nevertheless, as per the contract, Pekkan owed three more songs to the company, and it was not legally possible for her to produce a new record or to negotiate with a new company until the completion of these songs. Finally, she went to the studio and recorded three new songs, and her album Sevdim Seni was edited and republished in March 1983, and her agreement with Yaşar Kekeva Plak ended.
In August 1982, Ajda Pekkan took the stage with Metin Akpınar and Zeki Alasya at the Istanbul Open-Air Theater with the musical Büyük Kabare, and came to the stage for the first time after approximately 2.5 years. In this musical, she collaborated again with Fikret Şeneş. Şeneş prepared six songs for the musical, including "Sen ve Ben", "Düşünme Hiç" and "Sihirli Aşk", which were later included in the album.Büyük Kabare (VHS). Ajda Pekkan, Metin Akpınar, Zeki Alasya. Ulusal Videotek. 1991. 1991 34-Ü-004. In the meantime, rumors were circulating that some of the songs from the musical were to be included in the third installment of the Süperstar album series, which was to be produced by Balet Plak company's owner Yeşil Giresunlu. As a result, Pekkan put an end to releasing albums under the label Yaşar Kekeva Plak and began working on a number of new cover songs. Pekkan, who was busy with the musical at the time, shifted her focus to recording the songs for her new LP records. After republishing the album Sevdim Seni with new songs, there was no obstacle left for her to release her upcoming record under a new label. In March 1983, as she announced the production of a new musical titled Süperstar Ajda '83, Gündüz Tuna from Milliyet stated that the preparations for Pekkan's new LP record were continuing and it could be released at any time.
Recording 14 songs were initially selected for the album, the recording of which began in September 1982 and continued in the first months of 1983 until the release of the record, but later the tracks that were considered to be incompatible with the album were removed from the tracking list during the recording phase and the number was reduced to 10 tracks. Vocal and musical recordings at the İstanbul Gelişim Studios were completed in 338 hours. Initially, the recordings were done in a studio with an 8-channel recorder, but with the recording label bringing a 16-channel recorder to Turkey and to obtain "a better sound quality" the initial recordings were deleted and the tracks were rerecorded. Recording songs twice increased costs and a total of £3.5 million was spent for production. Due to these costs, Yeşil Giresunlu described the album's preparation as "one of the trickiest production [processes]" in Turkey to that day. Sound mixing turned out to be more time-consuming compared to instrument recordings. Duyal Karagözoğlu oversaw the general recording, while the sound and orchestral recordings were done by Doruk Onatkut, Garo Mafyan and Uğur Başar. Jeyan Erpi and MFÖ soloists Fuat Güner and Özkan Uğur served as backing vocalists on the tracks.
Music and lyrics Süperstar '83 is a pop record with jazz, disco and oriental effects. In this period, disco rhythms had become popular around the world, especially in the US. Such rhythms were featured in Pekkan's previous album Süperstar 2, but were more prominent in this new record. Nine of the songs in the album are cover versions, while one is a new composition. As to why she had refrained from voicing Turkish compositions and had decided to cover foreign songs, Pekkan said, "I have to follow what's popular. I cannot necessarily sit and wait for a new composition to be composed. It is not easy to compose anyway. ... Composing is not my domain. I think it is more consistent to voice foreign compositions that fit my voice. [On my previous record] I performed [Turkish compositions] because I was being egged on. Because everybody at that time said, 'Ajda cannot voice Turkish compositions.' So, I performed them to prove that I can do it." All of the lyrics were written by Fikret Şeneş and, just like the previous Süperstar projects, the songs were given to Pekkan based on Şeneş's choice. The songs's new arrangements were done by Garo Mafyan. While the theme of love comes into prominence in the lyrics, a story was established in some of the pieces mostly about deceit, and in some of them about the sense of arrogance and in others impossibility.