Traumfabrik () is the eleventh studio album by German pop and Schlager singer Vanessa Mai, released in October 2025.
Origin and artwork
Origin With the exception of one cover version, all the songs on the album were written by Vanessa Mai herself, along with co-writers and Matthias Zürkler (). This marked Mai's first involvement in the songwriting process since the production of her eighth studio album, (August 2022). The cover version is the song "Schneemann", a German-language adaptation of "Snowman" by Sia (November 2017), which was written by Sia Furler herself, along with Greg Kurstin. Although the song features new German lyrics, Furler and Kurstin are listed as the sole authors. In addition, the trio co-wrote nine songs with Christoph's brother, , and one with Elżbieta Steinmetz, who co- wrote "Lobby". While only seven composers and lyricists contributed to this album, including the cover version; Twenty people were employed in the production of its predecessor, (May 2024).
B-Case and Christoph Cronauer were also jointly responsible for the production of all the tracks and for parts of the instrumentation. The duo received support from Daniel Cronauer for the production of the songs "Schneemann" and Sorry Sorry erhielt das Duo Unterstützung durch Daniel Cronauer. For the instrumentation, B-Case played drums on "Sorry Sorry", while Christoph Cronauer played guitar on the same track. B-Case was also responsible for mixing all the songs and mastering "Sorry Sorry". The remaining twelve tracks were mastered by the team at Mixcube Studio in Austria.
While Vanessa Mai had almost completely replaced her studio staff for the production of her previous album, she returned to old collaborators for the production of Traumfabrik. Following the two studio albums released in the interim, (March 2023) and Matrix, she reunited with her former songwriters and producers B-Case, Christoph Cronauer, and Daniel Cronauer. All three had already worked with her between 2019 and 2022, mostly in joint roles. This collaboration resulted in the studio album (January 2020), (March 2021), and (August 2022), featuring several singles, including the chart hit (February 2022). Mai explained her return to her old writing and production team to by saying that she had reflected on the past few years and realized that this was "Vanessa Mai," that she enjoyed working with this team, that it felt right, and that she also felt the results of this collaboration were the most appealing to her fans. This was the first time Mai had worked with Ela and the Mixcube team.
Artwork The album's front cover features Vanessa Mai, along with the album title and artist information. She is lying face down on a sunlounger, wearing a yellow and white striped mesh top and bikini bottoms. She is supporting herself on the lounger with her right arm and left shoulder, looking towards the camera, with light filtering through from the sunset visible in the background. The photograph, as well as all the photos in the accompanying booklet, was taken by Leipzig-based photographer Sandra Ludewig, who has previously done several photoshoots with Mai. The photoshoot took place in Spain in early April 2025.
Publication and promotion
Publication Traumfabrik was first released on 10 October 2025, by Warner Music. The album was released in its original format as a CD (catalog number: 502173283272) as well as for download and streaming, featuring 13 songs, including twelve new compositions and one cover version. Warner Music was also responsible for distribution, while all tracks except "Schneemann" were published by Publishing, Edition Beatzarre, Edition Elan, Edition Teamscore, Edition Vanessa Mai and Fisherman Songs. The track "Lobby" was additionally published by Edition Elan. The album was available for pre-order from 2 May 2025.
On the day of its initial release, the album was released in four additional limited physical editions, alongside the standard digital and physical versions. One of these editions included a ticket to the release concert at the Punch Line Club in Berlin on 11 October 2025. An enhanced edition of this included admission to the soundcheck, and a further enhanced edition included a meet and greet at the release concert. While the soundcheck set sold out within a few days, the meet and greet set sold out even before the pre-sale began, as it had previously been available exclusively to newsletter subscribers. A box set was also released, which, in addition to the CD, included other merchandise such as a T-shirt, a 36-page A5 photo book with previously unpublished images from the album campaign, an A5 sticker sheet, and a hand-signed autograph card. Three winners were also drawn from all purchasers of this box set and were allowed to participate in the backstage meet-and-greet at the release concert.
Promotion
The first signs of a new release appeared in August 2024, when it was announced that a single release party would take place in September of that year at the Bergwerk Hotel Sonnenhof in Aspach, Baden-Württemberg. In the same month, the release of the first single Himbeerrot (One Kiss), was announced. Later that same month, the singer presented a longer teaser of it at the Festival in the courtyard of . In early September 2024, it was also announced that Mai had parted ways with her old label.
During the promotional phase, she performed "Himbeerrot (One Kiss)" live several times during prime time on ARD, including on 19 October 2024, during the , on 31 December 2024, during the Silvester-Schlagerbooom 2025 – Wunderlichtershow! and at the Schlagerchampions on 11 January 2025. With the subsequent single "Von London nach New York," she performed on 15 February 2025, during prime time on on ZDF. She also performed "Lieber Zweifel" live on the on the day of the album's release.
Tours
In September 2025, it was announced that Vanessa Mai would be going on her Traumfabrik tour from September to October 2026. The tour was scheduled to take her and her live band to eight German cities. This marked the first time the singer would also be acting as a tour promoter. The first three singles, "Himbeerrot (One Kiss)", "Lobby" und" Schneemann" were already part of Mai's Zuhause bei Dir Tour, which took her to nine German cities in November 2024.
Background For Vanessa Mai, the release of Traumfabrik represents a musical restart. In early September 2024, it was announced that she would be switching to the record label Warner Music Group, thus ending her partnership with Ariola, with whom she had worked for over ten years and enjoyed commercial success, including nine in and two , (August 2017) and (August 2018). Mai herself commented on the move with the words: When asked about the title "Traumfabrik" (Dream Factory), the singer told :
Composition All the lyrics on the album are written in the German language, even though "Sorry Sorry" ( English for "apology") is an English title. The actual content of the lyrics, however, is in German. The lyrics and compositions are by seven different writers, including B-Case, Christoph Cronauer, and Vanessa Mai (12 tracks each), and Daniel Cronauer (9 tracks). Musically, the songs fall into the categories of Dance, Pop and Schlager, stylistically within the pop-Schlager genre, with elements of Eurodance ("Nimmerland") or House and Trance (Lobby). Having already appeared as a backing vocalist on Mai's eighth studio album , Christoph Cronauer is the only guest vocalist on Traumfabrik, appearing on the track "Auf freien Feldern". According to his own statement, Mai had wanted the duet for a long time.
The tracks on the album are mainly love songs, about “lightness, love and longing”. The singer herself told the German Press Agency: "For me, there is nothing more authentic than singing about love. I have been very happy with my husband for a very long time." She said she does not feel the same way about songs about "heartbreak" right now because it does not fit with her current stage of life. On the album Vanessa Mai sings about, among other things, a special kiss ("Himbeerrot (One Kiss)"), passionate feelings in a hotel lobby ("Lobby"), freedom and carefree days (“Auf freien Feldern”), traveling with loved ones ("Von London nach New York"), the nervous feeling of falling in love ("Sorry Sorry"), the life-changing moment or the euphoric declaration of being in love ("100% verliebt" and "Küss mich wach"), self-doubt (Lieber Zweifel) or letting go and feeling good (Traumfabrik).
Schneemann is a German-language adaptation of Snowman (November 2017), originally by Australian singer Sia, which is about the transience of a love affair that threatens to melt away in the heat. Mai explained her decision to create a German adaptation of Snowman as follows: “There are many German versions of various Christmas songs, but there wasn’t one for Snowman before. And it fits perfectly into German, which isn’t always the case”.
Mai herself also plays with the meaning of some of the titles. For example, she described every word in "Für mich bist du Liebe" as "simply true" and said it's very funny what happens when songs are released. She naturally has a connection to the songs, but when they're released, something completely different happens to them. The singer is very curious to see for whom her fans listen to the song, or what they feel. She further stated that, for example, this song doesn't have to be addressed only to one's partner or a specific person, but that anyone can connect anything that is important to them to it. The singer herself described the title track, "Traumfabrik" (Dream Factory)", as an ode to her fans and her husband.
Track listing No.titleAuthor(s)Producer(s)length1.Himbeerrot (One Kiss)Christoph Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:312.TraumfabrikChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:483.Küss mich wachChristoph Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:584.Auf freien Feldern (feat. Chris Cronauer)Christoph Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler4:025.Von London nach New YorkChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:236.Sorry SorryChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:277.Keine deiner WorteChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler3:138.100% verliebtChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:559.NimmerlandChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:4010.LobbyChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Elżbieta Steinmetz, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:4211.Für mich bist du LiebeChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler3:1712.Lieber ZweifelChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Vanessa Mai, Matthias ZürklerChristoph Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler3:1613.SchneemannSia Furler, Greg KurstinChristoph Cronauer, Daniel Cronauer, Matthias Zürkler2:42Total length:37:54
Single releases
Eight singles were released from the album, all of which were released before the album itself and failed to chart. These were generally released as individual digital tracks for download and streaming.