Kat Frankie & Jan Werner • Pop-Kultur Festival Berlin 2025

In the organizer's words:

Pop-Kultur is the six-day festival for pop culture with live concerts, DJ sets, experimental music formats, talks, workshops and networking in the heart of Berlin.

"Big in Japan - when careers take off abroad"

Kat Frankie, Jan Werner, Moderation: Aida Baghernejad

Sometimes it takes a detour via Tokyo, Los Angeles or Berlin for a music career to take off. To this day, Japan in particular is regarded as a symbol of an attractive, unconventional entry into the pop market. Alphaville dedicated their hit "Big in Japan" to this topic. Mouse on Mars also benefited from the international enthusiasm - in Japan as well as in the USA - which in turn strengthened their reputation in Germany. Kat Frankie reverses the principle: the Australian is celebrated in Germany.

Kat Frankie releases artfully arranged artpop, most recently the a cappella project "B O D I E S" (Grönland Records): emotionally and conceptually clear.

Jan Werner (Mouse on Mars) researches between experimentation, technology and autonomy. He has been Artistic Director of the Institute for Pop Music at the Folkwang University of the Arts since 2025.

Aida Baghernejad is a freelance journalist and presenter in Berlin. She writes and speaks about culture and gastronomy for Zeit Online, Tagesspiegel, Kaput - Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop and The Guardian, among others, and was a Thomas Mann Fellow in Los Angeles in 2024.

About Pop Culture Talks

On Tuesday, we will focus on the topics that shape pop culture today and tomorrow: We talk about the role of social media in pop culture, technological developments such as artificial intelligence - and how this can give rise to new visions for the music industry. Also in focus:

• Music from Germany in an international context - what are the opportunities on the global market?
• How are music management, club culture and creative processes changing?
• Germany's most important showcase festivals will come together to discuss these issues.
• Music producers provide insights into their work - and we take the liberty of offering a literary perspective on pop with the Spiegel bestseller "delulu" by Julia Friese.