Streichelt | HEAST!

On the upcoming EP “Rosenkrieg” (expected to be released in February 2026), Streichelt talks in six songs about everything that can’t simply be dealt with in three sentences of small talk: Separation, addiction, psychological rollercoaster ride, new beginnings. “Self-doubt that turns into self-confidence” is how he summarizes the mini-record himself. It is this revelation from the inside out, the step from uncertainty to clarity, that holds “Rosenkrieg” together. Streichelt writes and produces everything himself, mostly at home. No big master plan, no elaborate production. Just a guy who makes songs until they sound exactly how he has them in his head.

It is immediately apparent that he has now “found his sound”. The disco drums push forward, the choruses stick, and when he puts the vulnerable lyrics in the foreground in “Damals Heute”, it sounds so approachable that you could almost forget that someone is talking about themselves.

“Rosenkrieg” is not a therapy report or a manifesto, but an honest interim report. This is what it sounds like when someone making music doesn’t pretend to have it all figured out. And shares it.

– EP: War of the Roses –

A pink Post-It on stainless steel. Postcards, magnets and other relics from trips to the world’s capitals and tourist hotspots. But this neon-colored piece of paper, which sticks only half as firmly to the fridge door, provides a brief moment of pause every time you make a precautionary trip to your own chilled food supply.

“A creeping feeling tells me I know the truth / It’s written on a note on the fridge door.” (Caresses – Canapé)

Streichelt (real name Johannes Weichelt) is said to have found it out for himself. The truth. “It took me a long time to come to the conclusion that music is really what I want to do. And consequently, I have to do everything I can for it and believe that it’s exactly who I am.”

After two EPs and various single releases that made indie Germany sit up and take notice, “Rosenkrieg” now features six songs that come closest to the essence of Streichelt. The new EP is a reflection of the artist’s personal experiences and inner processes.

Created over a period of one and a half years, the EP brings together songs that were written from a wide variety of emotional states; from the pain of separation and new beginnings – to self-doubt that eventually turns into self-confidence. Carefully transforming one’s own insecurities into self-assurance, kneading this lump of doubt into a balanced self-image: that’s what happened on the way to this EP. “I think that’s what defines Streichelt in 2025: Awakening through self-knowledge and energy for something new.”

The fact that this new spirit has found its way into the Streichelt project is partly due to the new self-assurance regarding their own sound. Streichelt’s musical toolbox has expanded by several tools in recent years. On “Rosenkrieg”, Streichelt is a master of his studied skills, no longer an apprentice. The sound profile? Danceable, beat-based and melodic. The acoustic, minimalist “Damals Heute” on the EP expands the sound identity even further. The result is an EP that allows you to look deep into your soul without losing sight of the essentials: namely contemporary, unadulterated pop music.

And so Streichelt prefers to let them speak for themselves. No exuberant conceptualization, no forced central theme. Instead, six songs as a collection. Like the various postcards and magnets on the fridge door. Nevertheless, the title track “Rosenkrieg” serves as a symbolic motto. It refers to the duality of beauty and danger, tells of inner conflicts that have to be lived through in order to find this balanced self-image. It is the simultaneity of things, the spectrum in which they take place. Streichelt’s “War of the Roses” is the field of tension of what he himself has had to fathom over the past two years.
(Text: Sofia Picky Magazine)