Uploaded December 2016 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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I'm not the best singer, I know. But anything else than me singing wouldn't be personal enough.

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(Intro)

2016 is coming to a close.
I want to give out my thanks to those
who have helped to make it just as great as the others,
brought me happiness and then relieved all my bothers.

Just like three years back when I wrote a song
showing gratitude to those who made me strong,
this year I want to be doing the same.
First I'm shouting out old friends who chose to remain.

One thing that you can't choose is your family,
which is why I'm lucky mine turned out perfectly.
Jennifer has stuck around as my best friend*,
and I'm sure she'll be here all the way to the end.

But my arms can't reach to Australia,
which is why I'm glad I have a friend like Marisa.
When I need to talk she is always there,
which is true for all of you if I'm being fair.

--Honorable Mentions: Mario Steinberg, Ramina Severin, Alexander Tihonov, Jasmin Durgun, Rebecca Wurster, Phuong-Ha Tran, as well as the guys from BerlinVokal and #einapplaus (List below)--

("The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" for Lukas Meier and Aileen Fischer Rivera joinen my main circle of friends, then consisting of Jakob Heinrich, Marisa Hardt and Lina von Kries)

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
in 2015 with your favorite guys.
Follow them down to a bridge with a fountain,
where new awesome people are standing in line**.

Lukas in the sky with Aileen
Lukas in the sky with Aileen
Lukas in the sky with Aileen
Ahh-ahh

("Undertale (Toby Fox) - Spider dance" for the first half of my trip to the USA with Kacee Fraser)

Now it's time to get out of my own homeland, I flew to visit my good friend from abroad.
I gotta give it to her: Kacee, that was one of the best vacations that I've got.

There wasn't much to do in Jacksonville***, Jacksonville, Jacksonville,
but all we needed was to talk and chill, talk and chill, talk and chill,
and even though we hadn't met before, met before, met before,
it was the safest that I've ever felt, it brought happiness through me to the core.

("Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams" for the second half of my trip to the USA with Emma Burrus, Josh Crocetto and Jacob Witty)

I had to leave by plane,
the saddest flight that I have ever flown****.
But they relieved the pain,
and sure enough, now I was not alone.
Ah-ah, hah-ah, ah-ah

I had had my friends from Pottstown right beside me.
Great times with Emma, Josh and Jacob Witty.
Sometimes I wish I were back in their city,
but now I'm back at home.

("Yiruma - River Flows in You" for Isabelle Brauner becoming a constant factor in my life around the start of december)

In the last few weeks of this year I discovered that a friend
that I'd had for a few months was so much more than I could comprehend.
We got off to quite a rocky start, but after all this time
I can see that I will need to keep her as a friend of mine.

Quite the story to tell:
Now we get along well,
so much that we see each other almost every day.
Usually I'm lonely,
now someone is with me -
someone that I trust a lot in each and every way.

(Outro)

The dawn of a new year makes me enthusiastic.
All of you are sure to make it something fantastic.

*I do not like to say anybody is my "best" friend, but Jennifer is the closest thing to a traditional "best friend" that I have.
**I have known Lukas for way over a decade now, but this year is when he joined my main circle of friends and thus started playing a bigger role in my life than before.
***Kacee lives in Richlands. Richlands doesn't rhyme with chill. Jacksonville does. Jacksonville is the airport I arrived at. Fight me.
****Technically the second saddest flight. Saying goodbye to Isabelle, who was my girlfriend around the time of my leaving for my trip to the USA, was harder.

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Family includes: Sabine, Nele, Karin and Michael Metzner; Hildegard and Manfred Herger; Katja, Dirk, Leo, Max, Lilly and Moritz Evers; (Jacob Thomsen, Sina Schmeichel)

BerlinVokal: Nane Bache, Daniela Ulsamer, Doortje Müller, Anja Nicklisch, Monika Stienecker, Anika Gladytz, Beatrix Kirsch, Elvira Maisch-Vogts, Bettina Pauck, Kirsten Peters, (Katja Evers), Astrid Franke, Kerstin Holle, Kristina Kohlmeyer, (Sabine Metzner), Jürgen Fürhoff, George Gillert, Stephan Klonk, Karsten Lohan, Boris Balin, Klaus Eckhardt, Daniel Enzweiler, Andreas Hannay, Joachim Schellhase

#einapplaus: Roman Rehor, Therese Lorenz, Sarah Tiedeke, Lydia Krüger, Alessa Tschaftary, Katharina Herbst, Ulrike Weidemüller, Florian Beck, Jasper Sonne, Peter Lummel

Chiyoko Team: Sho Tanaka, Michael Tran, Dylan Denton, Adi Nugraha, Iiro Salminen, Ryan, Juan "Tokiro" Reyes, Cristina Ruiz, (Rebecca, Mario, Phuongy, Kacee)

Other honorable mentions include: Uli Ames, Tahlia Fleet-Holt, the Chiyoko Crew, Johanna (Amelie) Castell, Ginette Ewald, Reiko Boettcher, Laurenz Pflüger, Charlotte Brehe, Lisa Steinbeiss, Jana Flindt, Leon Mittl, Nathan Hardesty, Isabella Miheeva, Jessica Montour, Lea Bendikat, Michael Pohl