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Erinnerst du dich? (Do You Remember?), stylized as ERINNERST DU DICH?, is the third studio album by Akitei-Alvak singer-songwriter Kiara Yoshikawa, known professionally as Ersatz. It was released on August 15, 2021, by the Engelholz Elektroakustik record label as the follow-up to her second studio album, Östlich von Eden (2017). The album was produced by Ersatz and Ginseng, with whom Ersatz worked alongside on past studio albums.

After the release of her previous album, Östlich von Eden (2017), Yoshikawa began work on Erinnerst du dich?, largely recording at her home studio in Neu-Amden. She engrossed herself with writing and recording, and laboured over the details of each song, ultimately causing the release date to be delayed by a year. In Erinnerst du dich?, she delved deeper and expanded into the soul aspect of her previous works, marking a shift towards slower-paced songs, with more emphasis placed on traditional soul instruments and themes. Thematically, the record is about the process of personal transformation, which many critics interpreted to be the aftermath of unrequited love.

On May 11, 2017, Ersatz released her second studio album Östlich Von Eden. Only a day later, she announced that her next album, titled Erinnerst du dich?, would be released in early 2020. On April 11, 2019, Ersatz uploaded a short video with the caption sorry for the delay! to her social media accounts. The video shows Ersatz frantically running around a soundstage, with overlayed text explaining the delay. On April 28, she took to social media once more to announce the album's new release date on August 15, 2021. Later the same day, Ersatz posted a trailer for the title track and its accompanying music video to social media with the caption: One summit climbed, more to come!.

The title track, "Schlafzimmer Dach", and "Songharistrasse" were released as singles on May 20, 2021. On July 20, 2021, Ersatz revealed the album artwork for Erinnerst du dich?, as well as the album's tracklisting on her social media accounts. On August 15, 2021, Ersatz posted a short video on her social media accounts of her holding a fresh vinyl of the album in her Neu-Amden home, announcing the release of Erinnerst du dich?.

Background
Ersatz emerged in the early 2010s as one of indie pop's most prominent new acts. She released two albums that received adoration from music critics: Amateur-Bergsteiger (2010) and Östlich von Eden (2017). "Östlich von Eden", the title track of the latter album, became a national hit and was placed in several television series and commercials.

She began writing songs shortly after completing Östlich von Eden, but was unable to specify when the album began to take shape: "It's like a great big blurred line." The idea to compile her songs into an album came when she had between 10–20 songs ready. In May 2018, Yoshikawa spoke of her growing inclination toward recording the album in a radio interview, explaining that: "I've fallen into a rabbit hole, working in the industry. It felt so natural, though. I keep on thinking about everything that comes with albums, and the flow just doesn't stop at all."

The album's change in style has roots in several events. Yoshikawa began to feel that even songs outside the indie-pop genre could possess its qualities; she made this assumption while under the influence of psychedelics (according to Yoshikawa, it was "probably weed") and listening to various 70s funk and soul albums. According to Yoshikawa, "I had to get rid of the barriers I'd set for myself before I got into this whole mess." This included toying with things she considered musically "cheesy" or taboo. She also invited fellow musician Ginseng, also known as Nikolas Stamakos, to help with "branching out of this funk box I'd created".

Recording and production


Erinnerst du dich? was recorded, produced, and mixed by Kiara Yoshikawa at her beachside home studio in Neu-Amden, Viktoria. The two-room studio contained a minimal amount of equipment: "a loosely-assembled drum kit, a guitar covered in duct tape and several battered vintage synths." She hoped to deviate from the creative process by which she created Östlich von Eden, which she described as torturous, but ultimately found herself "falling down the same rabbit hole over and over again" on Erinnerst du dich?.

Recording the album soon became an obsession to Yoshikawa, as she worked "24/8" growing increasingly isolated. She said, "There's a point where the studio becomes the world, and the actual world ceases to exist as a physical location. When I reach that point, I know I'm in the mood." She reasoned that any alternate approach would imply that the music was not powerful enough. Savvina Procopioti, a writer for the music section of Die Adler, described Yoshikawa's daily routine in an article shortly preceding the album's release: "During the making of an album, the 28-year-old generally likes to rise around midday and then work, slowly and methodically, late into the night while drinking and smoking." Yoshikawa contended this approach helped her writing, noting, "Alcohol is like a lubricant for my creative process; it gets things moving easier. The fact that the gears turn faster is what's so important for this album." She also often went swimming during breaks, which she dubbed "bringing heaven to ground level." She followed a mantra of "give the song what it deserves", which entailed creating music without "any clear sense of direction." Yoshikawa recorded a large number of vocals takes; according to her, for one song, she performed over 1,011 partial vocal takes. For two weeks, she stayed at Ginseng's house located in Alvastadt—the same one where she recorded parts of Östlich von Eden—to brainstorm drum ideas for songs.

The decision to exert control in every aspect of production aside from mastering came from obsession. She said, "My songs are my babies. They're my heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, and so much more." Yoshikawa set a deadline to complete the record because of her tendency to procrastinate; she described having a deadline as "a double-edged sword. On one hand, it gives off a sense of dread, knowing you have to finish it by then. On the other hand, it forces you to make a decision, right then and there. By the end, you've gone down a completely unexpected path with your music, and that's good." Erinnerst du dich? was due to be completed in January 2020, but the deadline was pushed back several times, resulting in the August 2021 release date. Late in the process, she became self-conscious about the honesty of her lyrics. She became obsessive about minor details in the work, making her unable to wholly enjoy it upon its completion. Shortly before its release, she said, "Despite what the others say, I don't think it's finished. It's nowhere near finished."

Composition
Erinnerst du dich? features styles of psychedelic pop, disco, R&B, and electropop, but the album's chord progressions and rhythms are most indebted to R&B and soul. Yoshikawa listened to R&B from the 1990s during recording, which she had forced herself to reject while growing up due to peer pressures. She said, "We weren't allowed to be into R&B when we were teenagers because all the snobby rich kids blast that shit in their cars, and we weren't the snobby rich kids." As such, learning to let go of preconceptions and embracing the music felt liberating to her. She had previously refrained from making her music more pop-oriented because he thought "it'd be more of the same from me," and she discovered that writing pure pop music was a challenge. Yoshikawa attributed her openness on Erinnerst du dich? to co-producer Nikolas Stamakos, known professionally as Ginseng, whose album Καλωσορίσατε στον παράδεισο (Welcome to Paradise) she collaborated on.