Apayrı (Disparate) is the fourth studio album by Turkish singer Hande Yener. It was released on 6 January 2006 by Erol Köse Production. Yener, who created her own style of music in the minds of her listeners and music writers with her first albums, began questioning her works and choices after the release of her third studio album Aşk Kadın Ruhundan Anlamıyor (2004), which caused her unrest. Her dissatisfaction with her songs led her to turn to a different style of music compared to her previous works. Erdem Kınay and Mete Özgencil, who had previously worked on a few number of her songs, prepared a large part of this album and these musicians played a significant role in the development of the album in general.
Apayrı, which is a dance-pop and house album in general, includes various features from different styles in its songs such as funk, R&B, rock and synth-pop. Inspired by dance music styles popular in the United States and Europe in the 1980s, the work was prepared especially under the influence of the music of Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. Yener changed not only the style of her music but also the lyrics in her songs. The lyrics that were mainly concerned with challenging her beloved in the previous albums were now replaced by more relaxing words and discussed the mutual pain of love in this album. By adopting a new vocal technique in her songs, Yener used more docile and different tones compared to her previous works.
Hande Yener participated in some television programs to promote the album and appeared on stage at various festivals and parties. She also released music videos for three songs in the album. In the first music video "Kelepçe", references were made to the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the photos taken on the set of the video, in which Yener was surrounded with botanical plants, were also used in the album booklet. The second and third music videos were made for the songs "Aşkın Ateşi" and "Kim Bilebilir Aşkı" respectively. While the first two songs topped many national radio charts in Turkey, the third song was not as successful and only ranked among the top five on the charts. Additionally, the songs "Yola Devam" and "Apayrı", which Yener performed together with Ege Çubukçu in her concerts, both entered the radio charts.
In the year the album came out, some of the music critics praised it, while some found Yener's sudden change of style strange. In the following years, many columnists evaluated the work as the best album of the singer and one of the best recordings of Turkish pop music. Additionally, Yener's next albums were often compared with this album from time to time and were praised based on their similarities to it. Apayrı sold 165,000 copies in total, receiving a gold certification from MÜ-YAP. It won the Best Album award at the 2007 PowerTürk Music Awards. The remixes of some of the songs in it were included in Hande Maxi, released in the same year.
Background and development
After releasing her debut album Senden İbaret (2000), followed by Sen Yoluna... Ben Yoluma... (2002) and Aşk Kadın Ruhundan Anlamıyor (2004), many songwriters and fans started to develop a sense for Yener's preferred musical style. This musical style, which can be seen in many of her initial songs, including "Şansın Bol Olsun", "Küs" and "Kırmızı", consisted of high-speed pop songs that according to some critics were suitable for putting "hands in the air". The real hallmark of these pieces was their lyrics, which were mostly about an ended love after which Yener would be portrayed as a strong woman despite the separation and her hatred for her ex-lover. Emphasizing that the loser after the end of this relationship was the guy, these lyrics constituted the "classic Hande Yener concept" according to Hürriyet Kelebek columnist Sadi Tirak. Altan Çetin, Alper Narman and Fettah Can wrote and composed different pieces that created this concept of "a woman who leaves and doesn't look behind" in her first three albums.
Yener mentioned that with the release of her third album Aşk Kadın Ruhundan Anlamıyor, she now wanted "to have intellectuals among her audience". In an interview in July 2004, Yener announced that Mete Özgencil, with whom she had worked for the first time on a number of songs from her third album and whom she described as a "very intellectual composer", would be much more influential in her next studio album. Additionally, she said that after the release of her third studio album, which included her hit song "Kırmızı", she entered a state of unrest due to her repetitive musical style. When she was looking for songs for her fourth album, she rejected the song "Ya Tutarsa", written and composed by Altan Çetin, as she did not find it suitable for her new work. Çetin, who prepared almost all of the songs in Yener's debut album and contributed to her subsequent albums with various songs, was absent from the new album's repertoire. In the second half of 2005, preparations for her fourth album were intensified, during which she took a break from performing live for seven months.
Recording Hande Yener recorded the album Apayrı, which she produced herself, in Booya music studios in Hamburg, Germany.Apayrı (album booklet). Hande Yener. Erol Köse Production. 2006. 8698562000242. Stating that she spent most of her time in the studio during the preparation phase of the album, Yener added that as new things were produced, they determined the general style of the album and then directed their search for compositions according to these newly produced material. Bülent Aris and Erdem Kınay completed audio mixing processes both mutually and individually in different songs. Mastering processes were carried out in Soundgarden and Master & Servant studios in Hamburg. During the recordings, Ayşegül Yağız, Bülent Tekakpınar and Canan Kaplan served as backing vocalists on various songs. Compared to her previous album, Yener's vocal technique in the recordings of this album underwent a significant change. In her own words, compared to her previous works, she stayed "more calm and emphasized the words" and used "different intonations" when singing the songs. Rahşan Gülşan from Sabah Günaydın wrote that "the vocals are kept behind compared to the previous albums". Oben Budak from the same newspaper also noted that the backing track of the pieces were prepared in a way that they suppress the vocals.
Music and lyrics
Apayrı is generally a dance-pop and house album. However, it includes various music styles that vary from song to song. While some songs, especially those in the second half of the album, are under the influence of R&B, others have the effect of styles such as funk, synth-pop and rock. The overall work is inspired by dance music styles that were popular in the United States and Europe in the 1980s, and from this point of view, it was part of the trend of getting inspiration from the 1980s music that was popular around the world in the mid-2000s. Yener also states that the work developed in the "shadow of the music that she was brought up with in the 80s" and was influenced by the music of Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. She also mentioned that the desire to renew her music and bring it up to "world standards" was also an effective factor in developing the album. She added that the lyrics, which focus on love and relationship themes, had a "softer" style of expression compared to the ones in the previous album. According to Oben Budak from Sabah, who shares the same idea with the singer, the album portrays "the image a strong woman but also has a sharing side [for grief] which says 'I cry [following break-up] but you cry too'." According to Michael Kuyucu, "the daring lover [in the previous albums] has been replaced by a person who misses her loved one and continuously laments for his return." In terms of arrangement, eight songs in the album are arranged by Erdem Kınay, four songs by Bülent Aris and Devrim Karaoğlu, and two songs by Genco Arı. Yener included these arrangers in the album to "catch the sounds of foreign music in Turkish songs."
The opening track, "Yola Devam", is an electronic dance piece written and composed by Ertuğ Ergin that starts with the lyrics "Yıkıldığın her an (Every time you fall) / Yok olmadığına şükret (be thankful that you are not destroyed) / Kalk, aynalara bak (get up, look in the mirrors)" and continues with the theme of holding onto life. In the second place comes the song "Apayrı", the album's namesake, which is written and composed by Mete Özgencil and features R&B elements. The ensuing track "Nasıl Zor Şimdi" was also written by Özgencil and its lyrics are about an internal reckoning before starting a new relationship. A rock effect with drums is given to its composition which also has synth-pop elements. "Kelepçe", written by Alper Narman and Fettah Can and composed by Bülent Aris, takes the fourth place on the tracking list with its club version, and also the fourteenth place with its clip version. Generally considered a dance song, its club version, arranged by Erdem Kınay, has dominant guitar sounds while the clip version, arranged by Bülent Aris, features sounds of string instruments.
The lyrics and composition of the fifth song, "Kim Bilebilir Aşkı", were prepared by Ertuğ Ergin. After the introduction that starts with saxophone sounds, the song continues with funky house rhythms and the side flute sounds come into play in the middle instrumental part. Its lyrics speak of love as an unknown phenomenon until death. The following song, "Bugün Sevgililer Günü", was written by the duo Narman and Can and composed by Erdem Kınay. It has a lower rhythm compared to the songs that precede it in the album, and its lyrics state that being alone on Valentine's Day doesn't necessarily matter or mean anything. Four consecutive pieces, from the seventh song "Şefkat Gibi" to the tenth song "Unut", were all prepared by Özgencil. The lyrics of "Şefkat Gibi", which starts with the sounds of the guitar, are mainly about an evaluation on the terminated relationship of a person who suddenly comes across her ex-lover. It is followed by "Aşkın Ateşi", a pop song with a short rap section at the end.
The ninth song's title, "Kanat", is taken from one part of its lyrics "yalnızlık özgürlüğün iki hırçın kanadıdır. (Loneliness makes the two vicious wings of freedom.)" Arranged by Bülent Aris and Devrim Karaoğlu, the song features guitar sounds. Similar to "Kanat", the next song "Unut" has R&B rhythms and was arranged by Aris and Karaoğlu. Its lyrics, reminiscent of a nursery rhyme, recommend forgetting "[everything] before going to bed every night (her gece yatmadan önce)." The eleventh song, "Düş Bozumu", written and composed by Can Şambelli and Ender Gündüzlü, is one of the low-tempo songs of the album. Its composition includes guitar sounds as well as rhodes piano and flugelhorn sounds. "Sakin Olmalıyım" comes next, a fast-paced rock song written and composed by Özgencil. The thirteenth song on the album, "Sorma", is written and composed by the duo Narman and Can. Its lyrics are about betrayal and it was arranged by Genco Arı and has a low rhythm. The last song, "İnsanlar Çok", written and composed by the soloist of the Rebel Moves group Erol Çay, is a house song and features Yener's vocal recordings with an effect created by vocoder.
Cover and design