diff --git a/src/pylast/__init__.py b/src/pylast/__init__.py
index 3f00b5a..c1e3fa0 100644
--- a/src/pylast/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pylast/__init__.py
@@ -2724,8 +2724,6 @@ def md5(text):
 def _unicode(text):
     if isinstance(text, bytes):
         return str(text, "utf-8")
-    elif isinstance(text, str):
-        return text
     else:
         return str(text)