Now ... Us!

Now ... Us! is the second studio album by German pop group No Angels. It was released by Polydor–Zeitgeist and Cheyenne Records on 24 June 24, 2002 in German-speaking Europe. Recorded after the release of the band's majorly successful debut album Elle'ments (2001) and its accompanying Rivers of Joy Tour, the quinted consulted work by frequent collaborators Thorsten Brötzmann, Peter Ries, and Leslie Mándoki as well as international songwriters and producers such as Anders Bagge, Figge Boström, Dennis Dowlut, Mousse T., Pontus Söderqvist, and Quiz & Larossi, while taking a wider role in contributing own lyrics and melodies to the album.

Now ... Us!
Studio album by No Angels
Released	June 24, 2002
Recorded	2002
Genre	Pop dance-pop Europop
Length	47:18
Label	Poyldor Zeitgeist Cheyenne
Producer	Tim Brettschneider Thorsten Brötzmann Fahrenheit & Kelvin Leslie Mándoki Mousse T. Nick Nice Peter Ries Royal Garden Sound Pontus Söderqvist Sandi S. Syndicate Daniel Troha
No Angels chronology
Elle'ments (2001) Now ... Us! (2002) When the Angels Swing (2002)
Singles from Now ... Us!
"Something About Us" Released: May 6, 2002 "Still in Love with You" Released: August 12, 2002 "Let's Go to Bed" Released: November 4, 2002 "All Cried Out" Released: December 2, 2002

Upon its release, Now ... Us! received a mixed reception from music critics, many of whom praised band for their vocal performances and the inclusion of self-penned solo songs but found the material too generic and cliché-addled. Commercially, it became the No Angels's second album to debut atop the German Albums Chart and was eventually certified double platinum by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), finishing twelfth on the national year-end chart in 2002. Now ... Us! also opened at number two and number four in Austria and Switzerland, where it reached gold status respectively.

The album spawned three singles, including the band's third non-consecutive number-one "Something About Us", summer-lite "Still in Love with You" and funk-influenced "Let's Go to Bed." A pop version of its fourth single, the Alison Moyet cover "All Cried Out," appeared on a Special Winter Edition reissue of the album, released in November 2002. To promote Now ... Us!, the No Angels embarked the Four Seasons Tour, covering Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, in fall 2002. It would remain the group's final album as a quintet after Jessica Wahls's departure in 2003 and their reformation as a quartet in 2007.

Background

In 2000, the No Angels beat 4,500 other hopefuls in the German version of the RTL II talent show Popstars. Recruited to join a girl pop band, the quintet signed a recording deal with Polydor–Zeitgeist and Cheyenne Records and became overnight hits, with their debut single "Daylight in Your Eyes" emerging as the biggest-selling single of the year 2001 in Germany.[1] For the production of their English language parent album, Cheyenne consulted a small group of German-based musicians to work on Elle'ments, including Thorsten Brötzmann, Peter Ries, Leslie Mándoki, and Peter Plate.[2] Selecting songs from the Universal Music Publishing Group catalogue, the producers would either take over production duties from Scandinavian musicians or submit self-written songs for recording.[3]

A pop record with different genres such as Europop, teen pop, electro, and dance, Elle'ments combined elements from pop rock, drum and bass, and contemporary R&B,[2] but while it became one of the fastest-selling German albums in music history,[4] the No Angels still struggled with the clichés and prejudices generally associated with their manufactured band image, which made them appear as externally controlled reality TV products rather than ambitious artists.[5][6] Frustrated by both the public perception and the group's A&R–dominated musical development, band member Vanessa Petruo asked for a release from her contract after her first year with the band,[7] but had her mind changed when Cheyenne Records decided on supporting her wish for more creative control and thus offered the band to contribute own songs to their next album.[7]

Production

In February 2002, after a short break from public, the No Angels began work on their second album in Munich and Hamburg.[8] Complying their wishes to take a bigger in the production of their sophomore effort, Cheyenne Records arranged for them to reteam with Thorsten Brötzmann, Peter Ries, and Leslie Mándoki, all of who had contributed to their debut album Elle'ments, to work on new songs.[8] Brötzmann and his co-producer Joachim "Jeo" Mezei oversaw production on the Anders Bagge-penned R&B song "Lovestory" as well as "Now That We Found Love," one of five solo songs on the album. Lead sung by band member Vanessa Petruo, it chronicles a woman's desire to love-making with her new lover.[8] Petruo also collaborated with the duo and songwriter Alex Geringas on the uptempo song "Something About Us" which blends contemporary R&B and dance-pop with soft latin-pop and was conceived as response to what the band felt was intense and sometimes unfair and inaccurate media criticism at the time, predominantly resulting from the clichés and prejudices generally associated with their manufactured band image.[5]

Ries produced "Three Words," a Quiz & Larossi-written rock pop-tinged track that was later included on the album's reissue, and worked with Sandy Mölling on her solo song "Say Goodbye," an R&B-flavored uptempo song which she co-wrote over a demo track by British singer Celetia Martin.[8] Mándoki contributed the uplifting mid-tempo track "Push Me to the Limit" and worked with Wahls on her solo song "Shield Against My Sorrow," a downtempo ode to a loved one.[8] "Atlantis," his production of the No Angels's cover version of the same-titled 1968 song, which the band had re-recorded with original singer Donovan for the closing credits of the Walt Disney Feature Animation picture Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), was also included on the track listing.[8] Lucy Diakovska collaborated with producers Oliver Fahrenheit and Christian Kelvin on her solo song "Stay," a piano-driven ballad on which she demands her lover to stay for another night with her;[8] while Nadja Benaissa teamed with Daniel Troha on "Come Back," another piano ballad that has her asking for a loved one to return.[8]

Apart from their previous collaborators, Polydor also consulted Mousse T and frequent collaborators Oliver Dommaschk and Marco Quast from production duo Royal Garden Sound to work with the band. Known for his mixture of the house and funk genres, Mousse reteamed with Errol Rennalls, his co-writer on the hit singles "Horny '98" (1998) and "Sex Bomb" (2000), on "Let's Go to Bed," a mid-paced pop song that contains heavy elements of psychedelic soul and references to a celebration of sexual lust and conquest.[9] Dommaschk and Quast contributed album opener "Anchor Your Love" a beat- and guitar-heavy uptempo pop song which they co-wrote with Kaidy-Ann Morgan and that has the protagonist wondering about how she can retains a man's love.[8] Swedish producers Pontus Söderqvist and Nick Nice from songwriting collective LaCarr produced "Still in Love with You," a latin pop ballad which has the female protagonist thinking deeply over her relationship with her love interest from whom she parted, and "Autumn Breeze," penned by the Australian band Disco Montego, consisting of the Dowlut brothers Dennis and Darren.[8]

Release and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
CDStarts	[10]
laut.de	[11]
MusikWoche	(positive)[12]

Media reception for Now ... Us! was generally mixed. Although most professional reviewers praised the band for the inclusion of self-written material and a "less conventional" and more mature pop sound with "major influences of contemporary R&B and soul,"[11] laut.de editor Joachim Gauger declared the album as "teen-pop" on "average level."[11] He felt that the self-composed lyrics "always seem wooden and clichéd and don't really touch the listener," but complimented the other songs on Now ... Us! which he considered at the level of American pop productions.[11] Matthias Eisen from CDStarts cited the album "dissembling [...] cheesy and clichéd," sharply criticizing the cover songs on Now ... Us!.[10] MusikWoche found that the album was "clearly superior to the songs of their debut album. With Now ... Us!, the No Angels take a promising first step on the way to the seriously increasing pop act, which still has a lot to expect for the girls' future careers."[12]

Upon its release, Now ... Us! became the band's second consecutive studio album to top the German Albums Chart,[13] while also reaching number two and number four on the Austrian and Swiss Albums Charts, respectively.[14][15] After spending 33 weeks inside the Offizielle Top 100, it was ranked twelfth on the German year-end chart and awarded double platinum by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).[16] Although "2 Get Over U" was planned to be released a special Christmas single with UK popstars Hear'Say at times,[17] it was eventually shelved following the moderate success of their single "Pure and Simple" (2001) throughout German-speaking Europe.[18] It was replaced by lead single "Something about Us" and its b-side "Like Ice in the Sunshine."[8] "Something about Us" became the band's third non-consecutive number-one hit on the German and Austrian Singles Chart within a period of sixteen month, and reached a peak position of 11 on the Swiss Singles Chart.[8] Second single, "Still in Love with You", reached the top 5 in Germany and Austria. Third single "Let's Go to Bed" ended the run of the No Angels' consecutive top ten songs in Germany, and failed to chart on the Swiss Hitparade. A previously unreleased fourth single, the Alison Moyet cover "All Cried Out" was included on the November 2002 released Special Winter Edition reissue of the album.[8]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Now ... Us!.[19]

Now ... Us! – Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Anchor Your Love"	Oliver Dommaschk Marco Quast Kaidy-Ann Morgan	Royal Garden Sound	3:38
2.	"Something About Us"	Vanessa Petruo Thorsten Brötzmann Alexander Geringas	Brötzmann Jeo^[A]	3:26
3.	"Still in Love with You"	Figge Boström Johan Lindman	Pontus Söderqvist Nick Nice	3:31
4.	"Push Me to the Limit"	Leslie Mándoki Laszlo Bencker	Mándoki	3:23
5.	"Say Goodbye"	Sandy Mölling Celetia Martin Velroy Baily Ian Pitter	Peter Ries	3:37
6.	"Like Ice in the Sunshine"	Holger Julian Copp Hanno Harders	N-Dee Frank Lio D. Fact	2:57
7.	"Lovestory"	Reed Vertenley Anders Bagge Par Åström	Brötzmann Jeo^[A]	3:35
8.	"Shield Against My Sorrow"	Jessica Wahls Nik Hafemann Mándoki Bencker	Mándoki	3:29
9.	"Autumn Breeze"	D. Dowlut	Söderqvist Nice	3:32
10.	"Now That We Found Love"	Ulrich Wehner Brötzmann	Brötzmann	3:34
11.	"Stay"	Lucy Diakovska Christian Geller	Oliver Fahrenheit Christian Kelvin	4:09
12.	"Let's Go to Bed"	Mousse T. Errol Rennalls	Mousse T.	3:32
13.	"2 Get Over U"	Sandi S. Tim Brettschneider Alan Glass	Sandi S. Brettschneider	3:24
14.	"Lost in You"	Sandi S. Brettschneider Glass	Sandi S. Brettschneider	3:28
15.	"Come Back"	Nadja Benaissa Daniel Troha Cal Abate	Troha	4:02
16.	"Atlantis 2002" (with Donovan)	Donovan Leitch	Mándoki	4:01
Total length:				47:18

Now ... Us! – Special Winter Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"All Cried Out" (Pop Version)	Steve Jolley Alison Moyet Tony Swain	Hafemann Perky Park	3:38
2.	"Still in Love with You" (Single Version)	Figge Boström Johan Lindman	Pontus Söderqvist Nick Nice	3:31
3.	"Something About Us" (Latin Radio Edit)	Vanessa Petruo Thorsten Brötzmann Alexander Geringas	Brötzmann Jeo^[A]	3:26
4.	"Three Words"	Andreas Romdhane Josef Larossi	Peter Ries	3:48
5.	"Let's Go to Bed" (Single Edit)	Mousse T. Errol Rennalls	Mousse T.	3:32
6.	"Say Goodbye"	Sandy Mölling Celitia Martin Velroy Baily Ian Pitter	Peter Ries	3:37
7.	"Lovestory"	Reed Vertenley Anders Bagge Par Åström	Brötzmann Jeo^[A]	3:35
8.	"Stay"	Lucy Diakovska Christian Geller	Oliver Fahrenheit Christian Kelvin	4:09
9.	"Autumn Breeze"	D. Dowlut	Söderqvist Nice	3:32
10.	"2 Get Over U"	Sandi S. Tim Brettschneider Alan Glass	Sandi S. Brettschneider	3:24
11.	"Shield Against My Sorrow"	Jessica Wahls Nik Hafemann Mándoki Bencker	Mándoki	3:29
12.	"Anchor Your Love"	Oliver Dommaschk Marco Quast Kaidy-Ann Morgan	Royal Garden Sound	3:38
13.	"Now That We Found Love"	Ulrich Wehner Brötzmann	Brötzmann	3:34
14.	"Like Ice in the Sunshine"	Holger Julian Copp Hanno Harders	N-Dee Frank Lio D. Fact	2:57
15.	"Come Back"	Nadja Benaissa Daniel Troha Cal Abate	Troha	4:02
16.	"Daylight in Your Eyes" (Big Band Version)	Tony Bruno Tommy Byrne	Till Brönner	3:44
Total length:				56:58

Notes

• ^{^[A]} denotes co-producer

Credits and personnel

Curly Ausmer – guitar Thorsten Brötzmann – keyboards, guitar Laszlo Benker – various Sven Bünger – acoustic guitar Julian Feifel – various Thorsten Fuchs – guitar Stravos Iannou – acoustic guitar B. La – percussion Fan Fan La Tulip – guitar Sami Khatib – various Michael Knauer – keyboards

George Kopecsni – various Peter Koobs – guitar Johan Lindman – guitar S.L.O. Warschau – strings Ossi Schalle – various Ingo Schröder – rhythm guitar Berni Schwarz – various Daniel Throa – keyboard, percussion, guitar Peter Weihe – guitar Peter Wölpl – various Stephan Zeh – various

Production

• Vocal assistance: James Caldwell, Linda Freeland, Inez Haynes, Franca Morgano, Daniel Troha
• Engineers: Felix Knöchel, Spok, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
• Mixing: Peter Boström, Jeo, Pit Floss, Nike Nice, Mike Streefkerk, Stephan Zeh
• Artwork: Ronald Rensberg, Berlin
• Photography: Benjamin Wolf, Sven Jacobsen

Leftover tracks

• "Three Words" (written by Peter Ries) (appears as a b-side on the "Still in Love with You" single) [20]
• "Since I Found You" (written by Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas) (appeared on the Four Seasons Tour setlist) [21]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2002) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 2 European Top 100 Albums (Billboard)[22] 7 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 1 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[23] 65 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 4

Year-end charts Chart (2002) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 29 German Albums (Official Top 100)[25] 12 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 62

Sales and certifications

Region	Certification
Austria (IFPI Austria)[27]	Gold
Germany (BVMI)[28]	2× Platinum
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[29]	Gold

Release history

List of release dates, showing region, edition(s), format(s), record label(s), and reference(s).

Region	Date	Edition(s)	Format(s)	Label(s)
Austria	24 June 2002	Standard	Digital download, CD	Polydor Zeitgeist Cheyenne
Germany
Switzerland
Austria	18 November 2002	Special winter	Digital download, CD	Polydor Zeitgeist Cheyenne
Germany
Switzerland

References

1. Moore, Tristana (2009-04-16). "In Germany, No Angels Star Faces HIV Charges". Time. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
2. Dobler, Eberhard (2001-03-12). "Keine Frage, wir befinden uns auf internationalem Pop-Niveau". laut.de. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
3. Schaertl, Marika (2001-02-19). "Holger, der Engel-Macher". Focus (in German). Retrieved 2009-04-26.
4. Feierabend, Peter; Zang, Karsten (2013-01-01). DuMont Bildband 65 Jahre Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Eine Zeitreise in Bildern. DuMont. ISBN 9783770189427. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
5. "Work: Songs". VanessaPetruo.tv. Archived from the original on 2007-10-06. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
6. "Trennungsgerüchte über No Angels". Der Spiegel. 2003-09-07. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
7. Schulte am Hülse, Jessica (2007-07-29). "Popstar sein ist ein Pakt mit dem Teufel". Die Welt. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
8. "Now... Us!". Austriancharts. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
9. "Polydor schickt zweites No Angels-Album ins Rennen". MusikWoche (in German). Mediabiz. June 14, 2002. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
10. Eisen, Matthias. "Now... Us! review". CDstarts (in German). CDstarts.de GbR. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
11. Gauger, Joachim. "Es ist die Stunde der Wahrheit für Vanessa, Sandy, Nadja, Jessica und Lucy". laut.de (in German). Laut AG. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
12. "Kritik". mediabiz.de (in German). Retrieved July 7, 2020.
13. "Officialcharts.de – No Angels – Now... Us!". GfK Entertainment Charts.
14. "Austriancharts.at – No Angels – Now... Us!" (in German). Hung Medien.
15. "Swisscharts.com – No Angels – Now... Us!". Hung Medien.
16. "Album-Charts des Jahres 2002". FOCUS Online (in German). Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
17. "Duett der "Popstars"". Netzeitung. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
18. "Hear'Say Ditch X'Mas Duet". MTV Asia News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
19. Now ... Us! (Media notes). No Angels. Polydor Records. 2002.CS1 maint: others (link)
20. "Three Words". Swisscharts. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
21. "Since I Found You". GEMA Search. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
22. "Oasis Has The Right Chemistry At No. 1". Billboard. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
23. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2002. 26. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
24. "Jahreshitparade Alben 2002". Austriancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
25. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts (2002)". Offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
26. "Jahrescharts 2002". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
27. "Austrian album certifications – No Angels – Now ... Us!" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
28. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (No Angels; 'Now... Us!')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
29. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('No Angels')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2012-10-25.

External links

• NoAngels-Music.de — official site (in German)