Nadja Benaissa remembers the first season of “Popstars”, the beginnings of No Angels and explains why this magic would be impossible today.
ME: When people over 35 hear the first notes of “Daylight In Your Eyes,” their eyes light up. Why?
Nadia Benaissa: There’s a lot of memory attached to it. You think back to a time when you were younger, perhaps still a child. And the more time passes, the better you remember the beautiful moments.
You too?
For me personally it was not an easy, carefree time. I was 18 and already a mother. We worked incredibly hard. In the first year I sometimes could barely move because I was so tired and still had to dance a choreography in the snow on the mountain in Alta Badia. We learned: There are no sick notes in this job.
Looking back, the New Life Crisis original “Daylight” almost sounds like an ironically bad cover of your version.
Yes, right? With the first note of the new edition we all knew: This had to be our single. To be honest, I still haven’t fully understood the text. But that’s also art – it’s about the overall package, about the feeling. And this song conveys joy and lightness. We can all make good use of both, especially today.
The first season of “Popstars” with you as the winners was a phenomenon. What was its magic?
Firstly, we were lucky to be the first. Such a reality format was simply not known in Germany. Secondly, nothing was posed at all. Without make-up and with dark circles under our eyes, we stuffed ourselves with rigatoni al forno and talked. I hadn’t thought for a second how it would come across on TV later. We were real and diverse. Everyone could identify with one of us. This form of innocence could never be revived afterwards because we all knew what could develop from it and prepared accordingly. And thirdly, there was no AI, no social media, no streaming services back then. The music market was different.
The format was quickly used up and was still artificially kept alive.
Unfortunately. New bands came after us every year and then they were forgotten. It was all about the TV format, not about the music or a career afterwards.
You were planned as the German Spice Girls. Did the plan work?
Partially. The Spice Girls are of course a thousand times more successful worldwide. They were a phenomenon. But the No Angels are the most successful girl band in continental Europe.
Still, pop critics never took you completely seriously. Your R’n’B and soul solo album STEP BY STEP even went under commercially in 2006.
It was never about sales figures and hits. I just needed this own music after all these years.
A lot has happened since then: in 2010, after the headlines about your HIV illness and a court case, you left the band, got your high school diploma, completed training, worked as a fitness trainer and sang in a gospel choir…
The public has burdened me, yes.
Then why the reunion in 2021?
We wanted to celebrate our anniversary with a dignified farewell. This was surprisingly a lot of fun. If something nice comes along and we feel like it, then we do it. The fact that our fans welcomed us with open arms after all this time was the best compliment we could have received. We really wouldn’t have thought that people would freak out at our concerts ten years ago.
Today the No Angels also appear in the House of History in Bonn, in the Museum of Communication, at KIZ concerts and in the Deichbrand line-up. The “Award for Pop Culture” honored you with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
None of this really could have been predicted back then. We were even asked to appear at Wacken. Unfortunately it didn’t work. I would have found it really cool!
Could a casting show produce such success again today?
You really have to go back to the roots. Telling young people: Take off the mask and be yourself. But that hardly works anymore because the demands are so much higher today. Singing, appearance, self-promotion, everything has to be perfect. Social media has changed everything so dramatically. You used to be able to go somewhere unpolished. Not anymore today.
Would you strongly advise young people who seriously want to become musicians not to take part in casting formats?
I wouldn’t recommend it to my own daughter. But if someone feels like they have to go there and it gives them a platform – why not? Especially if you can’t build up a reach on social media, any chance to be seen and heard is basically okay.
You yourself were just on an anniversary tour with STEP FOR STEP, took part in “Let’s Dance” and released a new EP.
My own music is still not about attention first. The No Angels are a functioning band with structure again. But as Nadja Benaissa, I make the world the way I like it. It’s nice to have this freedom.
