Now... Us! is the second studio album by German girl group No Angels. It was released by Polydor and Cheyenne Records on June 24, 2002, in German-speaking Europe. Recorded after the release of the band's majorly successful debut album Elle'ments (2001), the group 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.
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 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!, No Angels embarked on 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, 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. 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. 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.
A pop record incorporating genres such as Europop, teen pop, electro, and dance, Elle'ments drew on elements of pop rock, drum and bass, and contemporary R&B. Although it became one of the fastest-selling German albums in music history, No Angels continued to face the clichés and prejudices associated with their manufactured band image. Their origins on reality TV led some to perceive them as externally controlled products rather than ambitious artists. Frustrated by both the group's public image and its A&R-driven musical development, band member Vanessa Petruo sought to be released from her contract after her first year with the group. However, she reconsidered after Cheyenne Records agreed to support her desire for greater creative control and offered the group the opportunity to contribute original material to their next album. While still on their Rivers of Joy Tour, Petruo and her bandmates Nadja Benaissa and Sandy Mölling consequently began writing songs individually for the album.
Production In February 2002, after a short break from public, No Angels began work on their second album in Munich and Hamburg. 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 whom had contributed to their debut album Elle'ments, to work on new songs. 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. 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.
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. 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. "Atlantis", his production of 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. 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; while Nadja Benaissa teamed with Daniel Troha on "Come Back", another piano ballad that has her asking for a loved one to return.
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. 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. 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.
Promotion Originally, "2 Get Over U" was planned as a duet between No Angels and British Popstars winners Hear'Say and was intended to serve as the album's lead single. The release was scheduled for around Christmas 2001, with the dual purpose of promoting both groups across their respective markets and competing for the coveted Christmas number-one spot on the UK Singles Chart, traditionally one of the most competitive periods in the British music market. At the time, both groups had enjoyed considerable success in their respective home markets. However, while Hear'Say had scored a major UK hit with "Pure and Simple" and No Angels had achieved similar success in Germany with "Daylight in Your Eyes," neither group had been able to replicate the same level of chart success in the other group's home market. The plans were eventually shelved as the promotional strategies for both groups shifted, leaving "2 Get Over U" to be reworked for No Angels' subsequent album without Hear'Say’s involvement.
A planned February or March 2002 release of "2 Get Over U" was ultimately abandoned after the album's recording sessions were delayed and the group insisted on selecting a different song as the first single from Now... Us!. The band chose "Something About Us," which all five members favored and considered to carry a significantly stronger message. As with "Daylight in Your Eyes," the group ultimately prevailed over their record label and management, both of whom had initially expressed reservations about the song's media-critical message. A cover of "Like Ice in the Sunshine," recorded by No Angels for a 2002 Langnese advertising campaign, was subsequently included as the B-side of "Something About Us." Released on 6 May 2002, "Something About Us" became No Angels' third non-consecutive number-one single in both Germany and Austria within a period of 16 months, while reaching number 11 on the Swiss Singles Chart. It earned Top of the Pops Award and the ECHO Award nominations.
Now... Us!s second single, "Still in Love with You," was released on 12 August 2002. The band and their record label had hoped to score another number-one hit in Germany with the single, but their ambitions were thwarted by Herbert Grönemeyer's "Mensch," which held "Still in Love with You" off the top spot for two consecutive weeks. The song also reached the top ten in Austria, Poland, and Switzerland and was awarded the NRJ Music Award for Best German Song the following year. Third single "Let's Go to Bed" was produced by Mousse T., who substantially reworked the track for its single release. While the album version drew on psychedelic soul and funk influences, the new version featured a heavier beat and a more pronounced club-oriented sound. The single, issued on 4 November 2002, ended No Angels' run of consecutive top-ten hits in Germany and failed to chart on the Swiss Singles Chart. A fourth single, a previously unreleased cover of Alison Moyet's "All Cried Out," was released on 2 December 2002 and included on Special Winter Edition reissue of Now... Us!. It reached the top 20 of the German Singles Chart.
Critical reception
Now... Us! received mixed reviews from contemporary critics, who variously praised its more mature pop and R&B-oriented sound while criticizing its songwriting, reliance on established pop formulas, and cover versions. MusikWoche considered the alum a clear improvement over the group's debut, calling it a "promising first step" toward establishing No Angels as a more serious pop act. Robert Morawa of Bayern 3 likewise described it as a varied and entertaining pop album, praising the individual contributions of the five members, particularly Lucy Diakovska's "Stay" and Nadja Benaissa's "Come Back," while noting the influence of Destiny's Child on songs by Sandy Mölling and Jessica Wahls. The editorial staff of ProSieben praised the album's blend of pop, R&B, dance, and choral elements, highlighting "Stay", "Comeback", "Something About Us", "Autumn Breeze", and "Anchor Your Love." However, it found "Say Goodbye" and "Shield Against My Sorrow" less convincing because of their familiar lyrics and lack of musical highlights, describing the album as representative of the mainstream pop sound of 2002.