Something about Us

Infobox Single |
Name = Something about Us
Artist = No Angels
from Album = Now ... Us!


B-side =
Released = May 6, 2002
Format = CD single, ring tone,
digital download
Writer = Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas
Producer = Thorsten Brötzmann;
Jeo (co-producer)
Recorded = 2002, Park Studios
(Tutzing, Lake Starnberg)
Genre = Pop, dance-pop, R&B
Length = 3:25 (album version)
3:05 (latin radio edit)
Label = Cheyenne/Polydor
Certification = Platinum (IFPI Germany)
Last single = "When the Angels Sing"
(2001)
This single = "Something about Us"
(2002)
Next single = "Still in Love with You"
(2002)

"Something about Us" is a dance-pop song written by Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas and Vanessa Petruo for the No Angels' second studio album "Now... Us!" (2002). It was co-produced by Brötzmann and Jeo and received a positive reception from music critics. The song was released as the album's lead single on May 6, 2002 (see 2002 in music), and peaked at number one in Austria and Germany, and number eleven in Switzerland, simultaneously reaching number three on the composite Eurochart Hot 100 Singles chart.

The song was nominated for both "Top Single Germany" at the 2002 Top of the Pops Awards and "Best National Single - Rock/Pop" at the 2003 ECHO Awards and was awarded latter for its music video.

Writing and recording

"Something about Us" was an eleventh-hour addition to the "Now... Us!" albumcite web|title=Work: Songs|work=VanessaPetruo.tv|url=http://www.vanessapetruo.tv/work/songs.php|accessdate=2007-07-28] band member Vanessa Petruo, co-writer Alexander Geringas, and producer Brötzmann worked on during the album's finishing process in the Park Studios in Tutzing, Bavaria. Incorporating autobiographical features, the song was mainly inspired by Petruo's experiences with the media the year before. "I recalled the past year, the good and the bad times, and I built my own personal résumé, also involving the girls' opinions," she said about the songwriting process the following year. "I was thinking about the people who never have believed in us and also won't accept that we are true musicians und see ourselves as artists [...] I just wanted to say: I "see" those prejudices and they hurt sometimes but generally we're laughing [them away] . That's the essence of the song!"

While the band regarded the song an early candidate for the album's lead single in hopes of breaking away from the stereotyping Europop widely associated with the group through previous singles,cite web|title=V.I.P. Chat Log|work=BRAIN Community|url=http://chat.pages.de/2001-08-25-Arcor-NoAngels.shtml|accessdate=2007-06-10] the group's record company Cheyenne Records declared the song too risky for the charts. ["We LOVE No Angels" documentary. "Pro Sieben". Retrieved on 2007-06-10] Instead the label originally intended album cut "2 Get Over U," a duet with UK popstars Hear'Say, as the band's next single with a release around Christmas 2001.cite web|title="Duett der «Popstars»"|work=Netzeitung|url=http://www.netzeitung.de/entertainment/people/157024.html|accessdate=2007-04-04] However, due to Hear'Say's limited fame in Germany Polydor Records and Cheyenne decided to exclude the band's vocals from the songcite web|title="Hear'Say Ditch X'Mas Duet"|work=MTV Asia News|url=http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200111/06006338.html|accessdate=2007-04-04] and moved it back to a spring 2002 launch to enable the No Angels additional work on their second longplayer.cite web|title="Hear'Say Ditch X'Mas Duet"|work=MTV Asia News|url=http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200111/06006338.html|accessdate=2007-04-04] Although the No Angels premiered the song on the "The Dome 21" in Stuttgart on March 1, 2002 and a release date was set on March 18, 2002, "2 Get Over You" was eventually shelved in favour of the self-written "Something about Us."cite web|title=V.I.P. Chat Log|work=BRAIN Community|url=http://chat.pages.de/2001-08-25-Arcor-NoAngels.shtml|accessdate=2007-06-10]

"Something about Us" also was premiered on "The Dome 21" in Stuttgart on March 1, and made its television debut on March 7, 2002 at the 11th ECHO Awards in Berlin. Officially released on May 6, 2002, the CD single spawned specially-produced extended and club mixes as well as an alternative "Latin Radio Edit," also released on the "Special Winter Edition" of the album, and the Langnese jingle "Like Ice in the Sunshine."

Music video

The single's music video was filmed inside a Berlin printing plant in early April 2002 and the No Angels' first collaboration with both director Marcus Sternbergcite web|title=Video credits|work=MVDBase|url=http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=46588|accessdate=2007-12-27] and American choreographer Sean Cheesman. It was shot over twenty hours and features Jessica Wahls' late spouse Sascha Dickreuter as a dancer.

Inspired by the song lyric's media-critical subtext, the clip ironically features the quintet as overall-dressed printers of an all-fictional tabloid newspaper called "Daily Express".cite web|title="Lucy gibt zu: Ich stehe auch auf Frauen!"|work=Just4Fun Magazin|url=http://www.just4fun-magazin.de/news/lucy_gibt_zu+_ich_stehe_auch_auf_frauen.html|accessdate=2007-06-10] While they are seen dancing in front of running printing presses throughout most of the video, intercut with face shots and some male dancers, close shots of the paper's pages reveal the background of the page-one catchline 'Girlband Shocker': Each of them has to deal with intense media scrutiny, including rumors of alleged bisexuality, incest, and physical aggression, among others. Although slightly autobiographical, Lucy Diakovska has denied that the headlines were inspired by real-life events.cite web|title=2002 Interview|work=YouTube|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzXQCvAtdpo|accessdate=2007-12-27] "The video is not about certain events," Jessica Wahls added, "but [it's] about how we've felt the past year, [about] what happened to us and the band."

The video won an ECHO at the 2003 ECHO Awards in the category "Videoclip National."cite web|title=ECHO Winners|work=Chartsservice|url=http://www.chartsservice.de/echo.htm|accessdate=2007-12-22]

Chart performance

Upon its release on May 6, 2002, "Something about Us" became the band's third single to debut on the top position of the German "Media Control" singles chartcite web|title=Chart History|work=Chartsurfer|url=http://www.chartsurfer.de/titeldetails/9704/something-about-us-like-ice-in-the-sunshine.html] as well as the group's third non-consecutive number-one hit within a period of sixteen months. It stayed at the top of the chart for four consecutive weeks, seven weeks in the Top 10, sixteen weeks inside the Top 100 (making its last appearance on the chart one week prior to the entry of follow-up single "Still in Love with You"); and received a platinum certification by the German arm of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. However, the song was one of a total of eleven number-one hits that year, but failed to reach the Top 10 of the biggest-selling singles of the year and was eventually ranked eleventh on the German "Media Control" singles year-end charts.cite web|title=Single-Charts des Jahres 2002|work=FOCUS Online|url=http://www.focus.de/D/DF/DFM/DFM01/DFM01A/DFM01AC/dfm01ac.htm?musik=maxi]

The song also became the band's third number-one hit in Austria where it debuted at number four on May 19, 2002,cite web|title=Austrian Chart History|work=Austriancharts.at|url=http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=No+Angels&titel=Something+About+Us&cat=s|accessdate=2006-12-28] before climbing to number one the next week. It spend one week on top of the singles charts only, but remained six weeks inside the Top 10 and twenty-one weeks in total,cite web|title=Full History|work=Top40-Chart|url=http://www.top40-charts.com/song.php?sid=4015|accessdate=2006-11-14] receiving a gold certification by the IFPI Austria and charting inside the thirty biggest-selling singles of 2002.cite web|title='Gold & Platinum' database|work=IFPI Austria|url=http://www.ifpi.at/u_frame.php3?seite=search.php3&a_id=9|accessdate=2006-12-28] In Switzerland, "Something about Us" underperformed in its first week, debuting on number thirty-one only.cite web|title=Swiss Chart History|work=Hipararde.ch|url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=No+Angels&titel=Something+About+Us&cat=s|accessdate=2006-12-28] In the following week, it jumped to number eleven due to a major increase in sales and radio support, but it would become the band's first single not to reach the Top 10.

The single became another top twenty hit for the band when it peaked at number eleven on the composite European Official Top 100 chart. While it declined constantly there, the song saw an up and down going trajectory on the World Singles Top 100, eventually peaking at number thirty-six in late October - two month after its first official release. "Something about Us" fared better in the official Airplay World 100, reaching its peak position, number twenty-two, in its third week only.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single-releases of "Something about Us".

;CD single I
# "Something about Us" (Latin radio edit)
# "Something about Us" (R&B single edit)
# "Something about Us" (Club radio edit)
# "Something about Us" (Extended edit)
# "Like Ice in the Sunshine"

Credits and personnel

*Vocals: N. Benaissa, L. Diakovska, S. Mölling, V. Petruo, J. Wahls
*Writers: V. Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas
*Producer: T. Brötzmann
*Co-production and mixing: Jeo
* Keyboards: T. Brötzmann, Jeo
* Drum programming: T. Brötzmann, Jeo
* Guitar: Peter Weihe
* Recorded at the Park Studios, Tutzing, Lake Starnberg

Charts

Worldwide

References

ee also

* List of Austrian number-one hits of 2002
* Number-one hits of 2002 (Germany)

External links

*Youtube|IiHgXKjA_ZI|"Something about Us" music video

s-ttl | title = Austrian Singles Chart number-one single
years = June 2 2002 – June 8 2002 s-ttl | title = German Singles Chart number-one single
years = May 17 2002 – June 16 2002