Now ... Us!

Writing and recording process

After a short break from public at the turn of the year 2001 the No Angels members reunited in February 2002 to begin working on their second album in Munich and Hamburg. Asked to contribute own ideas and skills to guarantee a more personal album after fast-recorded debut Elle'ments (2001), each member of the group focused on writing lyrics and melodies on her own - assisted by a wide range of different musicians and songwriters, including Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas, Nik Hafemann, Thomas Anders and Christian Geller. In the end five self-written songs made it to the final track list, four of them lead sung by a different member, and Vanessa Petruo-penned "Something about Us" emerging as the album's lead single. While another eleven songs were included on the album, primarily produced by Peter Ries, Mousse T, and Leslie Mandoki, Now ... Us! was eventually named as a reference to the band's own musical input into the album.

The album cut "2 Get Over U" was originally recorded as a duet with UK popstars Hear'Say, and was scheduled to be released as a special Christmas single in December 2001. However, due to Hear'Say's limited fame in Germany (their debut single "Pure and Simple" peaked at number 83 only) Polydor and Cheyenne Records decided to exclude the band's vocals from the song and moved it back to a spring 2002 launch. Although the No Angels premiered the song on the The Dome 21 in Stuttgart on March 1, 2003 and a release date was set on March 18, 2002, "2 Get Over You" was eventually shelved as the lead single from Now ... Us! - in favour of self-written "Something about Us" and its b-side "Like Ice in the Sunshine."

Release and reception

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," laut.de declared the album as "teen-pop" on "average level." Matthias Eisen from CDStarts cited the album "dissembling ... cheesy and cliched", sharply criticizing the cover songs on Now ... Us!. However, the No Angels' second album became a major success: It debuted on top of the German albums chart, and at number 2 and 4 on the Austrian and Swiss albums chart respectively. Now ... Us! ranked twelfth on the German Media Control year-end charts.

Although "2 Get Over U" was still considered to be released as a single at times, Now ... Us! spawned three singles only: The album's lead single, "Something about Us"/"Like Ice in the Sunshine", became the band's third non-consecutive number-one hit on the German and Austrian Singles Chart within a period of sixteen month, but failed to enter the Siwss top ten with a peak position of 11. The second single, "Still in Love with You", reached the top 5 in Germany and Austria, and became the band's first top ten hit since 2001's "When the Angels Sing/Atlantis". By contrast, the single edit of "Let's Go to Bed" ended the run of the No Angels' consecutive top 10 songs in Germany, and charted outside the Swiss 100. A previously unreleased fourth single, "All Cried Out" was included on a November 2002 released Special Winter Edition of the album.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Now ... Us!.

Production

Leftover tracks