They blew up with their first album and were a GLOBAL phenomenon with their first two eras (2006-2008). They even got a VMA for Best New Artist which is a huge feat.

 

But then in 2009 they disappeared from the public eye. 

 

Where did they go wrong?

 

 

Edited June 28, 20224 yr by bocelli

The fans got older.

They had the same problem as LaFee, the rock sound that made them famous got replaced by EDM and the fans outgrew them. Plus their image for the second album was very off-brand and not straight enough.

Idk but "Monsoon" remains an exquisite classic. 

I remember girls in my class being obsessed with this band in middle school 

They were not gonna stay big that long tbh, their sound was on its way out and their fans probably outgrew them, Monsoon, Don't Jump, Ready Set Go and Automatic were those songs tho, especially the first two.

Edited June 28, 20224 yr by UnusualBoy

The lead singer is ugly

7 minutes ago, PopKills said:

LaFee

I remember when she tried to go a lot more mainstream pop. I actually liked Ich bin and was a bit bummed for her that it didn't take off.

I would argue that they did a lot of things right. The teenage emo-rock-pop image was not sustainable (I mean they were literally children when they started, of course they didn't have things figured out). However, they managed to build a core fanbase and after a short hiatus during the EDM craze they continued and continue nowadays to tour and release music regularly.

I grew up basically in the the same town and at the same time as them and although I don't particularly like their music, I think the last few years they've handled themselves better than ever. 

Edited June 28, 20224 yr by The Next Day

Automatic wasn't that bad tho. They still had a big success with it and worldwide tour, but then that long break caused for many people to just forget them. I remember getting kind of excited when they announced new album in 2014, but the music was... Absolute disaster. And that's me being nice 

5 minutes ago, The7thStranger said:

I remember when she tried to go a lot more mainstream pop. I actually liked Ich bin and was a bit bummed for her that it didn't take off.

It was good but extremely off-brand for her which alienated her fan base. Then she semi-retired and came back with an album full of German-sung covers of 80s songs + a ripoff of Dua’s Physical last year and did okay, maybe she’ll have a proper comeback soon.

Their Myspace aesthetic aged them quick.

 

This song is still a bop though

 

This era was such a fever dream tbh, all the talk about the lead singer being male or female..

They were the Maneskin of their time!

 

6 minutes ago, PopKills said:

It was good but extremely off-brand for her which alienated her fan base. Then she semi-retired and came back with an album full of German-sung covers of 80s songs + a ripoff of Dua’s Physical last year and did okay, maybe she’ll have a proper comeback soon.

I thought I was going crazy. I knew it sounded familiar!

6 minutes ago, PopKills said:

It was good but extremely off-brand for her which alienated her fan base. Then she semi-retired and came back with an album full of German-sung covers of 80s songs + a ripoff of Dua’s Physical last year and did okay, maybe she’ll have a proper comeback soon.

She could pull off what Tokio Hotel did with a transition album (and not hire the most useless producer ever). Obviously people still check for her. That's where Tokio Hotel went right when they did Love Who Loves You Back and followed that with Dream Machine, expanding on the sound that works for them and the fans.

A lot went wrong. To some of you, they might seems like they were on top of the world. But to people who were in the scene, they are only after thought, seen as the label plant with calculated an contrived music, and the butt of a joke.
 

Nobody who listens to emo would said it out loud that they listens to Tokio Hotel. They were the guilty pleasure of early 2000s scene music.

They debuted right when dance music was taking over (thanks Lady Gaga) and couldn't keep up with trends. In addition, the world was not ready for a rock band with such a flamboyant lead.

They missed a duet with Rina on Tokyo Love Hotel.

1 hour ago, bocelli said:

They even got a VMA for Best New Artist which is a huge feat.

It is, though it's very easily to explain this as a fluke of sorts: that year the nominations for the general awards were fan-voted (they opened up 2 new categories on Fridays, during FNMTV, and you had a week to vote on the nominees).  And starting the year prior (IIRC), the winner of BNA was also fan-voted.

 

So it's likely that rabid fan voting is how they made it into 2 high-profile categories (BNA and Pop Video) despite the song only peaking at #19 of the Bubbling Under chart, and then lost the category that wasn't decided by online votes.

 

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do in the Youtube comments section of VMA videos is mention that they beat Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus for that BNA award (and Jordin Sparks, though her career didn't reach the heights of the other 3). Some people are just SHOCKED by it!  

I love them, I love how every album they make it a different Style!  think they always been underrated. just think there emo stuff was more successful then there New Wave sound 

On 6/29/2022 at 1:02 AM, katara said:

The lead singer is ugly

that is def not true.

 

 

 

On 6/28/2022 at 5:54 PM, PopKills said:

They had the same problem as LaFee, the rock sound that made them famous got replaced by EDM and the fans outgrew them. Plus their image for the second album was very off-brand and not straight enough.

this

I don't think anything went wrong tbh.

They were HUGE (at least in Europe and I guess they got some exposure in USA as well) for the first couple of years and you can't really sustain that massive peak forever, of course you're going to decline at some point.

They should’ve pushed Love Who Loves You Back in the states. ??‍♂️