“I wanna be daylight in your eyes…” — most Millennials in Germany can probably finish this lyric in their sleep. In 2001 the No Angels shot to fame with the song in a flash. A year earlier, Lucy, Nadja, Sandy, Vanessa, and Jessica had beaten more than 4,000 rivals and won the casting show “Popstars.”
Twenty-five years later, the women look back at the roller-coaster history of their girl group in the three-part ARD documentary series “No Angels — This Is Us!” Since October 14, the three episodes are available in ARD’s Mediathek. On October 17 they will also air at 11:55 p.m. on Das Erste.
Also speaking in the documentary are fellow travelers, such as the choreographer and former “Popstars” coach Detlef D. Soost. Vanessa Petruo is no longer in the public eye and is not part of the conversation.
With a wealth of archival footage, the series charts the rapid ascent of five young, inexperienced women. “Popstars” was, at the time, the first casting show of its kind; “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” didn’t exist yet. The contestants had little idea what lay ahead. “I didn’t know that a girl group was being cast. I didn’t know anything,” Jessica Wahls recalls in the documentary.
The No Angels as Germany’s Spice Girls
The people behind the show knew exactly what they wanted: “They should become the German Spice Girls,” says former “Popstars” producer Christiane Knaup. And they achieved that. With a lesbian member and two Black women, the band’s lineup was unusually diverse for its time.
Many fans could identify with the No Angels. Girls across Germany plastered their bedrooms with No Angels posters, cut out magazine photos, collected autographs, and rushed to electronics stores to buy the latest CDs.
Personal crises become the test of the group
In the series you see the newly formed No Angels hearing “Daylight in Your Eyes” for the first time. The documentary reveals that the song wasn’t entirely new and had originally been written for someone else. The No Angels took it to number one on the German charts. The accompanying album, “Elle’ments,” would sell at least a million copies. For Sandy Mölling, “Daylight” carries a kind of love-hate dynamic. “I sang it far too many times. But I love the song, of course. It’s a fixed part of my life.”
With that meteoric success came enormous pressure that weighed heavily on the young women. “Our month could’ve had 60 days and that still wouldn’t have been enough,” Jessica Wahls says. The series candidly discusses crises among individual band members that nearly tore the group apart, such as Jessica’s pregnancy—which temporarily sidelined her from the band—and Nadja Benaissa’s HIV infection and the ensuing court case.
“No Angels — This Is Us!” is an honest look at the highs and lows of the reality-world of pop stardom. It’s especially touching to see how close and trusting the women remain to this day. Between them there is a primal trust, says Sandy Mölling. Nadja, Lucy, and Jessica are like family. “We share things, but not every day,” Jessica Wahls tells dpa. Yet after a few weeks of silence, they can pick up right where they left off. “It’s a kind of soul kinship.”
For former fans or current No Angels enthusiasts, the series delivers many warm nostalgia moments in a 2000s vibe, complete with tramp stamps, low-rise jeans, The Dome performances, and Detlef D. Soost’s tears.
Comeback During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Since their formation in 2000, the No Angels have undergone several breakups and reunions. For some teenagers, the band’s breakup felt like the end of the world. The latest comeback came in 2020.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a surprising wave of interest built up. The No Angels’ music began to surface on Spotify for the first time. For many, it was a welcome distraction—“everyone yearned for warmth and a comforting feeling,” Wahls notes. They never anticipated that the resurgence would become so huge that, two years later, the group would headline a major open-air concert in Berlin.
Direct link | Trailer for the documentary series
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What Has Changed in 25 Years
Now the No Angels have been together for six years—the longest stretch in the group’s history. Today, working together feels less stressful than in the early days. “We do the things we want to do,” Wahls says. Each member has her own commitments. Lucy Diakovska runs a hotel in her homeland of Bulgaria; Jessica Wahls works for MDR and also teaches yoga. Summer is the time that the No Angels come alive, and the women have agreed that it’s their season each year.
How long will the No Angels stay on stage together? “There are four different opinions,” Wahls says with a laugh. Who knows—maybe they will celebrate their 40th and 50th anniversaries together. “We’ll see.”
