Now... Us!

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. A pop record with different genres such as Europop, teen pop, electro, and dance, ''Elle'ments'' combined elements from pop rock, drum and bass, and contemporary R&B, but while it became one of the fastest-selling German albums in music history, No Angels still struggled with the clichés and prejudices generally associated with their manufactured band image, which made them appear as externally controlled reality TV products rather than ambitious artists. Frustrated by both the public perception and the group's A&R-dominated musical development, band member Vanessa Petruo asked for a release from her contract after her first year with the band, but had her mind changed when Cheyenne Records decided on supporting her wish for more creative control and thus offered the band to contribute own songs to their next 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. 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. == 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 editor Joachim Gauger declared the album as "teen-pop" on "average level," MusikWoche found that the album was "clearly superior to the songs of their debut album. With Now ... Us!, No Angels take a promising first step on the way to the seriously increasing pop act, which still has a lot to expect for the girls' future careers." Upon its release, Now... Us! became the band's second consecutive studio album to top the German Albums Chart, Although "2 Get Over U" was planned to be released a special Christmas single with UK popstars Hear'Say at times, it was eventually shelved following the moderate success of their single "Pure and Simple" (2001) throughout German-speaking Europe. It was replaced by lead single "Something about Us" and its B-side "Like Ice in the Sunshine." "Something about Us" became the band's third non-consecutive number-one hit on the German and Austrian Singles Chart within a period of 16 months, and reached a peak position of 11 on the Swiss Singles Chart. Second single, "Still in Love with You", reached the top 5 in Germany and Austria. Third single "Let's Go to Bed" ended the run of No Angels' consecutive top ten songs in Germany, and failed to chart on the Swiss Hitparade. A previously unreleased fourth single, the Alison Moyet cover "All Cried Out" was included on the November 2002 released Special Winter Edition reissue of the album. == Track listing ==

Notes • denotes co-producer == Credits and personnel ==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Now... Us!. Performers and musicians • Curly Ausmer – guitar • Thorsten Brötzmann – keyboards, guitar • Laszlo Benker – various • Jewgeni Birkhoff – electric piano • Bela "B. La" Brauckmann – percussion • Sven Bünger – acoustic guitar • James Caldwell – backing vocalist • Julian Feifel – various • Linda Freeland – backing vocalist • Thorsten Fuchs – guitar • Inez Haynes – backing vocalist • Stravos Iannou – acoustic guitar • Fan Fan La Tulip – guitar • Manfred Honetschläger – conductor • Sami Khatib – various • Michael Knauer – keyboards • George Kopecsni – various • Peter Koobs – guitar • Franca Morgano – backing vocalist • Johan Lindman – guitar • S.L.O. Warschau – strings • Ossi Schalle – various • Ingo Schröder – rhythm guitar • Berni Schwarz – various • Daniel Throa – backing vocalist, keyboard, percussion, guitar • Peter Weihe – guitar • Peter Wölpl – various • Stephan Zeh – various Technical and artwork • Peter Boström – mixing engineer • Tim Brettschneider – producer • Thorsten Brötzmann – producer, programming • Dirk Decker – recording engineer • Fahrenheit & Kelvin – producer • Pit Floss – mixing engineer • Nik Hafemann – producer, recording supervisor • Frank Hellum – producer • Sven Jacobsen – photography • Felix Knöchel – engineer • Dirk Kurock – recording engineer • Martin Langer – drum programming • Frank Lio – producer • Andy "N-Dee" Lutschounig • Leslie Mándoki – producer • Joachim "Jeo" Mezei – co-producer, programming • Mousse T. – engineer, producer • Nick Nice – mixing engineer, producer, programming • Perky Park – producer • Ronald Rensberg – artwork • Peter Ries – producer • Royal Garden Sound – producer • Pontus Söderqvist – producer, programming • Sandi "S." Schumann – producer • Spok – engineer • Mike "Spike" Streefkerk – mixing engineer • Syndicate – producer • Daniel Troha – producer • Wolfgang "D. Fact" von Webenau – producer • Ronny Wikmark – producer • Benjamin Wolf – photography • Stephan Zeh – mixing engineer == Leftover tracks ==

• "Since I Found You" (written by Vanessa Petruo, Thorsten Brötzmann, Alexander Geringas) (appeared on the Four Seasons Tour setlist) == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==