To their own surprise, German singers Carlotta Truman (19) and Laurita Spinelli (26) won the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and will represent their country in Tel Aviv in May under the name S!sters. Their duet ‘Sister’ is about two girls who realize they should stop fighting and competiting and instead will have each other’s backs in the future. A Bit of Pop Music talked to them about the feeling of representing Germany at Eurovision, what the song means to them and their obsession with their colleagues from the Czech Republic.
Both you girls seemed shocked and overwhelmed when you won the national final. How are you feeling now?
Laurita: “I was honestly scared when we won. I was thinking about how big the show in Tel Aviv is going to be and how nerve wrecking the whole experience is. We did not expect to win at all.”
Carlotta: “I’m actually still scared! It is like the two of us are the whole national team for the soccer world cup. I imagine this is what it feels like. We are representing a whole country. That is so crazy!”
And you guys did not even know each other that long before this whole adventure right?
Laurita: “No, we did not know each other before the song ‘Sister’ brought us together. We had one phone call that was very special to me, when I heard her voice for the first time. I was kind of scared when I heard she was only 19 years old and I was not sure if it all would work out, but she is so grown up! And it helps that I behave very young for my age too! It turned out to be the perfect match!”
How do you keep each other calm in this whole Eurovision circus?
Carlotta: “Laurita always needs to calm me down. She is always chill, while I stress out easily.”
Laurita: “At the same time, she is the one to give me a kick in the butt when I am a little bit too chill. I can be too laidback sometimes and that is when she tells me we need to get a move on.”
Your song ‘Sister’ is all about sticking together as women, instead of competing with each other . What does it mean to you personally?
Laurita: “The song could have been about sisters and brothers, but as women this is an important message for us. Not a lot of people have made songs about the situations we describe in ‘Sister’ and it is important for us to spread this message.”
Carlotta: “We see that it means a lot to others as well. We get a lot of messages on our Instagram from other girls telling us about similar experiences with women. They tell us how they felt bad about the fights they had and how they cope with it now. They even ask us to post letters they wrote for their ‘sisters’. We feel that girls recognize themselves in the song and it is important for us that our song could help them.”
Who do you think will be your biggest competition in Eurovision?
Laurita & Carlotta singing: “Friend of a friend of a friend of a friend!”
Laurita: “We love Lake Malawi’s ‘Friend of a Friend’ (Czech Republic). When I heard it for the first time, I was like: ‘Ouch! This is so good!’. Then I realized it was stuck in my head immediately and I was singing it all day too. I was even nervous when I just met Albert, the lead-singer of the band.”
Carlotta: “We were like crazy fan girls, I swear!”
What is your first memory of watching the Eurovision Song Contest?
Carlotta: “For me, that was watching the German preselection. I must have been about three years old. We watched it every single year, and that time Die Gerd Show was competing (this happened in 2003 so Carlotta was right about being three years old). There was a dressed up doll-like figure on stage and I remember being scared out of my mind!”
If you had to cover one song in the history of Eurovision, which one would it be?
Carlotta & Laurita singing again: “Friend of a friend of a friend of a friend!”
Are you girls going to keep working together after Eurovision, maybe making an album?
Laurita: “We already know for sure that we will still be working together!”
Carlotta: “Sisterhood forever!”
So an album is coming?
Carlotta & Laurita with a meaningful long pause playfully: “Maybe… We think so…”
We will take that as a yes! Good luck in Tel Aviv S!sters!