I think Senna had the edge because she was really outspoken throughout the season and always made people laugh. She was also „the mother“ of the other contestants so that’s why she was so likeable.
Mandy & Bahar were best friends and everyone loved their friendship. Mandy was truly the general publics favorite. Everyone was rooting for her.
Bahar just turned everyone over when she sang her version of „Shame“ and started to cry in the middle of the song.
The season was the most successful season ever with ratings around 5 Mio. per episode which is really huge in Germany and so it was no shocker that Temptation & Shame both went from 0 to No.1 and went double platinum.
It was then kind of weird to see them participate on the german national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest just after 3 months they were formed. (cause usually only has-beens or flops would participate)
Because they had such a massive success with their 1st Album everyone thought they’re going to win the selection but they just came 2nd and after that the real struggle began. The press and media were writing them off and no one believed that they’re going to last.
Do That Dance was ready to be the 3rd single but thank god they ditched that idea and went with a new song instead.
They performed a slightly different version once which I guess was the Single Mix:
Their Label and Management told them that they need a make or break song. If they flop, they’re going to get dropped.
So they got Hot Summer. The 1st time they performed that song was on the finale of „Germany’s Next Topmodel“. That performance was such a moment.
My Dad still has my CD of the TV rip in his car haha.
It went to No.1 and was definitely the song of the summer. It was everywhere.
Their 2nd Album Strictly Physical really cemented their place in the charts since all 3 singles were hits & went to the Top10.
With „I AM“ their label thought they could just re-create the Hot Summer moment but sadly that was not the case.
Strike The Match only went to the Top10 for one week and it didn’t had an impact like their last singles did.
Since Strike The Match „flopped“ the initial album got scrapped and they went to the studio to get more songs.
Cover & tracklist was slightly different:
1. Why Not Us (03:30)
2. Strike The Match (02:55)
3. Don't Touch The Fader (03:19)
4. Certified (03:07)
5. Going Out Tonight (02:51)
6. Step Aside (03:06)
7. No Never (03:46)
8. Electricity (02:57)
9. After Making Love (04:30)
10. Hit 'N' Run (03:14)
11. Stained (03:37)
12. What They Want (03:52)
13. My Journey To The Sky [Acapella] (01:18)
So „A Love Bizarre, You Can Look, Tip Toe, Teach Me How To Jump & Stolen“ were all added to the tracklist and Step Aside got reduced to an Itunes bonus track while After Making Love stayed a b-side.
My Journey To The Sky was a gospel they always loved to sing before performances:
No Never was by the way a Kylie „X“ reject and one of the songs was first intended for the Sugababes but i can’t remember which.
There was a lot of going on behind the scenes during that era.
The girls wanted to release „Hit’n Run“ for the 2nd single but their label wanted to have „Why Not Us“, so they compromised by choosing their choice as the 2nd single and the labels choice as the 3rd. I think that was the time when the label started to hate them and not to show any kind of support.
They had no support during the Hit’N Run release and no big performances were made except that horrendous popstars performance. The release was so messed up since at first there were no plans to release a maxi single (CD) which was so stupid since their core audience were little kids who still bought the singles and downloads were not in common back then.
After fans protesting they changed their minds and released a 2-Track maxi single one week AFTER the release of I AM with No Never as a b-side which was already on the album. Even for the album release they only had a little radio tour but it still got to #9.
The label was just amazed by Why Not Us since it was by Guy Chambers and they thought that the name would sell the song. They did an amazing video for the song and they had a lot of promo slots but the song only charted at #27 and was their worst chart position so far. The girls hated that song so much. They only performed it during the single release and never performed it ever again. Senna said they were forced to put that song on the album. (the same goes for Tip Toe)
There was also an A&R change within their label and the new A&R was not too keen on the girls since they wanted to have more control over their career and didn’t like some actions the label did.
Then there was the long break between the release of I AM and their last album Ladylike.
During that break there was so much going on. The new girlband „Queensberry“ was formed and got signed under the same label as Monrose.
Monrose were paid dust while Queensberry got a lot of support from the label. Everything they did wrong with Monrose they suddenly made right with Queensberry.
The girls self-funded the live band during festivals since they wanted to sing live and didn’t want to rely on a backing track.
Anyway there was that moment when the label finally realized that Monrose were the far superior band (and also since Queensberry’s 2nd album flopped really hard): Monrose won against all odds the german award „Comet“ for best band. You can see by their excitement how much they appreciated that award. Even I just teared up a bit watching it again haha.
„Holger, can’t you see, this band loves you“ by Senna shows how frustrated and disconnected they were with the label since he was a part of their A&R and the chief of the label. I think that was a crucial turning point for the band and the label.
With Ladylike everything seemed to finally work out for the girls. The label was really invested in them but this time you could tell by watching interviews that the girls weren’t in it anymore. I think Bahar and Mandy, but especially Bahar, didn’t want to go further anymore since they wanted to explore more of themselves and were fed up being in the shadow of Senna since she dominated most of their interviews.
Bahar told during her promo for her solo record that she didn’t like her image of the cute girl from next door and couldn’t show more of her personality while being in the band. Bahar was the first who left their management and didn’t want to keep in contact with the other 2.
Senna never wanted the band to disband and always told the press that she still believes in a comeback but ever since Mandy and her hate each other it’s not going to happen.
