S!sters — Carlotta Truman and Laurita Spinelli — will represent Germany at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv with their song “Sister”. It’s a mid-tempo track which encourages women to stop the drama and get along.
German broadcaster NDR selected S!sters through its Unser Lied für Israel selection show. S!sters emerged victorious from a field of seven, beating out favourites such as Aly Ryan and Lilly Among Clouds. They topped the international jury and televote, but only ranked fifth with international fans.
With Tel Aviv growing ever nearer, we’ve decided to gather 10 facts about Gemany’s S!sters. Let’s do this!
1. S!sters are the third German female duo
Back in 1959, Alice and Ellen Kessler was the first German female duo at Eurovision. They performed “Heute abend wollen wir tanzen geh’n (We Wanna Dance Tonight) and placed eighth out of eleven. Since then, Germany has sent lots of solo representatives and only one other female duo — the mother-daughter duo Maxi & Chris Garden in 1988. They placed 14th of 21.
2. Carlotta participated on The Voice Kids
Eurovision is not Carlotta’s first TV singing competition. Back in 2014, she participated on The Voice Kids in Germany. She made it all the way to the final and finished as a runner up. Earlier, all three coaches turned for her blind audition, including Eurovision 2010 winner Lena. However, she opted to join Johannes Strate’s team. He was part of the international jury in the German selection and gave S!sters his 12 points.
3. She also competed on Germany’s Got Talent
Even though she was only 14 at the time, The Voice was not Truman’s first dalliance with a casting show. Back in 2009, nine-year-old Carlotta competed in the German version of the Got Talent franchise — Das Supertalent. She also reached the final.
4. Laurita won the Austrian Kiddy Contest
Laurita also dabbled with talent shows as a child. Since 1995, there is a show in Austria called Kiddy Contest which is open to children aged eight to 14. Every year, ten kids from around Austria, Germany and Switzerland sing recent pop songs which are reworked with German lyrics. These lyrics are completely new, rather than literal translations. Laurita won the show back in 2002 — almost 17 years ago. In the final, she performed “Crying at the Discoteque” by Alcazar.
5. Laurita was a backing singer for Lena
You all know the second ever German Eurovision winner — Lena Meyer-Landrut. She won the trophy in 2010 with “Satellite”. Since then, Lena has had a very successful music career in Germany. And Laurita has played a small part, providing backing vocals for the star on tour. She’s also supported the German singer Sarah Connor — not to be confused with the fictional Terminator character.
6. Carlotta imitated Lena in 2011
In the run up to Eurovision 2011 in Düsseldorf, German broadcaster ARD aired the show Show für Deutschland. The focus was on Eurovision and its history, with appearances from star guests like Lena. Not only did the real Lena drop by, but there was also a Lena double in the form of Carlotta. She performed “Satellite” and the resemblance was uncanny.
7. Laurita comes from a musical family
Laurita and Carlotta aren’t related, as y’all surely know at this point. But in real life, Laurita has an actual sister. She too is a singer and performs under the name Jennifer Kae. Like Laurita, she also took part in TV talent shows, resulting in a top five chart hit with the song “Smile”. As for the rest of the Kästel family — Spinelli is just Laurita’s stage name — her father is a pianist and her mother a singer.
8. Carlotta is a record-breaking award winner
Aside from TV contests, Carlotta has also received much critical acclaim. In 2011, she won the Best Solo Singer at the German Pop & Rock Awards. This was the first time a 12 years old child was nominated for (and won) the award.
9. “Sister” was originally entered in the Swiss selection process
The night “Sister” won in Germany, Swiss broadcaster SRF tweeted “We are very pleased that a song from the Swiss songwriting camp has won”. This was in reference to the fact that the song was originally created during a June 2018 songwriting camp for Switzerland. However, the Swiss failed to find the appropriate singers and allowed the songwriters to take the song to Germany.
10. S!sters were created by the German broadcaster
The duo were a late addition to the ULFI line-up, that’s because NDR struggled to find two singers to fit the song. However, both Carlotta and Laurita were already on their radar. Carlotta had applied for this year’s process with Carlotta & The Truman Show, ranking 53rd out of 1,000 with the Eurovision jury. Laurita had entered the year previously as part of a trio called Diamonds, alongside her sister and another singer. Producers worked with multiple singers, but ultimately felt Carlotta and Laurita were the best match. Thus, S!sters was born.
Are you excited to see S!sters in Tel Aviv? Can they follow in the footsteps of Lena? Let us know in the comments.
Read more Eurovision 2019 artist facts here.
same here my last place. I find them offputting
They’re probably the youngest act that Germany has sent in recent years. Also Carlotta has an impressive resume, almost as big as Serbia’s Nevena!
Didn’t Germany send a female duo in 1988?
11. They’re not “sisters” believe it or not
After one good year Germany is back to its usual form. A clear contender for the last place.
IMO Germany is probably highly motivated by their success last year (well done!) so yes, I’d say they are planning something biggish. But we shall see.
Well I still prefer Germany 2019 to Germany 2018.
Yes, everyone in the German Eurovision community is still confused at why THIS is the entry that the NDR wanted to push through so badly. We just gave up by now.
Thomas Schreiber (responsible for the national final) still thinks he knows what he’s doing, just because Michael Schulte came 4th last year. That was just pure luck on Schreiber’s side tbh. By making “Sisters” happen, he proved once and for all, that he can’t be trusted with this and he needs to go. Yeah…
Didn’t he already say he was resigning?
He has to go, I agree, but I guess he won’t.
Avantasia’ Blood red rose was the best entry Germany screwed up and never sent
After reading these facts, I am not surprised that they won the national selection. It looks like the German broadcaster wanted them …
Wrong numbers in here.
Carlotta reached the final of „Das Supertalent“ but you used the semifinal votes. In the final, she ended up eleventh of twelve contestants.
11. S!sters borrow the exclamation point from global megastar and touring artist P!nk. The 2 acts have nothing else in common.
Most of the time, fans just refer to her as just “Pink” without the stylized exclamation point.
its incredibly lame and so are they