being a gen z fan in a 99% millenial fandom

I'm being nice with 99%. I think there should be around 3 fans of this group that's younger than 30 atp and I am the only one thats annoying enough on the internet about them. If you take a look on to my profile, you won't be surprised, I'm of course talking about the No Angels, the only german girl group still active and touring (let's pour one out for the hopes of the Monrose reunion...) and probably the most important german girl group after the rap group Tic Tac Toe (a.k.a german TLC). As they debuted in 2001 and were releasing (ABSOLUTELY BANGER) music from 2001 - 2003 and then 2007 - 2009, and weren't really majorly active in the 2010s, they are pretty much millenial icons, the relics of a time where 5 million young german sat in front of the TV and talked about the Tv program the next day on the school playground, when sending SMS messages cost money, you waited for the radio to play your fave songs, you get it. We're on the myspace revival site ffs. 

Also, the industry majorly changed from 2010-2011 onwards from the co-existing english-speaking teen pop music with german language rock and indie music to exclusively german-language, toned down, more "adult" indie and rock music. If any act from the 2000s was still active by that time, then they would have to switch over or just stop promoting altogether, plus all the relics of that time - the TV stations with music shows, MTV, VIVA, variety and game shows, TV music shows, year-end award shows... all stopped existing. Media fragmented into the social media platforms and traditional forms of media started showing dying signs. This was the media landscape I grew up in. We were the children of a dying monoculture. 

I discovered the No Angels and Monrose this year through Spotify, and got into the fandoms and their culture through a popular meme account, Galerie Arschgeweih. I am now active in the fandom posting pictures, aesthetic core edits (I love making weirdcore edits) and memes, and I have like 30 followers LOL. But it is sooo interesting to be a gen z in a millenial world, as their humour and their understanding of life and the artists is so much different than mine. 

I see these groups and acts as artists that I discovered, they know them as childhood heroes. 

They have memories with them, I am making memories with them as I go. 

I look back on their history as a tool to understand why they do certain things today. They look back on their history out of the lens of their memories and what that did with them. 

They learnt about how the industry did their idols wrong once they were adults. I knew about the pitfalls of the industry when I was 13.

I have seen the worst and best of international social media fandom culture through Kpop stan twitter and reddit, where I "grew up" in and left end of last year. They are still trying to shift the fandom from analog to digital and are still very much landlocked in german-speaking europe. 

They are more fearless in their approach to artists and expressing their feelings to them, be it positive and negative, as social media is a way of directly communicating with the artists which they didn't have before. I am very much careful in my interactions with artists as I know of the dangers and problems of social media for artists as I grew up in it. 

I grew up on no monoculture, having my own interests that were unlike the others thus making me "uncool". They had a formula for being "cool" which was participating in the monoculture. 

and so on....

I'm not saying one is better than the other... both can have its pros and cons. A mutual of mine on my fan account asked me to particpate in their forum (which they have been running since 2007-2008) saying "you have the humour that 90% of the fanbase doesn't have". And yes, I have an unique perspective on some things, that's true. But I missed out on SO, SO many things. I missed out on experiencing the rush of joy of seeing one of the members make it into the band. I missed out on getting my hands on merch. I missed out on standing in line to buy their new album. I missed out on the No Angels reunion in 2021 and their concerts which I heard was one of the best concerts they've ever given. I am taking it all in second-hand, feeling my own way that no one else feels. I am missing out on the collective experience of fandom, and I do mourn that. 

I can't blame myself though. I was born 2004. I was born after their first disbandment and by the time they disbanded again I was 6 years old. I never grew up watching german TV, I am learning so much more about the industry and different TV stations out of the same, nostalgia tinted glasses of the millenials talking about their days, and it is up to me to either take it in that way, or sit down and go "hold up, something's not wrong". 

Especially when it comes to social issues like racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, toxic beauty standards, power imbalances and double standards, I am way more aware of them and can also see the past through that lens (the classic "gen z cancels everything!!1!!" mentality lol). And yes, even in regards to the No Angels, SO many moments in the group's history is laden with one of the above mentioned social issues and someone has to talk about it! Not to make anyone feel bad, but to show that these issues aren't new and are as old as time and to also tell the victims of these moments that their feelings were/are valid. 

So yeah. It is quite an interesting experience, and I do enjoy seeing the differences and similarities, and I will be updating yall if anything happens. 

My fan account is called noangelscore on insta btw, if anyone is interested to take a look!

Now go stream Feelgood Lies by No Angels!