Vanilla Ninja
Vanilla Ninja are a three-piece Estonian girl band which has enjoyed chart success in a number of countries across Europe, especially in Germany and Austria. The group was formed in 2002 and released their self-titled album Vanilla Ninja, containing songs in both English and Estonian, the following year. They have entered national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest twice, failing the first time but proving successful in Switzerland with the song "Cool Vibes". They then finished 8th in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 final, despite topping the leader board at the half-way stage. Vanilla Ninja are very popular in their native Estonia and have had a brand of both ice cream and kohuke named after them, marketed exclusively in their homeland due to their celebrity status in Estonia.
The group have so far released four albums in various countries across Europe; Vanilla Ninja was released in 2003, Traces of Sadness in 2004, and Blue Tattoo and Best Of in 2005.
The band were originally a four-piece group consisting of Maarja Kivi, Lenna Kuurmaa, Katrin Siska and Piret Järvis. Maarja Kivi left the group in 2004 and was replaced by Triinu Kivilaan. In December 2005 Triinu Kivilaan also left the group, and the band have decided to continue as a three-piece act.
Formation, Eurovision and debut album
Vanilla Ninja was formed in 2002 as a four-piece girl band. The original line-up consisted of Maarja Kivi (vocals/bass), Lenna Kuurmaa (vocals/guitar), Katrin Siska (vocals/keyboard) and Piret Järvis (vocals/guitar). Although all of the members were effectively vocalists, the main vocalist would usually be different for each song, with Kivi and Kuurmaa appearing to be more frequent on lead vocals. At the time of formation the group's producer was Sven Lõhmus, a well-known Estonian producer.
Early in 2002 Kivi had participated in Eurolaul, Estonia's Eurovision pre-selection contest, but had finished 7th. Due to her participation in Eurolaul she was chosen to front the band, which subsequently gained some exposure early on in their existence, despite none of the other members having had any previous success in their career. The group was essentially manufactured, with none of the girls holding down any notable previous relationship with each other.
In 2003 the group participated in Estonian ESC preselection 'Eurolaul 2003'. Performing the song "Club Kung Fu" the group proved to be by far the most popular in the phone polls, but unlike other countries, Estonia used a jury to decide the song for Eurovision instead of the televote. The jury, which included figures such as Michael Ball, proved to not share the opinion expressed by the televoters and placed the girls in joint 9th place (essentially bottom, seeing as there were ten entrants).
The participation and popularity of the song, however, helped the group and created exposure for the release of their debut album, Vanilla Ninja, released in May 2003. Containing the original version of the song "Club Kung Fu", along with a drum and bass remix and thirteen new pop-rock tracks in English and Estonian, the album proved to be a success in Estonia and launched the girls in to the national mainstream, pushing the group to seek international success in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Expansion into Europe
Following a successful debut in Estonia, Vanilla Ninja have launched themselves as a band in three German speaking countries of Europe — Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The girls did not release their debut album or "Club Kung Fu" in these countries, instead opting for a new track called "Tough Enough". Proving to again be a pop-rock track, although with less of a 'novelty' style to it, the song was released in Germany on December 8, 2003, and then later in Austria and Switzerland on January 4 and February 8, 2004 respectively. It proved to be a success, gaining large amounts of airplay on the popular VIVA music video channel, and making the top twenty in both Germany and Austria.
Following the success of their debut single the girls released "Club Kung Fu" in Germany, and then a third single, "Don't Go Too Fast", in both Germany and Austria on April 4 and April 5 (and in Switzerland during March, although it missed the top 100). The latter just missed the top twenty in both countries, and was followed up by their second album Traces of Sadness in June 2004. The album included "Tough Enough" and "Don't Go Too Fast", as well as numerous other tracks, such as "When The Indians Cry" and "Liar".
Eurovision for Switzerland
Despite not having as much chart success in Switzerland as in Austria and Germany, the girls had become increasingly popular with the Swiss public. Their chart performance had also been improving, with the Traces Of Sadness album making #14, but despite that no-one would have expected the shock announcement that the group would represent Switzerland in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The Swiss selectors had suffered several years of poor results in the Eurovision, culminating in 'nul points' for Piero and the Musicstars in the 2004 semi-final, and so looked to the group due to their popularity in both Switzerland and various other European countries. The announcement angered some people, especially Estonians, who felt that the group should represent their home country and not a country that they have minor connections to. In Switzerland some also opposed the selection, again on the basis that none of the group were Swiss. The selectors responded by stating that the song would still have a Swiss component due to it being mostly written by David Brandes. Ironically, although Brandes was born in Switzerland and went to school there, he is essentially German.
Their selection and participation in the contest was put into jeopardy soon after the announcement, though, after Maarja Kivi left the group due to falling pregnant with her first child. Her replacement was Triinu Kivilaan, who at the time was only 15 years old. Their participation was put into doubt due to regulations stating that competitors must be at least 16 years old, a rule introduced to eliminate participants such as the 13-year-old 1986 Eurovision winner Sandra Kim. Kivilaan had in fact initially claimed to be 17 years old, but the Swiss selectors doubted this and eventually found out her true birth date was January 13, 1989.
It began to look as if Vanilla Ninja would not represent Switzerland in 2005, but the Swiss selectors decided not to reverse the selection, on the basis that Kivilaan would turn 16 before the contest. There was no danger of the EBU blocking their participation, because their own age rule specified a cut-off date of the contest itself, whereas national selectors could tweak their age regulations to their own liking. This annoyed some, who felt that the selectors had acted in a heavy-handed manner by selecting Vanilla Ninja.
Further chart success
Following the Eurovision selection the group went on to continue their success in Europe, releasing the single "Liar". The single scraped into the top twenty in Germany and Austria, but performed disappointingly in Switzerland (reaching only #43 despite the announcement regarding Eurovision 2005). The following single, however, would prove to be their biggest hit to date and would launch them into the German top ten for the first time.
"When The Indians Cry", their fifth Central European single, would be the groups first slow, soft, ballad-like song. The music video would also be the first to feature Triinu Kivilaan, with previous videos featuring Maarja Kivi. Kivilaan proved to fit into the group well, looking older than her age of 15 and silencing critics who believed she would be out of place in a girl band up to five years older than her. Incidentally, one of the reasons that Kivilaan was chosen to replace Kivi was due to their similar appearance, making it easy to mix the two up. The song would be Vanilla Ninja's first ballad, featuring a slow tempo, unlike most previous songs which had been fairly upbeat. It proved to be a hit, reaching #8 in the German charts in September 2004, #7 in the Austrian charts and #27 in the Swiss charts (which had not reacted as expected to their selection for Eurovision).
With the song putting them into the German chart mainstream, and gaining huge airplay on the music video channel VIVA, Vanilla Ninja would begin to become one of the biggest acts in Germany. The follow-up to "When The Indians Cry", a new track called "Blue Tattoo" and in a similar style to their previous release, would also reach the German top ten whilst making the Austrian top twenty and Swiss top thirty.
The third album
Following the success of the "Blue Tattoo" single in November and December 2004, the group would take a three month break from releasing material in order to tour Asia. In 2004 the group had reportedly set an ambitious target of "conquering the world", and the tour proved to be successful in helping them to begin to do that, winning new fans in countries such as Japan, China, Malaysia and Thailand. The group also played a key role in VIVA's 2004 "Your Stars For Christmas" show, singing a re-worded version of "When The Indians Cry" called "The Light Of Hope".
In March 2005 the group returned to the charts, releasing a new song called "I Know", which featured a mildly controversial video based around domestic abuse. The song was again successful, peaking at #13 in Germany and #17 in Austria. Two weeks after its release their third album, Blue Tattoo, was released in various European countries and proved to be as successful as the previous album, charting at #4 in Germany and, unsurprisingly (as it included the Eurovision song "Cool Vibes"), Switzerland.
During their hiatus in order to tour Asia the Swiss Eurovision song had been completed and had been announced as being called "Cool Vibes". A short song, in order to comply with Eurovision regulations, the track received mixed response. Many seen it to be a good pop-rock song, but many believed it was not the girls' best, and that it was not the type of song suitable for Eurovision.
The song failed to get off to a good start, though, as the song was banned from the German charts after writer and producer David Brandes was accused to manipulating the charts by buying thousands of copies of his artist's singles. Among the songs he had allegedly bought many copies of were the groups "When The Indians Cry" single, and the German Eurovision entry "Run and Hide" by Gracia. Soon after Gracia was fired by her record company, and the two artists (along with Virus Incorporation) were banned from the charts for initially three weeks. The girls came out unaffected, although it would be a blow for the songwriter and may have meant the high position of "When The Indians Cry" was helped by the mass-buying of singles by Brandes.
Eurovision 2005
Due to Switzerland's last place in the semi-final of the 2004 contest, Vanilla Ninja had to compete in the Eurovision semi-final on May 19, 2005. Against artists such as Wig Wam, Luminita Anghel and Zdob şi Zdub the competition was difficult, especially with friendly voting among blocs such as the Scandinavians and ex-Yugoslavs not favouring the Swiss, but the group progressed to the final and were given good odds of 10/1 for winning the contest. The group's performance in the final on May 21 was, according to some, not as good as it could have been although those criticising the performance also criticised the song (believing a song similar to "When The Indians Cry" or even "Club Kung Fu" would have been better).
In the voting, however, the group did well in the early stages. Despite not representing their native Estonia, their home country responded well and gave the group the full 12 points (Estonia's entry, Suntribe's "Let's Get Loud", had been eliminated in the semi-final). Latvia also gave the group 12 points, whilst Germany rather surprisingly only gave them four. Austrian voters were even less impressed the performance, not giving any points to the group at all.
Despite leading at the one-third stage, Vanilla Ninja eventually slipped down the leader board and finished 8th. The result allowed Switzerland to achieve their best result for years and automatic qualification for next year's final, but for the group it was a disappointment considering their popularity and good odds for winning the contest.
Post-Eurovision and fourth album
On June 12, 2005 the group released "Cool Vibes" in Switzerland, the single charting at number 17. Despite failing to make the top ten, a surprise as the girls represented Switzerland, the release become their best-placed Swiss single release yet. The single was not released in Germany initially, possibly due to the April 2005 allegations that David Brandes manipulated the chart placing of several of his songs, including "When The Indians Cry" by Vanilla Ninja, which resulted in a short ban from the charts for the group. However, on July 2, the single charted in Germany at the comparatively poor position of #42, and in Austria at #70.
The group then seemingly stopped releasing singles from their Blue Tattoo album, instead concentrating on touring commitments. The group released their ninth single, "Megamix", in December 2005. The single only reached the lower end of the Swiss and German charts, however, missing the Austrian Top 100 completely. The group also released a fourth album, Best Of, in the same month. The album charted at #70 in Switzerland and failed to chart elsewhere.
The album cover of Best Of hinted at tensions between the members of the group, with former member Maarja Kivi appearing on the cover instead of Triinu Kivilaan. The fact that the group had released what was essentially a greatest hits album so early on in their career also suggested that they might be splitting up in the near future. Soon after the release of the album it was confirmed that Kivilaan was leaving the group, with Kuurmaa, Siska and Järvis continuing as a trio. Reasons for her leaving have been rumoured to include a lack of vocal and instrumental ability, her wanting to concentrate on her studies, and creative differences with the other members. Despite rumours suggesting Kivi might be rejoining the group, it seems that the group will not be adding a fourth member again.
In a May 2005 interview with the Baltic Times, the group claimed to distance themselves from the pop music genre. Piret Järvis told the newspaper that the group "started out with a pop-rock style of music". The band also claimed that their music is gradually become heavier and more typical of the rock genre.
Their 2004 single "Tough Enough" has also appeared in the music video games Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2 and In The Groove.
Music videos
Vanilla Ninja have made music videos for all of the songs they have released, although some have proved to be more popular than others. The first music video to feature Triinu Kivilaan was "When The Indians Cry", with previous videos featuring the now departed Maarja Kivi. "When The Indians Cry", along with "Tough Enough" and "Blue Tattoo" have been the most successful of Vanilla Ninja's videos, in terms of airplay, to date. The video for "Cool Vibes" is the most recent of their videos to gain airplay, featuring regularly on Central European video channels throughout June and July of 2005.
All of the girls' videos have been extremely popular on German video channels, gaining airplay mainly on the popular music channel VIVA. The feat of airplay on VIVA is even more impressive due to the fact that the girls are signed to Bros Records, a division of Sony Music, when the station has been exposed as being biased for the airplay of artists signed to rival record company Universal.
Vanilla Ninja received a considerable amount of bad publicity for their "Cool Vibes" video, which seemingly stole material from Deine Lakaien's video for their single "Mindmachine".
Discography: Singles
- Club Kung Fu (2003/2004)
- German chart position: #95
- Tough Enough (2003/2004)
- German chart position: #13
- Austrian chart position: #16
- Swiss chart position: #52
- Don't Go Too Fast (2004)
- German chart position: #23
- Austrian chart position: #21
- Swiss chart position: Did not chart
- Liar (2004)
- German chart position: #23
- Austrian chart position: #22
- Swiss chart position: #43
- When The Indians Cry (2004)
- German chart position: #8
- Austrian chart position: #7
- Swiss chart position: #27
- Blue Tattoo (2004)
- German chart position: #9
- Austrian chart position: #12
- Swiss chart position: #22
- I Know (2005)
- German chart position: #13
- Austrian chart position: #17
- Swiss chart position: #27
- Cool Vibes (2005)
- German chart position: #42
- Austrian chart position: #60
- Swiss chart position: #17
- Megamix (2005)
- German chart position: #79
- Austrian chart position: Did not chart
- Swiss chart position: #66
Discography: Albums
- Vanilla Ninja (2003)
- Traces of Sadness (2004)
- German chart position: #3
- Austrian chart position: #4
- Swiss chart position: #14
- Blue Tattoo (2005)
- German chart position: #4
- Austrian chart position: #7
- Swiss chart position: #4
- Best Of (2005)
- German chart position: Did not chart
- Austrian chart position: Did not chart
- Swiss chart position: #70
Discography: Other
- Traces of Sadness (Live in Estonia) (DVD, 2004)
- Best Of - The Video Collection (DVD, 2005)
Sound samples
- "Tough Enough" [1] From the album Traces of Sadness, recorded 2003
- "When The Indians Cry" [2] From the album Traces of Sadness, recorded 2004
- "Metal Queen" [3] From the album Traces of Sadness, recorded 2004
- "I Don't Care At All" [4] From the album Blue Tattoo, recorded 2005
References
- Vanilla Ninja official website ([5])
- German, Austrian and Swiss charts online ([6] [7] [8])
- Swiss Broadcasting Corporation website: Eurovision sub-site ([9])
- Official German video airplay chart
- Eurovision Song Contest official website ([10])
- Vanilla Ninja - Estonian girl group sets sights on world domination ([11])
External links
- Template:De icon Vanilla Ninja official website
- Template:Pl icon Vanilla Ninja official Polish language website
- Template:De icon Vanilla Ninja fansite
- Template:De icon Vanilla Ninja German singles discography
- Template:De icon Vanilla Ninja German albums discography
- Template:En icon Article on Vanilla Ninja