BRAVO Interview with Bill & Tom

“We won’t let anyone advance to the next round just out of pity”


The new season of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” is finally starting on January 5th, and this time there’s also an anniversary to celebrate: For the tenth time, RTL is looking for a solo-artist that has what it takes to make it big. And while the goal of the show stayed the same, the jury definitely changed: with Bill and Tom Kaulitz (both 23), there are two world-stars in the jury. Together with “Culcha Candela”-Rapper Mateo (34) and “Casting-King” Dieter Bohlen (58), they’re going to decide who wins and who loses. BRAVO met the twins while they were shooting the show in Berlin.

You’re a part of the new DSDS-jury, but you declined all offers to join the jury of “The Voice Of Germany”. Why?


Bill: That’s right, we declined all offers from other casting shows…


Tom: “DSDS” just has the most viewers and offers the artist the best platform for their future career. And the live shows of “DSDS” are very well produced.

What does “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” give you on a personal level?


Bill: Fun. We just really wanted to do this. But it’s also a lot more work than we imagined! (laughs)

Why? What’s so strenuous about it?


Tom: The biggest challenge for us, are the working hours. We have to get up at 6 o’clock every day. Normally that’s the time I go to bed.


Bill: It’s also very demanding/hard that a lot of candidates are mediocre. I always thought they would either be good or bad. But what do you tell people who were okay?


Tom: We’re looking for exceptional talents - or someone with a lot of potential, who is going to delevop further. The candidates who are mediocre can gladly continue making music as a hobby, but nothing more.

So you don’t have a problem with being honest?


Bill: No.


Tom: (starts laughing and turns to Bill) You do, you do, you do! You always say: “You’re lovely, nice and cute.” Because you see their dream bursting in front of your eyes.


Bill: It’s also really hard. I mean, they deserve to know that this is going nowhere, but then they’re so sad or they had a pretty tough life. But we’re still not gonna let anyone advance onto the next round just out of pity.

Was it absolutely clear for you that you’d only do “DSDS” together, as a duo?


Tom: At the beginning they only asked me, but then I said: “Without Bill, I’m out!” (laughs)


Bill: (laughs with Tom) Nonsense! We definitely wanted to do this together. It’s more fun that way.

Do you want to change something with the way the show works?


Tom: We intend to coach the immensely talentented candidates ourselves, behind the scenes. It happens very often that the people don’t get good advice when it comes to their styling or their song choice. We want them to succeed and make progress, and not to make a fool of themselves.

Up until now, eight of the nine “DSDS” winners have been male. Is a women finally going to win the show this year?


Bill: I’d like that, but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen.


Tom: International, there are a lot of great female aritsts - but that’s not the case in Germany. It’s definitely missing here. Maybe we’ll have a female winner this year, but if a boy is better and more popular, he will win…

TRANSLATION BY: www.LoveTH-Music.com