Bill Kaulitz is gay, Tokio Hotel leader confesses. Personal life and novels of Bill Kaulitz Bill from Tokyo wanted

It is difficult to find a person who has never heard of the legendary Tokio Hotel. The compositions of this group became worldwide hits, and the leader of the group, Bill Kaulitz, was a real youth idol. Lead singer and lyricist of the band Tokio Hotel Bill Kaulitz fell in love with the public not only for his unique stage image, but also for the fact that in his songs he was not afraid to raise pressing social issues that are not customary to talk about in modern society. Now the popularity of the group is, of course, not the same as before. However, loyal fans of the group are still interested in the personal life of Bill Kaulitz, especially after the news about the wedding of his brother Tom Kaulitz and Heidi Klum.

Childhood and youth

The musician was born in September 1989 in Leipzig, Saxony. The head of the family, Jörg Kaulitz, was a truck driver, and mother Simone was a seamstress. After his parents' divorce, Bill, his twin brother Tom, his mother and stepfather moved to the suburbs of Magdeburg.

Since childhood, Kaulitz had a fine mental organization. His unique vision of the world was reflected not only in the lyrics, but also in his appearance: dyed black hair, styling, and piercings made Bill stand out from the crowd of his peers. For this, the guy got it from his classmates more than once. Tom also received Tumakov, who could not stand by and calmly watch his brother being beaten.

In 2001, the Kaulitzes created the group Devilish. Despite the disdainful attitude of others, they believed in themselves and every weekend, together with bass player Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schäfer, they gathered in the garage for rehearsals.

2 years later, Bill participated in the Star Search talent show and performed the cult song of The Weather Girls “It’s Raining Men”. The shocking boy's vocals impressed producer Peter Hoffman, who took up the task of promoting the team. The guys changed their name to Tokio Hotel. The reference to the Land of the Rising Sun is not accidental: Kaulitz came up with the stage image under the influence of the Japanese visual kei subculture, popular in the mid-2000s.

Gaining world fame

The young guys from Germany fell into deafening glory. By the end of 2006, about half a million discs had been sold, almost 200 thousand tickets for concerts in various European cities were sold, and the group had already appeared on the covers of German magazines more than 10 times! And the second studio album Schrei - so laut du kannst (Shout - as loud as you can) was also released, supplemented by several new compositions. In terms of sales, it overtook The Rolling Stones' compilation, which was released at the same time.

The first concert not held in Germany was an amazing success in Moscow. This made it clear that the group was in high demand. In the spring of 2007, the Zimmer 483 tour launched, with sold-out concerts in 20 European cities. The musicians also came to the Muz TV Awards in Moscow, and later performed in St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of June 2007, the English-language album Scream was released, which allowed Tokio Hotel to begin the conquest of England, Italy, Spain and America. In the fall, the group went on tour. The final concert took place on November 4 in the German city of Essen. After the end of the tour, the band was forced to take a break from concert and musical activities and cancel several performances, because Bill fell ill with laryngitis and could not sing. Fortunately, at the end of March 2008, the lead singer underwent surgery on his vocal cords, which allowed him to resume his conquest of musical heights.

In October 2009, the fourth studio album Humanoid was released, which was quite noticeably different from the previous ones, as the musicians added more electronics to the songs. The main singles of the album were:

Automatic.
World behind my wall.
Darkside of the Sun.

The work was received ambiguously by fans, but overall it was a good success. Having presented this album, in the spring of 2010 Tokio Hotel went to Asia, where they gave concerts in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. In December of the same year, the group visited Tokyo, the capital of Japan, as world-class stars that everyone knew about.

After releasing four records that were a resounding success all over the world, and several sold-out tours, German artists decided to take a break from active public activities and devote time to relaxation. Bill and Tom flew to their mansion in Los Angeles, where they relaxed and recharged, spending a lot of time with their dogs and working on new material.

However, in the fall of 2012, the brothers returned to work, flying to Germany. They were invited as judges on the German television project DSDS (Germany is looking for a superstar).

In October 2014, Tokio Hotel returned, blowing up the music world with their new album Kings of Suburbia. The audience well received the musical component of the record, but the video for the main song Feel It All caused a lot of negative emotions. Some concerts as part of the tour, which was supposed to support the release of the disc, were on the verge of cancellation. The reason was entire groups united who called the behavior of Bill, who played a drug addict in the video, inappropriate.

Discontent escalated among parents of teenagers as they feared the clip would have the wrong effect. However, director Matthias Erik Jonson hastened to resolve the conflict and explained that the work, which was created solely under the impression of the cult films “Requiem for a Dream” and “We are the children from Zoo Station,” does not have a propaganda purpose. This allowed the group to finish the tour calmly, having successfully given concerts in Europe, Asia, Russia, the USA and Latin America.

In 2016, Bill Kaulitz, taking the pseudonym Billy (Bii), presented a solo album called I’m Not OK, consisting of 15 original songs. The record was released in a limited edition, so especially fast fans who managed to pre-order on the official website received, along with the disc, a colorful book with photographs of the artist taken by professional photographers. A video was also shot for the album’s main single, “Love Don’t Break Me,” which received almost two million views.

In March 2017, the fifth and currently last studio album of the German group, called “Dream Machine,” was released. The songs combine some features of early music and elements of electronics from the last two albums. This work included two singles:

Something New.
What If.

Bill's personal life and interesting facts

Constant changes of image, provocative unisex costumes, unusual hairstyles and bright “non-male” makeup, scandalous behavior on stage - all this causes, on the one hand, the indignation of the “well-behaved” public, and at the same time fuels the love of fans. For example, at the first concert in Moscow, Bill got so excited that he began to imitate obscene advances towards his brother right on stage. This, and more, gave rise to rumors about the twins’ “wrong” relationships, and too little information was leaked to the press about Tom and Bill’s affairs with women. Who Bill is “in love with” and who his girlfriend is was known for sure only once: Nikki Ramsay, the daughter of a popular English showman, confirmed that they had a relationship.

In 2015, a photo of his older brother appeared in the press, where he was captured arm in arm with Liz Vanderpump, the star of the American reality show “Real Housewives.” Everything would be fine, but the lady, beautiful in all respects, was 54 years old at that time! In response to questions from journalists: “What is this, love?” – Bill did not confirm or deny the relationship with a woman old enough to be his mother. He “added fuel to the fire” with the statement: “I’m constantly waiting for a miracle, I want to meet a person who will change my life radically, and it doesn’t matter to me what age and gender he will be.” Oh how...

Lately (probably because he has matured) Bill has changed his “sweet” image to a more masculine one. Not all fans took this positively: “He was such a little guy 5-6 years ago, what did he do to himself?”

It is not only his suspicious orientation and shocking creativity that is causing a stir around the leader of Tokio Hotel. Either he declares that he has become a convinced vegetarian, or suddenly he shares his favorite recipes for chicken pizza and milkshake on the Internet. The brothers behave defiantly in public, but do not like to give interviews at home.

But the brothers always treat animals with equal reverence: according to them, as children they fed stray dogs and looked after them. Now several dogs live with Bill and Tom, their biggest favorite is the bulldog Pumbaa, they also had a cat Casimir. The brothers have been active participants in the global animal welfare organization PETA for many years. In 2012, they publicly expressed outrage at the extermination of stray dogs in Ukraine on the eve of the European football championship. They never wear real fur or leather.

Scandals haunt Bill and Tom constantly: not long ago there was a rumor that the girlfriend of Kaulitz’s younger brother was forced to break up with him and get plastic surgery on her face, as fans threatened to disfigure her. Their adoptive father Gordon Trumper had to delete his YouTube account twice due to indiscreet questions and insults.

Musician's orientation

The artist left expressive facial features, long hair, dreadlocks, makeup, as well as outrageous outfits and heels in the past quite a long time ago, having dyed his hair blond and made his image much more masculine. Now Bill Kaulitz appears in public without makeup, but controversy about his sexuality still does not stop. Fans confirm their guesses about Bill's gayness in a variety of situations.

In his songs, the singer never limits love to any gender boundaries. In addition, the elder Kaulitz used to often flirt and even kiss with his younger brother on stage, which gave rise to many rumors about the nature of the relationship between the brothers. Another famous singer, Adam Lambert, also played a role. In his interviews, he often said that he admired Bill’s appearance, character and personality and would really like to meet him in person. However, Adam immediately denied the possibility of a relationship between them, arguing that he had heard about Kaulitz’s traditional orientation.

Bill and his girls

The artist carefully hides his personal life, as he believes that any relationship concerns only two people.

Several years ago, there were rumors about Bill's affair with Nikki Ramsay, the daughter of famous British TV presenter Gordon Ramsay. The singer never commented on this, although Bill was seen with a girl a couple of times. But Ramsay herself claimed that the rumors were true, and they really had a relationship, which, however, quickly ended. Ramsay was frightened by indecent comments and threats from Bill's fans towards her, so the couple broke up.

A little later, Bill and his brother were jury members on the German TV show DSDS. Many noticed that one of the participants, 17-year-old Laura Kleinas, very impressed the eldest of the brothers with her performance. Kaulitz liked the charming girl, and he tried to promote her to the finals. Bill even confessed his sympathy to Laura in one of the episodes, but Kleinas herself reacted to this indifferently, saying that they were connected only by music.

At the moment, Bill has no plans to get married and is not in a permanent relationship.

Bill Kaulitz now

The brothers now live in Los Angeles. In America, there is low awareness of the group’s popularity: “Tokyo Hotel” is considered a cool indie project, but here you can safely walk down the street and work in the studio. The twins maintain a strong connection; Bill and Tom see each other every day and admit that when they are apart, they call each other every two minutes.

The frontman leads an active life: participates in photo shoots, appears on the covers of world printed publications, becomes a guest on television and radio programs with enviable regularity. On the group’s YouTube channel and Instagram, Bill publishes videos of the #TokioHotelTV project, which show the everyday realities of the team members without embellishment.

Pictures of clothes, shoes and accessories from fashion houses Rick Owens, Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton and Dior also appear there.

The artist carefully monitors what ends up on his plate and what costume the assistants have prepared. There is also a place on the page for the beloved bulldog Pumbaa.

Kaulitz dreams of opening a club with a European atmosphere in America, and independently developing the design, program, and menu of bars. And, of course, perform there with live music.

In April 2019, the team began the Melancholic paradise tour in support of the album of the same name. Listeners from Western and Northern Europe, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus enjoyed the music of Tokio Hotel.

Tough, even aggressive appearance, but if you look into the eyes, you can see a gentle, vulnerable nature. A person who loves his brother the most and still suffers from lack of parental warmth as a child.

Who is he, Bill Kaulitz, leader of Tokio Hotel, what Interesting Facts from his life he brings out for everyone to see, but what is he carefully trying to hide?

General biographical information

Full name: Bill Kaulitz (Bill Kaulitz in German);
Year and place of birth: Leipzig, former German Democratic Republic, 1989, September 1;
Height – 188 cm;
Weight – ranges from 52 to 55 kg;
Natural father - Jorg Kaulitz;
Stepfather - Gordon Trumper;
Mother: Simone Kaulitz-Trumper;
Brother - Tom Kaulitz;
Marital status: not married, not in a permanent relationship.

Bill and his brother's childhood

The future vocalist of the infamous group was born in Leipzig a year before the GDR and West Berlin became part of a unified Germany. Bill was born 10 minutes earlier than his twin brother, and this difference determined the boys’ relationship for the rest of their lives: the elder takes care of the younger, and Tom listens to Bill’s opinion in everything. When they were 7 years old, the children's parents, Jörg and Simone, divorced, and two years later the mother took the twins to Leutsch (a small village near Magdeburg).

Photo of Tom and Bill Kaulitz as children.

There are constant heated discussions about Bill and Tom's childhood. The brothers themselves discuss the reasons why their mother and father divorced with great reluctance. What is known for sure is that they have little contact with their own father and do not feel much love for him. And their stepfather, musician Gordon Trumper, on the contrary, has an excellent relationship with them. According to Bill, it was Gordon who understood his desire to advance in music and supported him in early childhood.

Mr Jörg told BILD in 2012: “Tom reproached me many times for abandoning their mother. This is a lie, she was very ambitious, wanted to live an active life, and I wanted a quiet life, she herself decided to leave.”

What was the twins’ childhood like in terms of behavior? It is said that after moving to Leutsch they were left to their own devices and hardly went to school. Here's what Bill had to say about it: “We grew up in an environment where drugs and alcohol were normal among our peers. But that doesn’t mean we were the same!”

The future leader of Tokio Hotel, however, was not distinguished by good behavior as a child: at the age of 12, he got his eyebrows and tongue pierced, and dyed his long hair either black or red. Because of this, he was often bullied by his village peers and was teased and beaten. In the village where the brothers grew up, the guy’s appearance caused outrage and condemnation. The twins decide to escape to the city, but their attempt to become independent was stopped by their mother and stepfather: first finish school, and then think about independence!

And yet they declared themselves - in 2001 a musical duet called “Devilish” was created. The duo of Bill and Tom was almost immediately joined by Georg Listing and Gustav Feber. Performing in a small club in Magdeburg, the group simultaneously recorded songs on discs and sold them. In total, they sold about three hundred different untitled discs, and now it is a great happiness for the brothers’ fans to become the owner of one of them.

The appearance of the group "Tokio Hotel"

In 2003, Peter Hoffman accidentally wandered into a Devilish performance. Yes, the same one that produced “The Doors” at one time! He still perceives the desire to drink a glass of beer at Gr ö ninger Bad” as a sign from above: “I listened to them and thought: damn, these guys are worth pursuing, they will succeed!” Hoffman took the little-known four under his wing and insisted on changing the name to "Tokio Hotel".

The composition of the Tokio Hotel team: Tom and Bill Kaulitz, Gustav Schäfer and Georg Listing.

15 songs were immediately written, 12 of them were selected - the plan was to release a large album. On August 15, 2003, one of the songs, “Through the Monsoon” (Durch den Monsun), received a full arrangement and was recorded “clean”. It became the band's first full-fledged single. Since the band's name had a "Japanese" connotation, Hoffman suggested recording a second version in Japanese - "Monsun o koete".

Both versions of the song were auditioned at Sony BMG, and a contract was immediately signed to shoot a video. Since all four were minors, the documents were signed by the twins' mother, Simone Kaulitz-Trumper. By the way, she also signed the agreement with Hoffman. Later, the boys' father tried to claim financial custody of his sons, but was met with severe rebuff from both ex-wife, and from themselves.

On August 16 of the same year, the single “Through the Monsoon” was released on German television channels. In less than two weeks (from August 16 to August 26), the clip rose from 15th to 1st place! In Austria, the song was also received with a bang; it was played on all music channels.

Still from the video for the song “Durch Den Monsun”.

Hoffman, as a real specialist in terms of promotion, did not limit himself to the purely musical sphere. His friend Alex Gernandt worked as a deputy editor at the German youth magazine Bravo, and before the contract with Sony BMG, Peter gave him several singles to listen to. “How cool they are!” – Alex declared enthusiastically. At his suggestion, a portrait of the four was placed on the cover of the magazine even before the first song was released on television.

Triumphant march around the world

In 2005, the group’s first big album was released, it was called “Shout,” and almost immediately a video of the same name was shot. The band and Hoffman took a big risk by re-voicing the song for the video - Bill's voice suddenly began to break. Despite this, the video immediately took first place on all music channels.

Tokio Hotel – Schrei

2006, March 11 – on K ö nig-Pilsener-Arena hosted the first big concert “Tokio Hotel”. At the end of the concert, in front of almost 12 thousand spectators, they were presented with a prize. For newcomers – and a prestigious award from the Arena in Oberhausen! Before them, only recognized stars received such an honor, for example, Whitney Houston and Paul McCartney.

Glory fell on the German guys. By December 2006, almost half a million discs had been sold, the number of concert tickets sold had exceeded 200,000. Alex Gernandt, who still worked at Bravo, was rubbing his hands with satisfaction: the band’s photo had already been placed on the cover of the magazine 13 times, which (understandably) business!) made it possible to significantly increase the circulation.

In March of the same year, three new songs were written specifically for Bill’s breaking voice: “Blackness”, “Confession” and “Theme No. 1”. They were included in the new studio album, called "Shout - and as loud as you can." In September, the song from this collection “The Last Day” took the top line in all world charts, and the album itself sold better than the collections of Jon Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones, which were released at the same time.

The first city outside Germany where Tokio Hotel decided to give a concert was... Moscow! A wide variety of audiences gathered for the concert in Luzhniki: from children with their parents to people almost of retirement age - everyone wanted to see the German stars! Kaulitz performed his already old single “Save Me” in a new version - not in a boyish thin voice, but in bassy undertones, and the new version was received with delight by the audience. During the concert, all four of them threw wet towels and drumsticks to the audience: now pieces of this fabric and wood are a very expensive rarity among fans. In 2007, the group once again came to Moscow to receive the Muz-TV award.

German musicians at the Muz-TV Awards. Moscow 2007.

The German boy band visited Moscow many more times, and in 2016 a series of concerts almost came under threat. Women who had teenage children united into a militant group and demanded that the performance be cancelled. The reason was the video “Feel It All”, where main character behaved, in their opinion, inappropriately.

Some statistics after 2006

2007, April 3 – start of the “Room 483” world tour. Awarding the Blazer Award;
2007, June – release of the English-language collection “Scream”;
September-October 2007 - as part of the tour, 12 concerts were given in France, tickets for which were sold out in less than 24 hours;
November 2007 – September 2008 – the band received several awards from MTV: nominations “Best Debut”, “Best Music”, “Headliner”. In 2009, MTV presented the "Best Group" award;
2009 – release of the album “Humanoid” (it was less successful than the previous ones), the beginning of an Asian tour and a visit to Japan as world stars;
2014 – release of the collection “Kings of Suburbia”. A new world tour was carried out in support of the disc;
2016 – Bill Kaulits’ solo album was released – “I am not OK”;
2017 – release of the disc “Dream Machine”; The first listeners of the songs “live” were Muscovites at the concert on April 27.

Bill's personal life and interesting facts

Pictured is Nikki Ramsay.

Bill in 2018. Photo Instagram www.instagram.com/billkaulitz

The Kaulitz brothers with their pets.

Personal life of Bill Kaulitz has changed a lot since he became the lead singer of the popular music group Devilish, which was later renamed Tokio Hotel. The group was formed by Bill, his brother Tom and their friends Gustav Schaefer and Georg Listing. Bill gained enormous popularity among teenagers, especially girls, who did not give way to the young musician, bombarding him with letters and declarations of love. Each of his appearances on stage was accompanied by their enthusiastic screams and it was hard to believe that there weren’t many romances in Bill Kaulitz’s personal life. According to the Tokio Hotel vocalist, his huge busyness is to blame for everything, but he never lost hope of meeting true love.

Pictured: Bill Kaulitz

However, even in his loneliness, Bill tries to find the advantages that no one limits his circle of contacts and he does not have to report to anyone. Bill Kaulitz does not consider himself a heartthrob, therefore he does not welcome short-term hobbies and small romances; according to the musician, if he enters into a relationship, then it must be very serious and long-term. He admits the possibility that one of the fans could become his girlfriend, but only if he truly falls in love. In Bill Kaulitz’s personal life, he often communicated with fans, but he had not yet developed a close relationship with any of them.

In 2010, in the biography of Bill Kaulitz and his brother, it happened an important event- they moved to Los Angeles, and explained their departure from Hamburg by the desire to hide from everyone and live their own lives. They settled into a large house and feel very comfortable, and Bill and Tom are accompanied by four dogs. They are still drawn to Germany, where their family lives, and they come to their home whenever possible.

In the photo - Bill Kaulitz with his brother Tom

An important place in Bill Kaulitz's personal life is occupied by charitable activities - together with Tom they took part in the campaign “Remove Wild Animals from the Circus!”, as well as against the extermination of stray animals. As for his affairs on the love front, last year news appeared about his relationship with Nikki Ramsay, the daughter of a famous chef and TV presenter. But how true this news is is unknown, and Nikki herself says that they still have a good relationship, although they broke up.

From childhood, Bill Kaulitz was different from his peers; he was fond of art and did not like exact sciences. Bill is 10 minutes younger than his twin brother Tom, they are never separated and to this day spend their free time together.

Bill and Tom Kaulitz:

Childhood, biography of Bill Kaulitz

The brothers were born in Leipzig on September 1, 1989. Due to his parents' divorce when the twins were seven years old, Bill began to not get along with his peers and often got into conflict situations. Two years later the family moved to the village of Leutsche. Their mother Simone remarries musician Gordon Trumer, who later supported the teenage twins in their musical aspirations.

In the village, Bill’s life was not sweet; because of his unusual appearance, he became an outcast; his classmates often joked and teased the guy. But Bill had no intention of changing anything about himself; at 12, he pierced his tongue and eyebrow, and dyed his hair bright red, and then black.

One Halloween, Bill dressed up as a vampire, he lined his eyes with black pencil and painted his nails with black polish. The guy liked the image so much that he started using it in Everyday life. Bill's appearance in the village only caused outrage.

Soon the twins, after consulting, decide that they need to leave the village and go to the city. But they were still children, naturally they were not allowed to go anywhere, the twins needed to finish school.

Tokio Hotel

When Bill turns 13, he and his brother create his musical group Devilish and the brothers perform in bars in Magdeburg, which is near their village. Later two more boys join them, and the group changes its name to Tokio Hotel.

After a while, Bill decided to test his strength at a talent show, but did not make it to the quarterfinals. But it was Bill’s participation in the talent show that brought him to the attention of producer Peter Hoffman, who took over the Tokio Hotel group.

Bill was fascinated by show business and quickly got used to it. So, not yet graduating from school, he becomes the lead singer of the group.

From this moment on, the Kaulitz brothers grew up in front of their audience. During this time, Bill changed his image more than once, and continues to amaze with his appearance, and his style is inherited by girls all over the world.

The group's first song was "Durch den Monsun", and a month later the group released their first album "Schrey".

The twin brothers begin a busy life with constant touring, which once affected the lead singer’s health; Bill had to undergo surgery on his vocal cords.

With the growing popularity of Bill and Tom, they are invited as jury members on the show "Germany is looking for a superstar"

In 2010, Bill tried himself as a model. Together with his brother, he advocates for the protection of animals, in particular, for Euro 2012 they took part in a campaign against the extermination of animals in Ukraine.

And in 2011 he received an award from the STAR PLANETE site. Several times the musician took first place in the category "International Male Artist."

Personal life of Bill Kaulitz

Bill Kaulitz keeps his personal life under seven locks. The producer also helps to carefully hide the brothers’ personal lives in order to keep the group’s popularity high.

As Bill himself stated, since the creation of the group, the musician has less time for his personal life. Therefore, he had only a few novels, about which almost nothing is known. In this regard, rumors began to appear about the musician’s homosexuality. But Bill denies all the rumors and claims that he has not yet met the one with whom he would like to spend his life.

There were also rumors that Bill had a short-lived affair with Nikki Ramsay daughter of British TV presenter Gordon Ramsay. But this novel is also in doubt. Although the girl claims that she and Bill had a relationship that did not last long, and despite the breakup, she and Bill maintained a warm relationship.

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How much time has passed! Why did you decide to come back with the album "Kings Of Suburbia" after the album "Humanoid"?
Bill: We didn't feel like that much time had passed. It took a lot of time to release the new album, but with the previous one we toured until the end of 2009. We were in America, Japan, Russia... It took a lot of time. Then we took a break of four and a half years to just live, get inspired and relax a little. (Laughs). We have been working for a long time!

And you wanted to return to the studio...
Bill: Yes, we slowly returned to the studio, worked on new songs, wrote. This also took time. This time we produced it ourselves, thereby involving ourselves in all stages of creating the album. Even more wastage of time was inevitable. Plus, we're perfectionists, so we wanted to make the album the best it could be. We wanted to be proud of every detail. Five years fly by! (Laughs).

Your success has taken a rather unusual turn, especially due to the obsessive behavior of some fans. It was almost crazy. Did this also influence the need for a break?
Bill: Yeah, we actually moved to Los Angeles because of that. When we came back from tour we realized we couldn't have a personal life anymore, there was no life outside the band. We need balance. Especially as you grow up, you understand what you really want to do, what kind of people you want to be with... And you just need privacy. You need to breathe outside of your career. And at some point we lost this balance. We tried to recreate it, but it wasn't even funny anymore. After all, we spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with our bodyguards, it was like we were in prison. And then we said to ourselves: “Let’s leave here, to where we can have our own secret garden.” We ended up moving to Los Angeles, which is cool. Nobody bothered us, we discovered a new side of life. It was beneficial for us from all sides: human and musical. It was the right decision!

Aren't you afraid that everything might happen again?
Bill: No, because we still live in Los Angeles. That's better. So we get involved in the promo craziness, the tour, and then we can go back to our little privacy.

There are now many fans outside the hotel. Are you surprised that they are there now, despite being away for many years?
Tom: Yes! We weren't very concerned about this. But five years is a really long time! Before the break, we called the recording studio and said that we wanted to take a break, not release the album right away, and everyone answered us: “Oh, this is a very important decision.” Because in the music world there are constant changes in business, big artists release music every day. (Laughs). They release a new album every six months, and a new single every two weeks... Everything goes so fast! All they think about is how to make a hit, blah blah blah... Now, if you take a break, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to come back. But we don't care! For starters, we trust our fans. But of course we won't take another four years off after Kings Of Suburbia. We want to make music and produce ourselves. Anyway, to go away and come back and still see your fans is great.

But there was a risk that your fans would get carried away by other performers...
Tom: No... I mean, I don't worry about it until there's a better band than ours! (Laughs). I checked, everything is fine, we have nothing to fear!
Bill: (Laughs). Moreover, we can love a bunch of bands. There is no competition here, you don’t need to look at it from that angle. First of all, it is a question of music. It's completely normal that if you release one song, people don't like it very much, then you release another one that they like more, because people change... It's the same for everyone. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Don't push too hard. The only thing to do is make the best music possible. And that's exactly what we're trying to do. The key to success is to always be confident and happy with what you do.

Was there something you wanted to prove with this album in particular?
Bill: We weren't really trying to sound different. We didn't have a clear plan for this return. Everything happened naturally. We have changed. I recorded “Monsoon” when I was 13 years old, now I’m 25. Time has passed... You grow, you meet new people, things happen, you become interested in something new. You are changing!
Tom: The first thing I did in the studio was set up something on the computer, I didn't pick up the guitar. This happened later. It just came. We didn't ask what people wanted to hear... We wanted to do what we wanted.

Why don't you sing in German anymore?
Bill: Previous albums were released in two versions: in English and German. We did this because people expected it from us. But it didn't come naturally to the creative process. Now we wrote it in English, which means we had to translate it. But it’s really difficult, because sometimes we lost little details, emotions. We didn't like it. So it wasn't a good decision for the quality of the album. We told our record company, "We don't want to do this anymore." And besides, songs need to be sung twice, and sometimes in the studio there is this magical moment, something happens and you know this is the best recording. It's impossible to repeat when you need to record a second version. Perhaps in the future we will write songs in German!

This album is influenced by many styles: pop, funk, electro... Why did you decide to take the risk now? This could destabilize the public...
Tom: I think some are already a little destabilized.
Bill: Yes, but we haven't made music for a long time, so we wanted to try something new. And we took advantage of the opportunity.
Georg: And what’s more, this is exactly the music that we like today!
Tom: First of all, we want to stay honest and true to ourselves. If we do what we love... Some artists think differently: they keep the same style, they always do the same thing, because they know that that's what the fans want to hear.
Bill: I don't like to play it safe. You have to take risks - that's life! It's interesting and similar to us. We don't want to give people what they want to hear.

Tokio Hotel said: "We are shocked that there is such homophobia in France"

Did you know that the song "Love Who Loves You Back" and its very sexy video might shock some people...
Tom: It's true, they're a little more shocked than we thought! (Laughs). Same thing with the “Girl Got A Gun” video, people went a little crazy. But I asked myself: “Why? This is my favorite clip!” I didn't think there would be so much talk about Toko, the guy in blue, and he shocks them so much! I love this video! The same thing with “Love Who Loves You Back” - the idea came to us a long time ago. It is based on the German film "Perfume". There is a scene where people want to kill the main character. Hundreds of people shout at him, and he sprays perfume, and people begin to love him, to love each other. We move from hate to love. We were delighted with this scene! We wanted to make a video in this spirit, so that it would turn into an orgy. We don't have perfume, but we have music!
Bill: And it's a scandal because people are making a scandal out of it! You shouldn't fuss. It's just love, that's the message. I don't understand people who say: "Oh-la-la, guys with guys, girls with girls." Enough, we're in 2014!

I don't know if you are aware, but the issue of marriage has shocked everyone in France, it has been quite tense... Does this shock you?
Bill: Of course, I'm still shocked when I hear things like this, all this homophobia...
Tom: We're shocked because it's the same story...
Bill: Every person has the right to love whoever he wants, we need to end the issues of gender, religion... In some countries this is a problem. In others everything is going well, it’s wonderful! We shouldn't even ask these questions...

With “Love Who Loves You Back,” did you want to help your fans understand their sexuality and accept their identity?
Bill: Yes. We want to give them self-confidence. I've always been like this... I hate it when others tell you what to do, how to be, what to think and what to say. I believe in freedom. Everyone should be able to do what they love, love who they want. We've always presented this idea, and it's good.
That's right, Bill, you've had to deal with a lot of criticism about your image. Was life difficult?
Bill: The thing is, I'm used to it since I was little. (Smiles). I went to school with my nails painted, with makeup on... I always had problems.
Tom: I was the big brother who protected him during recess!
Bill: I've always been at odds. Looking back, I can say, yes, it was a provocation, perhaps I was trying to provoke this reaction. But I never understood why this could bother some people so much. I wanted to show everyone that I didn't care about them, I told them: “Fuck you!”, confirming my opinion. I'm used to it, so I don't care if someone criticizes my style. This doesn't affect me at all.

Tom: After winning Eurovision, people talk more about his appearance than his songs, I have to admit. But it's very good! This is a good sign.
Your music has changed. You too. The media still talks a lot about your appearance. Did you expect this?
Bill: Yes! This was expected. But for me this is normal: fashion, image, cover, photographs and all that, it all comes with what you create. The most important thing is that the music is always present. Talking about it is different from talking about everything else.
Bill, would you like to start a solo career?
Georg: I think! (Laughs).
Tom: I'll start something myself.
Bill: What? You and your solo career?
Tom: Yes, me and my huge dick! (They all laugh). I'm just looking for a stage name. Maybe Tom Long Dong! (Laughs).
Bill: I never thought about it seriously. I feel good in the group, I even find myself musically in it. I'm pleased; we love what we do. I don't have this desire to make a solo album. At least not right away. I love working with others. We would like to collaborate with a DJ in the near future... Nothing is planned yet. But I would like to start my own clothing line! I have to find time to do things well. I don’t want to just stick my name on it, I want to draw, etc... I want it to have a twist. I've been working on design for several years. When the time is right, the line will come out.