To the redaction of Vanity Fair Italy
Good morning,
my name is Paola, 22-years-old, soon-to-be 23, I live and work in Milan and, thing that will probably stupefy you, I am a Tokio Hotel fan.
According to the article on number 11/2010 of your magazine, theorically I do not exist. Quoting your journalist Silvia Bobino, I, in fact, am supposed to belong to the group of “girlies (younger than 15) screaming for four 20-year-olds”. The Population Registration Office, however, informs me that the undersigned, having been born in 1987, is, under any aspect, an adult who has basically by now forgotten of her 15 years of age and who, I assure you, surely doesn’t start screaming in front of the up-mentioned four 20-year-olds, especially for respect them in their regards.
Now, what I would like to know is: in your article, where have all those people who, like me, have past 20 years of age and still love these four German guys, ended up?
This was probably a simple distraction, a comprehensible inattention, since all the common places depict Tokio Hotel as an incarnation of the modern prototype of a commercially built-up boyband: young, handsome, rebels. Too bad that the truth, in this case, is totally different.
Ignorance – as it’s well acknowledged – dies hard, especially in a world affected by such a grave form of prejudice. But pretentiousness is a common flaw.
Just as a matter of fact, the four Tokio Hotel guys are a band born in 2001, under the name of Devilish. At that time, with a quick calculation, two of them were 12, one was 13 and one 14. Kids, all in all, who met casually in a club where the Kaulitz twins, that night, were performing. It was then that they decided to from a band all together, just for fun. Fame was reached only four years later, with the release of their first single, Durch Den Monsun, that in Italy arrived, in its English version Monsoon, two later, but, despite this ever-growing popularity, Tokio Hotel never lost track of the important things in their private lives. In case you wished to get informed about their history, there’s a documentary named “100\% Tokio Hotel” (it can easily be found on YouTube). It’s something a respectable magazine should do, before publishing or even writing an article. Being informed on a treated subject should be something granted, but evidently it’s not. I wonder, in fact, where you got the information about the Kaulitz twins never getting a high-school graduation, since it’s clamorously false. Bill and Tom graduated in 2008 with a 1,8 (which is one of the top marks in Germany), and they did it privately, because they already had such celebrity that it was impossible for them to attend school normally. If I were you, I would revalue your sources’ reliability. You DiPiù colleagues, who wrote a whole article about the twins’ graduation, will surely be able to advise you for better ones.
Your article was certainly written with an astonishing accuracy, such is the attention you dedicated to details, too bad it’s fake details we’re talking about.
Shall we mention the “decline” you insinuated? The guys are still winning awards all around the world, they’re soon having a tour in the US and are even expected in Asia. Their new album Humanoid hit Golden and Platinum in several countries. Do you call this “decline”? Let’s talk about the fact they didn’t sell out the four dates in Italy: they’re not the only ones, and besides two years ago the scheduled (sold out) dates were not four like now, but two, and they were the result of the fusion of the three dates that had been cancelled due to Bill’s surgery to his vocal chords.
I am aware that the target you’re addressing to is made of people who expect to read exactly what you wrote, i.e. that Tokio Hotel is a band for hormonal brainless girlies destined to decline soon, but these are the same very things that used to be said three years ago, by now, and still these boys are topping the charts all around the world. Get on your own the obvious conclusions.
You’ll be surprised to hear that the fact that the adult fans of Tokio Hotel are not hysterical and noisy like the younger ones (who are not all like this, by the way) does not necessarily mean that they do not exist. There’s a forum in the net specifically created for all those who have left teenage long ago and still are huge fans of the guys. Most of the users in this forum are over 20 and some reach 50. And, speaking of 50-year-olds, my Mother will be pleased to know that, being a Tokio Hotel lover and yearning to attend one of their concerts, she was automatically included in the group of the 15-year-olds. As to the male fans that follow Tokio Hotel, they will surely be wondering if suddenly the male gender isn’t counting any longer.
It was important to me to stress that Tokio Hotel, as long as it’s possible for them, are fans themselves, with favourite bands and artists from which they get inspiration and by which they are mutually admired (just think of David Bowie, who more than once proclaimed himself as one of the biggest fans of this band). Tokio Hotel go to concerts, to the cinema, shopping, even though – necessarily for their own safety – they are always followed by bodyguards, and none of them has ever had arrogant behaviors, typical of those bored stars who are often discussed. The aggression in that pub is a mere episode of manifestation of hatred in Gustav’s regards, only because he is Tokio Hotel’s drummer (hatred that you, among the rest, implicitly fomented, picturing them as ignorant and superficial bimbos), and the infamous punch by Tom was but an exasperated act towards a girl who had been tormenting him, his family and friends for months and months, harassing and threatening them (ever heard of stalking?). you can watch any German news to have a confirmation of all of this. So, tell things as they are, at least. Distorting real facts at your own will may be making you earn readers, but it won’t certainly be good for your magazine’s credibility.
If you want to write negative articles, go ahead, but at least be faithful to the truth.
I wrote this letter by my name, but also by the name of all those people who, like me, felt personally offended by the insinuating tones of this article: Tokio Hotel fans are of every age, mostly females, it’s true, but also males, and if on one hand it’s true that a lot of people follow them only because they are a group of young good-looking boys playing catchy music, on the other hand nobody can dare argue the worth of the affection that can be felt towards artists like them. Who have always given big attention to their own fans, never forgetting to be grateful for all the support and encouragement they receive. I will be joined in this letter by the voices of all the other people who didn’t appreciate the way things have been told in this article and, as you are going to see, maybe you had an excess of ingenuity in underestimating Tokio Hotel and their fans like this, Italian and foreign.
Sincerely yours.
Paola Sincerely,
Source
I totally agree with this fan. she's telling something really important here:) so yeah, i hope you understand us tokio hotel fans now. 'cause we must be doing crazy fandoms but we defend anything else but the truth...:)
