Leony and Katja Krasavice speak in the stern-Interview not only about their friendship, but also tell how hard it is to make new friends. And it’s about men too.
The two singers Leony, 25, and Katja Krasavice, 26, are on the DSDS jury for the first time this year. They have known each other privately for a long time. In an interview with the star, they report on how difficult it is to find new friends. Because now that they are known, they have to pay attention to completely different things. Disappointments are inevitable. And of course it’s also about love and partnership. After all, the two sing about it in their songs.
Katja, Leony, you two are also private friends. Were you friends before DSDS?
Leony: We knew each other before and got along really well. DSDS made this even worse. In the foreign recalls we were together every day and did a lot together in the evenings: going out to eat, drinking wine. A friendship has developed over the last year and a half or two. At first glance we seem super different, but we have a lot in common. We can rely on each other and get along very well.
Katja: Yes, sweetly said, definitely.
Katja, what do you like about Leony?
Katja: She is a very quiet person and doesn’t push herself into the foreground. But when she starts singing: Oh my god, I’m flashed every time. And I can totally rely on her: when she says: ‘I’ll be at the start tomorrow’, then she really is at the start. She is just herself.
And now you Leony, what do you like about Katja?
Katja: Yes, tell me.
Leony: Your confidence. She doesn’t let anyone tell her anything, but does her thing from the start. Katja doesn’t pretend, she doesn’t play any role. If you know her, you know that she is the same in private. She’s just real and I find that very impressive, in our business you can only say that of a few.
Katja: Yes, very sweet here. We don’t usually know that from interviews.
Don’t worry, the tricky questions are yet to come. You’re both well-known and successful: is it difficult to make new friends?
Katja: Yes, of course it’s difficult. I just never know what the intentions are: just because I like a person doesn’t mean they have good intentions. Then I’m not sure: Does the person want my fame, or does the person want my money, or what does the person actually want from me. And that’s why I have such a protective mechanism and put a wall around me and say: Ok, I won’t let so many people get to me anymore because I’ve experienced a lot of negative things. That’s why new friends for me tend to be people I work with. For example stylists or make-up artists. Then I know they understand me and don’t have any funny intentions or post anything on social media.
Leony, is that also an experience you had?
Leony: Of course, in the last few years that I’ve had more success, I’ve become more cautious about who I call friends and who I don’t. My circle is relatively small. My best friends are still from back when I was in school. Then I know: They know me inside out, they know me from the start, they don’t want to take advantage of me, they don’t want to change me. I can just be who I am. In order for a new friendship to develop, it takes me a long time before I can trust.
Katja: Yes, exactly, the majority of my friends are also childhood friends. I’ve had my best friend by my side for twelve years. I wasn’t known back then, he’s been with me through the mud, through the bad times, and then I know: he’s always there for me.
Leony: It’s worth a lot more to me when the friends have seen everything from top to bottom. I’m still not a different person for them, no matter what things happen in life, no matter what successes you have. When I’m with my friends, I’m still the same Leonie I was 10, 15 years ago, and that’s often not the case with new friendships. It’s the same with me as with you, Katja: My new best friends are the people I work with. My team, my manager, my producer. I spend almost every day with them.
Katja: It happened to me that friends I used to have were suddenly different. They didn’t understand that I didn’t have much time and was on the road a lot. There is something bad and something good about being known: You can then clearly see who really has what intentions. If you’re forever unknown, you’ll never find out what friends would be like when I’m rich and famous.
So it’s fair to say that success has weeded out false friends for you?
Katja: Yes, definitely. You recognize people’s faces more easily and you become more sensitive. I’m less naive about these things now. I used to want to be friends with everyone in some way, now I’m more cautious.
Leony: Strange situations then arise: you are out with someone, you tell them what great things just happened in life, and you notice: they are not happy at all. I think the minimum is that he’s happy for me. I would be happy about anything. If not, it’s also difficult for me to build up or continue a deep friendship. Or the other one says: ‘Oh, why doesn’t this happen to me?’ and then it’s all about the other one again.
Leony, you grew up in a rather rural Bavarian town. Katja, you also lived in a Saxon town for a few years: does that connect you?
Leony: I think we both have a lot of village in us, we notice that when we sit together and then we tell each other stories from village celebrations and songs from back then. I also think that we both always wanted to get out of the village. That you’re doing something big, that you’re destined for more than just living in a village. So living in the village is not a bad thing, many of my friends still live there. But it was always clear to me that that would not make me happy and that I wanted to go to the big city. I couldn’t imagine living my whole life like many others where and how I grew up.
Katja: I don’t know if I would still live in the village today. I probably would have moved away at some point when I was 18 or something. But I was forced to leave because of what my father did to my family. So we got into the car in a cloak-and-dagger operation and had to leave everything behind. In order to get as far away from all that crap as possible, I had to leave my friends and start a new life without them. But maybe I wouldn’t have become who I am now in the village, maybe I wouldn’t have been able to develop as well there. Everyone in the village knows about you and thinks they can form an opinion. Gertraude from the farm definitely knows exactly what you’re doing. And that Katja is revealing every day, even though she’s actually so young, and what’s that supposed to mean. That was stressful, but in the end people talk everywhere. In the village, in the city, on the internet. Now when I think about the village I try to let go of those negative thoughts and just think about animals and the country and beautiful things because everything is a little bit cuter in the village and yes,
Leony: Homely
Katja: Yes, exactly.
Leonie, how is it for you today to return to your home town where you are now so well known?
Leony: It’s super beautiful. When they see my car parked in my parents’ driveway, many children and young people come and ring the bell, bring presents, want autographs and then, very excitedly, tell about it at school the next day. When I’m in Bavaria, I’m still the little Bavarian Leo I used to be, nothing has changed. But today I am taken seriously. Five or six years ago I was always smiled at a bit. People kind of expected me to become a superstar overnight. And because that didn’t happen within half a year, you failed in their eyes and then they laughed at me. Nobody laughs anymore. Of course I don’t forget who said the opposite before, who did stupid things and who put stones in my way.
They can even work together as friends. In their song “Raindrops” they sing “Now I’m number one in the charts | And now I can hear your heart breaking | But I don’t know who you are anymore.” As an artist, is it sometimes useful to be heartbroken?
Leonie: Definitely. Especially when it comes to the lyrics, it’s helpful to have experienced a difficult time. If you got your heart broken or something. Every situation in life enriches you immensely. But as a songwriter you’re also like an author: you don’t have to have experienced every feeling exactly the same way.
Katja: For me it’s more like I’m processing my life. I can let out all the bad things I’ve experienced. This is something that helps me and that…
Leony: Like a therapy.
Katja: It’s just like therapy. And then I get such blatant reactions that encourage me to keep going. These are little girls, they’re only 18 and they come to me crying and saying you saved me from killing myself. They find support and courage in my words and experiences. I think it’s nice that I can turn all the bad into something good like this.
“Art never comes from happines” is a saying that is often quoted: Would you say that’s true for you?
Leonie: Definitely. Of course, Katja and I had completely different lives. We grew up differently. I had a completely sheltered environment, I have a great family, my dad and mom are still together, I grew up in a small village in Bavaria. Sometimes I wish I had a worse life just because then I could put more into my music. But now I do a lot of dance and pop and that doesn’t always have to be sad. I want to put people in a good mood with my music and my lyrics. You’re more responsible for the sad lyrics, Katja, I can’t really embody that because I just haven’t experienced the really bad things.
Katja: Yes, but it’s also important that you give people a good feeling. So much shit is happening in the world right now, but they should also see that you can still be happy. For a song they should forget everything bad. If there were only negative songs, people would all get depressed and want to kill themselves.
Speaking of happiness: what does love look like right now?
Leony: I don’t need a partner right now. I’m happy the way it is. I get a lot of offers, but I’m enjoying my life right now and I have so much on my mind that nothing and nobody else would fit in at the moment.
Katja: We are such typical examples of modern women. Society used to think you’re not a woman if you don’t have a man. But I feel better when I don’t have someone by my side who annoys me all the time and doesn’t understand that I only have a little time. But i love men and i love love to be romantic with someone. I’m an over-the-top family person and I love children. At some point someone will come along that I get along with and that fits. And if not, then that’s ok too, because I’ve got so much to do anyway. Doing all the small talk with someone and telling them about my life is so exhausting. My future husband should rather buy and read my book first and then we can talk directly about the important things.