AnnenMayKantereit

“Alles nix Konkretes" (Nothing Concrete): That was the name of the first album by the Cologne band AnnenMayKantereit in 2016. There couldn't have been a better title. Because at that time, there really was no career plan; the motto was more like: just do it, follow the vibe, see what happens.

Christopher Annen (guitar), Henning May (vocals) and Severin Kantereit (drums) when they met at school and performed together as street musicians, and it remained that way when they released early songs on YouTube, produced their first album themselves (now long out of print) and finally released a debut EP in 2015 with the equally apt title „Wird schon irgendwie gehen“ (It'll work out somehow).

And how it went: What has happened since then is quite extraordinary and – now, after all – one of the most impressive careers in German pop music in recent decades. Since the band was founded in 2011, AnnenMayKantereit has continuously developed from a Cologne insider tip to one of the most successful bands in Germany, without ever losing touch with reality.

With their five albums to date, AnnenMayKantereit have achieved gold and platinum status and played at the biggest festivals; their videos for songs such as „Barfuß am Klavier“, „3 Tage am Meer“ and „Oft gefragt“ have been clicked on over 1.4 billion times on YouTube. They have 1.9 million followers on TikTok and over 1.4 million on Instagram, and five million people listen to them on Spotify every month.