"Alles nix Konkretes": That was the title of the first album by the Cologne band AnnenMayKantereit in 2016. It couldn't have been a better title. After all, they didn't really have a career plan back then; the motto was more: just do it, follow the vibe, and see what happens. 

This is how Christopher Annen (guitar), Henning May (vocals) and Severin Kantereit (drums) had already done it when they met at school and performed together as street musicians, and this is how it remained when they released early songs on YouTube, produced their first album, which is now long out of print, and finally, in 2015, released a debut EP under the equally telling title "Wird schon irgendein gehen" (It'll all work out somehow). 

And how it all went: What has happened since then is truly extraordinary and—well, finally—one of the most impressive careers in German pop of the past decades. Since the band's founding in 2011, AnnenMayKantereit has steadily 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 performed at major festivals; their videos for songs like "Barfuß am Klavier," "3 Tage am Meer," and "Oftgefragt" have been viewed over 1.4 billion times on YouTube. They have 1.9 million TikTok followers and over 1.4 million on Instagram, and five million people listen to them monthly on Spotify. 

AnnenMayKantereit has also garnered large international fan bases in countries such as Mexico, Ukraine, and Turkey. Their version of Suzanne Vega's classic "Tom's Diner," recorded with Giant Rooks, was certified gold in the US. The band has played over 400 shows, received numerous awards, and fulfilled a dream in September 2023 with a sold-out concert at Cologne's RheinEnergieSTADION. 

One could continue this list, and yet one would never use a word like superstars in connection with AnnenMayKantereit, although of course they have long since become superstars.