A Free Spirit Is Born—Welcome!

Coolbreezegirl is one of the admins for the official Tokio Hotel America fan site and forum. She graciously popped in to share her pearls of wisdom. Interviewing CBG was a blast of fresh air. Love her strength and style. Enjoy! Part 1 of 3.

NTO: Who is Coolbreezegirl? Tell us about your interests; things that irritate you; adjectives that match your personality; things that make you erupt in laughter.

CBG: I’m a free spirit born and raised in Sweden where I still reside, although I wouldn’t describe myself as a typical Swede, neither in looks nor personality. I probably talk and laugh a little bit too loudly (luckily, I laugh very often too, but that’s never a problem, heh), to fit the stereotype. And I’m less reserved. I am too argumentative. I don’t like getting shit-faced drunk during midsummer celebration. Nor am I blonde.

Describing myself as a free sprit basically comes from people around me usually finding me unpredictable and hard to pigeonhole. I’ve never really been interested in conforming to society’s rules of how you are expected to live your life or how an adult is supposed to behave. After all I have the whole collection of stuffed Barbapapa dolls living on my desk in my office, and a pic of Bill Kaulitz as my desktop wallpaper. [Editor Note: Barbapapa is the title and character of a French children book series written in the 1970s by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor.]

I’ve always lived my life as I see fit and I am proud of that. I have zero interest in getting married or having kids. Couples dinners are my pet peeve, and I adamantly refuse to host one, even though I love having people over for dinner. I only cook when I do dinner for other people. I have lived in my current apartment for six months now and still haven’t checked if my oven works. But I know the menu of every restaurant and café in my town by heart. I think I spend way too much time hanging out there with my friends.

My favourite quote in life is “A friendship is a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” I don’t know who said it, but it has stuck in my head for years, and it is my motto in life. [Editor note: Aristotle is credited for the quote.] Friendship to me is more important than anything in life. It is what I cherish the most, what I enjoy the most, and I always strive to be the best friend anyone can have. I am incredibly blessed with my social life and my friends. I met my best friend, also a Tokio Hotel fan I might add, when we were 12 and still, 25 years later, even though we’re not living in the same town, we still make sure to meet at least once a week and talk on the phone daily.

I prefer being single than being in a relationship. Always have. Always will. Even when I am in love I still long for time of my own. I believe that you can only evolve as a human being when you’re not in a relationship. I still haven’t run into anyone else who truly feels and understands this and lives by it. People around me, whether friends or boyfriends, respect my opinion, but usually do not truly understand it with their heads or hearts. But that’s fine.

I do get a kick from reading books and watching movies, interior design, snapping pictures of architecture, travelling (I prefer multiple short trips rather than one long per year), but most of all I get a kick from colours and looking at aesthetic things. I am a colour-addict, meaning I get a kick from colours and they affect my mood very easily. I can obsess for eternity about any colours around me: on curtains, mugs, wallpapers, the clothes I wear, the clothes Bill wear. I work as an art director / graphic designer /stylist, so much of my work involves picking out and matching colours, which is one of the reasons why I love my work. Much of my happiness relies on intellectual and visual brain stimuli, which is why being blind is one of my biggest fears in life.

In many ways I am quite unpredictable, but can also be quite predictable. I am also very creative but at the same time insanely analytical. I strive to find a balance where I can equal creativity and my artistic side with my logical intellectual side. I guess it is the dichotomy of being a Gemini; this constant conflict between dualities.

NTO: What was the first contact with a TH song that resonated with you. (if it wasn't a song, what was it) and why did it have such an impact?

CBG: Little by little, I started being aware of TH’s existence in December 2006 or January 2007, I don’t remember. I didn’t become a full fledged fan until I started Googling them (Bill caught my interest because of his striking appearance and mind blowing stage presence that I soon found out were well- matched by an intriguing personality and great talent), checked them up on YouTube and bought Zimmer 483 album and started blasting it from the speakers at the photo studio at work.

My first song that I really was moved by was An Deiner Seite. I knew no German except for a few words, but thought the song carried such an intense sense of despair and desperation. It fit my mood that day so much. So I asked a friend to translate the chorus “Ich Bin Da…” [I am here] and was hugely surprised to find a positive meaning in it. Hehe. Mainly, I get a kick from the emotions in Bill’s voice. It just speaks to me. Geh is my favourite song because of the heavy emotions in the vocals. You don’t need to understand the lyrics to understand it is a song about no hope left. It took me a long time to have a friend of mine who is fluent in German translate the lyrics for me.

Speaking about lyrics, World Behind My Wall and Strange are my current favourite ones, because I think they best portray Bill, at least from the impressions I have of him from interviews--emotional isolations and the feeling of not belonging and feeling like an alien--it intrigues me.

Tomorrow, Part 2 of CBG's interview, will be posted.