“Better Than Ever”: Anna Speller’s Journey from “Star Maker” to K-otic and Beyond.

Piepjong is Anna Speller when she joins the program star maker. For three months she is isolated from the outside world in a house to work on her singing career: “So you sit in a house for three months and don’t come home.” That is very uncomfortable for Anna, but despite missing home, she is having a great time: “We just had a great time together.”

The band K-otic quickly grows into a mega success in the Netherlands, but Anna doesn’t get much of it: “I remember when we were all on a bus and that we were actually going to do a signing session. That was in a record store , but it turned out that the whole street was already full. And that turned out to be for us.” Anna still remembers that moment: “People started pushing and pulling the bus.” The whole band watches in disbelief.

Anna soon finds out that as a group member there is an unintentional focus on her appearance. Something she is not ready for at that age. When K-otic shoots the music video for ‘Damn, I Think I Love You’, something happens that Anna doesn’t like: “I had a vest on and it had a pin on it because we had to run. That pin came off and that vest went all the way down.”

As a result, her top slowly drops, revealing more of her cleavage than she intended. “If you see it that way and say you don’t like it, it was said: ‘You should use that and that is also your role in the group.'” At that moment all her emotions come out: ” I really cried so much for that.”

Eventually Anna performs with K-otic for two years, until the band falls apart after the departure of Sita Vermeulen. “We decided to stop ourselves, but then you have to see how your own path continues.” Anna is sure that she wants to continue in the media profession and does pre-education at the drama school. As a result, she soon gets several major roles at various broadcasters. After that, however, it becomes quiet around Anna. During this period she gives birth to her daughter Maeve (5). She is glad that she has not been in the spotlight since then: “I was on TV with my head from the age of sixteen and that also does something to you.”

Now Anna is performing again for the first time in seven years and she also has her doubts about that: “I felt a certain threshold and fear.” Nevertheless, Anna takes her participation with both hands: “It’s an opportunity to jump into the deep end.” She sings the beautiful song Not only by Tino Martin, which she dedicates to her ex and the father of her daughter, with whom she still has a good relationship.

Better Than Ever can be seen every Thursday at 8.30 pm on RTL 4. The grand finale is next week.