On her 16th birthday on June 17, 2018, there was a gift from her parents, at which both first asked themselves what that meant. For each a booklet, the pages empty, for thoughts. Only: where to start, what to write down, in this life?

This funky life of Lisa and Lena. They are sisters, identical twins, from Swabia. Three years ago, they shared a video in Apps Tiktok, formerly Musical.ly, and Instagram. In it they move their lips to a pop song and dance. Since then it's up to them.

Today, more than 46 million people follow Lisa and Lena's profiles in the two apps. On Instagram alone, the 16-year-old girl has about eight million followers - more than Heidi Klum. Lisa and Lena are among the people with the most digital fans worldwide. Where they show up is screamed. Especially girls of their age tremble and cry when they meet the two.

Hilary Riese

Lena (back) and Lisa: crazy life

How could this happen? And what's the hype about two girls about the generation of today's teens?

At that time, after the first video, there were many likes. Lisa and Lena followed suit. Always the same: Lip Sync and Choreo - they play a song or a song off the charts, dance and film themselves. Always together, often in the same outfits. Not more.

It was new and it was enough to become famous. The girls' lives for three years: photo shoots in designer clothes, traveling around the world, to South Korea, Japan, America, a speech at the Bambi ceremony, contracts with three modeling agencies, a separate line of clothes. In between school.

The booklet of the birthday, so it proved in the meantime, make sense. "It happens so much, we realized it's good to write that down," says Lena. On a Friday in November, the sisters are sitting in the Arena Oberhausen and are made up. In the evening, they host the RTL II music show "The Dome" in front of 9000 people in the hall alongside other celebrities. "A big step for us," says Lisa.

Hilary Riese

Lisa (front) and Lena: hype about two girls

Only bodyguards do not have them yet. In Oberhausen, the mother is there, a blond woman with a blouse and confident gang. Lena stares at the mirror: "Mom, is the make-up too blatant?" Relief, as the mother denies. That's it: Lisa and Lena are stars, no doubt. But like other stars, they are not.

They are not real singers, they only do that in their videos. They are not real models, they are usually not paid for shootings. They are also not classic influencers, because they do virtually no advertising, hardly share private. What exactly is it that fascinates fans so much?

In the audience of "The Dome" say 13- to 18-year-olds: Lisa and Lena are really pretty. They are well maintained. And they are nice. If you had them as friends, there would never be a fight.

Good, nice, fresh shower. What sounds incredibly boring, the teens in the hall find exciting. When they talk about Lisa and Lena, they are euphoric. Teenagers who want a toothpaste smile and have no mood for depression.

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On the way with Lisa and Lena: In selfie mode

Even the previous generation had their twins, as "Tokio Hotel" they roared German songs from stages and attracted either with spiky hairstyle or dreadlocks. Bill and Tom Kaulitz expressed what the fans were too shy about.

Lisa and Lena are popular because they are carefree and soft-washed, it seems. The Hanni and Nanni version of adolescents. Without heartache, loneliness or anger.

No verbal accidents

It does not make access to them easier, at least not if you accompany them for two days. When the sisters in Oberhausen give interviews, the mother stands by as a stop sign that prevents verbal accidents. As soon as journalists approach, the mother stays within earshot.

But she would not have to. Because Lisa and Lena are live in Oberhausen as well as on Instagram. For hours they rehearse their lyrics under the heat of the headlights, but they do not get into a bad mood. They wear the same things, loose trousers and blazers, holding hands, nodding, grinning. As if they not only had the same genetic blueprint but also thought the same.

They also often wear the same clothes on the other side of the stage, find the same jokes funny, and together they train to be a dance teacher. On Instagram, they upload videos and photos that confirm the healing world stereotype. Lisa and Lena eat cotton candy, rain confetti, pet their cat, walk in front of cherry blossoms, swing, and amazingly, the sun shines on almost every picture of somewhere. The heart-Emoji is in constant use, to the photos they write "Sunny Friday", "Blue Sky" or just just a little heart, no matter: The Likes come in.

Hilary Riese

Lena (l.) And Lisa in Oberhausen: The Likes come in

It looks like they do not have to go anywhere alone. Lisa and Lena provide answers to existential questions of puberty: Who am I? How am I? To whom do I belong? If only everyone had a loving twin who takes them and understands who they are - because he is the same.

While Lisa and Lena on Instagram constantly satisfy the harmony addiction of their fans, the life behind it feels hard. The sisters talk about such moments as they cling to a wide velvet sofa in Oberhausen.

Sayings in the schoolyard

The better they became known, the more complicated it became in the schoolyard, they say. Before starting education, they attended a secondary school. Not everyone understood what was going on with the sisters. There were whispers, sayings. "We were the only kids on the phone for everyone, some said we had changed, it was hard," says Lena. "We were still Lisa and Lena."

When they went shopping with friends after school, teenagers were resting in the mall. "We stopped, came more and more, wanted photos," says Lena. It became too much for some friends. They turned away. Others kept to the siblings. Both say that she taught this time, which is friendship.

Hilary Riese

Outfits in Oberhausen: Existential issues of puberty

On top of the stage, the two are still rehearsing, the mother below. She sets up bottles of water if the girls are thirsty. The father comes later, he is still working, in a technology company.

To accompany the daughters, says the mother, she has given up her job. She was a teacher. Then the number of followers of the children exploded. Today, she manages stars she once pushed through Schwaben in a stroller.

After the first million followers, the family sat around the kitchen table at home, the mother says. They wondered if they really wanted that. Yes, that was the answer of the girls. And for what? "We want to become actresses, Instagram is the springboard."

Dangerous healing world

Three years later, Instagram has not turned Lisa and Lena into actresses. They had a short appearance in the Schweighöfer comedy "Hot Dog", but most of the likes still exist for the dance videos in their networks. "What should we do if the children become known through their diligence and creativity and thereby open doors for them?" Says the mother in Oberhausen.

You could ban them, fame is dangerous, they are minors, you might say now. Bill and Tom Kaulitz, who became equally famous at the time, have since emigrated to Los Angeles. In Germany, they could not stand it anymore, fans from all sides, at the same time they were more and more the target of ridicule and hatred, the brothers tell in a documentary published this year on Arte.

Believing the mother of Lisa and Lena, then she wants to protect the children: If there are nasty comments, she talks to them about it. She answers news from companies, from journalists and fans who ask for contact with the girls. She accompanies her to performances. It is also the mother who ensures that Lisa and Lena's profiles are cuddly corners. Before the children post something, they show it to the mother. Voluntary, she says.

Hilary Riese

Red carpet in Oberhausen: And for what?

In the arena, the mother often looks worried. She runs after Lisa and Lena and has the bottles at the ready. Do the children drink enough? Do you need a break?

At that time, when the family got together at the kitchen table, they decided on a kind of protection program. A PR strategy where no managers spoke to their clients, but parents to their children. The agreement: Where exactly the family lives and how mother and father are called, should not be made public. Money is not talked about. At best, rumors are brief.

Stars, but no scandals

When "Promiflash" once claimed that Lisa and Lena had left school, everyone was angry at home, says the mother. It is true that the two left the secondary school after the ninth grade and now do the training as a dance teacher at a private school. The others from the class, who have a test while Lisa and Lena rehearse in Oberhausen, they wish good luck with a selfie video.

Other reports said the siblings had been adopted as infants. They confirmed it with a tweet stating that they are grateful to their family. In Oberhausen ask them to ask no questions.

Lisa and Lena are scandal free. Lisa says that they tell their parents everything. Lena says she and her sister are celebrating, but do not drink alcohol. They say please and thanks, go to Christian youth groups, pray daily. "The church is a great place," says Lisa. "Dear God," Lena begins the entries in her booklet sometimes, then she writes a prayer, she says. "That's how our parents raised us." On Lena's mobile phone cover sticks a sticker: "With Jesus and with Christ".

Teenietraum, parenting dream

According to experience strenuous puberty is Lisa and Lena for fans a fascinating antagonism. Teach the content on their channels: Do you respect borders, do you stay adapted, do you save a lot of trouble. Dream of parents, if that is the dream of their teens.

Hilary Riese

Videos from the mask for Instagram: Dream of Teenies

But to keep it that way, Lisa and Lena have to stay that way. Two individuals succeeding in being one. The only problem is that no one knows how long a concept works, which was created in a phase of life in which one can wake up in the morning and suddenly want something completely different.

There are only a few hours until the performance. Meanwhile, the father is there too. A man in a soft sweater and jeans who looks a bit irritated, as if he had somehow lost his way between the company in Schwaben and the eyeshadow palettes in Oberhausen. "I'm the proud father," he introduces himself, otherwise he says little.

Before the show starts, the sisters are greeted with frenetic applause, the parents take a backstage seat. They follow the daughters on a television. In the mask, they expressed the wish that they should be able to distinguish them despite the same outfits. Lena got a braid, Lisa left her hair open. It has happened more often lately, the mother says that the girls want to be perceived as independent persons.

Hilary Riese

Samples in Oberhausen: Fascinating antagonism of puberty

At some point, says Lena, the day will come when both will move out of their homes. Maybe, she says, they will also create individual profiles on Instagram.

It will be the day millions of fans have to decide if they want to stay with them, Lisa without Lena, Lena without Lisa.

"I'm curious," says Lena. "I do not know how to be on my own, that's what I'm scared of." Lena looks at Lisa, start of doubt. Then grin. You do not have to say anything now to understand yourself.