When I sat down to watch the trailer for the upcoming Milli Vanilli biopic, Girl You Know It’s True I was expecting to laugh, and laugh heartily. Instead I was left with a gut punch getting just a taste of the real story behind this music industry scandal, a gut punch and a better understanding for who the real victims in this story were.
Nowadays is you mention a lip-synching scandal the most recent example most people will go to is Ashley Simpson’s cringe-inducing SNL flub which resulted in both the world’s most anxiety inducing jig AND a global understanding for what a backing track is. For those of us who were around in the late 80s though, there is only ONE lip-sync scandal and that is the one surrounding Rob & Fab, better known as German supergroup, Milli Vanilli. The group shot to super-stardom in the late 80s with hits like “Blame it on the Rain” and “Girl You Know Its True”, but it all came crashing down after a technical issue at a live concert outed the two as frauds. They were lip-synching the whole time, a true manufactured pop sensation who had the look and the moves, but were lacking in the vocal department.
I saw a meme not long ago pointing out how pissed they must be these days seeing Tik Tok’ers achieve fame and money left and right from doing exactly what they were publicly lambasted for. Ok, history lesson over I think you can see why I’m surprised it took this long to put a film together chronicling this dark moment in pop music.
The trailer below promises a public turn of thought on Rob & Fab who were, up to this point, seen as the villains of the story. A duo that defrauded millions and lied to achieve fame and wealth. What we can easily tell from the few minutes we get to spend with them in this trailer is that they were the true victims. Groomed by the record execs to believe this was “Just how it’s done” and that they wanted to do their own vocals but were shot down.
I, for one, am going to be first in line when this debuts here in the US. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments!
Official Synopsis:
Follows the true story of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, who conquered global music charts as the pop duo “Milli Vanilli.” Their fame turned to infamy when it’s revealed the iconic voices behind their hits were not their own, but those of other singers.
