T.A.T.U. - Not Enough Fans? (Mean Street)

Time of publication: 26.12.2002

By Aidin Vaziri

It’s Sunday night in Milan and the girls of Tatu have just caused a near-riot at a local record store, where hundreds of fans brandishing gifts and ballpoint pens turned out for a rare appearance. But zooming away in their limousine amidst a blare of sirens and screams, Julia Volkova and Lena Katina, the 17- and 18-year-old Moscow girls who together make up the group, seem unexpectedly nonchalant about the whole thing.

“It’s not so many people,” Lena sniffs through a thick Russian accent. “In Moscow we have 50,000 people come see us.”

When the duo’s debut album, 200 Kilometers an Hour in the Wrong Lane, belatedly hits America, it wouldn’t be surprising to witness the same frantic reaction. After all, if the major labels insist on shoving manufactured teen-pop down peoples’ throats, it might as well be made by two barely legal girls who wear skimpy school uniforms, sing about lesbian love and constantly make-out with each other.

“We like to kiss,” Lena explains, matter-of-factly.

Put together by Ivan Shapovalov, a 35-year-old former psychiatrist and advertising executive who now serves as Tatu’s executive producer, manager and general guru, the group has already sold more than a million copies of its debut in Russia since its release last year thanks to singles like “All The Things She Said” (originally “Ya Soshla S Uma”) and “Gayboy,” which includes the rousing chorus, “Gayboy, Gayboy/ Be more cheeky with me.”

The party line is that Lena and Julia originally met in the children’s pop group Neposedi, but were exiled when Julia was caught molesting the other girls. It’s only appropriate that the English version of the album was produced by Trevor Horn, the studio genius behind Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

The girls of Tatu get the next few days off in preparation for their imminent assault on the States. There are already rumors swirling around fan websites that Interscope is demanding a major image overhaul — they supposedly want to downplay the lesbian routine and perhaps stop the girls from baring their privates in public so frequently. One report even alleges that Shapovalov is already putting together a new Tatu — under the group’s original name of Taty — back in Russia now that he’s signed his prodigies over. But Julia and Lena could care less about any of this.

“It doesn’t matter what people think about us,” Lena says, sinking into the car seat. “We are having a good time.”

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