One to Watch: t.A.T.u. (Lycos.Com)

Time of publication: 01.11.2002

If you think the line between teen pop and pornography has been blurred to its limit by Christina Aguilera's new video, close your eyes and cover your ears. It is about to get worse.

The next trend in pop music is lesbian teenagers.

The group is t.A.T.u., from Russia, and the song is called "All the Things She Said." The video shows the teenage duo, Julie Volkova (17) and Lena Katina (18), holding hands and dancing in schoolgirl outfits in the rain, and then making out.

The schoolgirl outfits at least cover their bodies, which is more than can be said for Christina Aguilera these days. But once t.A.T.u. gets popular here in America, that clothedness isn't likely to last long. In Russia the duo is known for performing in panties and baby-size tank tops.

Such a packaged pop group can't exist without a svengali, in this case former Moscow advertising executive Ivan Shapovalov. Shapovalov fashions every aspect of the group's image, including choosing outfits, scripting interviews, and informing the press that the girls insist on a double bed in their hotel rooms. He probably picked the incomprehensible spelling of the group's name as well.

Alas, there's no evidence the girls actually are lesbians and not just playing a role in order to attract male fans with a salacious gimmick. While all the group's lyrics tell of lesbian love affairs, Katina told an MTV interviewer, "Everybody thinks we are lesbians. But we just love each other."

There is nothing wrong with a lesbian pop band, of course, but there's a difference between a group with integrity (say, Indigo Girls) and a disposable pop act that uses lesbianism as a come-on to attract sex-starved male fans.

But that distinction doesn't stop the searches. t.A.T.u. queries popped up a bit this summer when they released their first single in Europe, but they really started rising in the past few weeks as the single hit America. Right now t.A.T.u. gets more searches than U2, Leann Rimes, or the Dave Matthews Band, and they are only going up.

The t.A.T.u. album, 200 Kilometers an Hour in the Wrong Lane, comes out on December 10, and we're sure to be hearing a lot more from these girls. Maybe more than some parents want to hear.

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