Cover: "t.A.T.u. : STARS on Eurovision"
First Picture: "t.A.T.u. : Bronze winners of Eurovision 2003"
Second Picture: "Participation matters, victory doesn't" (A Russian proverb)
At the bottom: they give the watch and something from t.A.T.u. for whoever sends them the best fan fiction.
THEY DID IT...
Long has the Russian show business strived to concur the European markets. First they tried "Gorky Park", which still remains a band of "sleeping kazaks" who lost their fame early even in Russia. Then "Bi-2" tried to make it outside of Russia. But they only gained popularity in "Our Great [Russia]" after returning here.
Alsu (was considered the main competitor of t.A.T.u. in Russia ~ elf) received special attention from Russian show business to match all European standards. Paradoxically, she didn't make it and was left by herself. As always, it worked where least expected.
Not so long ago a friend of mine traveled to Spain. He told me a story: "Once I was seating in a an old Spanish provincial bar. Suddenly I heard something strangely familiar and indecently native. It was t.A.T.u. singing in English about how impossible it is to get them. "Miss, do you know who it is singing?" - I ask the waitress. "Hmm... Of course!" - she replies with a have-you-been-living-under-a-rock look - "They are two perverts form Russia, everybody knows them!". Who would have thought that in the 21st century people would start associating Russia with not only vodka, snow and bears but also two lesbians!"
That is the story. It doesn't really matter anymore whether people like it or not. t.A.T.u. is a fact! By the way, the story begins in 2000, when t.A.T.u. was created by Ivan Shapovalov, who had just started as a producer. Generally, there were no show-business professionals among the people who worked with the duo. The two main characters - underage Yulia and Lena - ended up together in the band by a chance. Both were friends since childhood and both sang in the kids band "Neposedy" (Remember in "The Morning Star"?), where Yulia got kicked out for indecency. Even at that time, the girl did not hold back her emotions. The first song of the duo was "Ya Soshla S Uma". Someone either dreamt of it or saw it some other state... Actually, it doesn't really matter. For the past 3 years so many scandals have surrounded t.A.T.u. that all the initial stories seem 100 years old not worth remembering by now.
Let's take a recent vivid example. Where should the super stars like t.A.T.u. start a scandal? That's right! On the Red Square t.A.T.u. gathered a lot their followers, recruited models and simply girl-fans to film their new video "Show Me Love" and a video-card for Eurovision. What can be better for Russian representatives than an image-driven walk of fame on the main square of the country? However, Kreml' had a different opinion on this matter and the concept of free love in our country became questionable again. Not only the video had a direct relation to its name (according to some sources nude scenes were planned in the video), but the filming crew didn't even bother to wait for a permission to do the filming (why would t.A.T.u. need a permission???).
As a result the video crew was able to film only "half" of the Red Square. After that Shapovalov was taken away to the "China-Town" police department where he got a warning for an attempt to organize an unsanctioned assembly. Meanwhile the models left and the director refused to take part in this nonsense. However, according to Ivan, they were still able to finish the filming by recruiting a journalist and some schoolgirls who were making a bus ride through Moscow.
Surprisingly, the manager did not apologize after the incident, instead he expressed his extreme dissatisfaction: "In Russia it is always possible to negotiate, that is not a problem... The problem is in how our country treats us. We participate in this useless competition purely because of our patriotic feelings. We do it for Russia to cure it of the humiliation that it receives every year, watching this misunderstood competition. However, in response to our actions we don't get even minimal support." Let everyone be ashamed now! Everyone, except for t.A.T.u., of course!
Fairly speaking, even the freedom-loving America sometimes fails to understand
t.A.T.u., not to mention the other European countries. The patriotic duo has often put the country on the verge of international scandal.
The idea of t.A.T.u. was perceived in different ways by western audience and mass media. When the girls made it to the top of British charts, a BBC program "Top of the Pops" refused to air their video "All The Things She Said" because of "extreme indecency". The local TV stars Richard and Judy tried to persuade people to completely ban their video (probably because they were jealous!), and a charity organization "Kidscape" accused t.A.T.u. of working for old perverts and making money through exploring pedophilia.
Overall, the relationship between t.A.T.u. and England was very strained. An attempt to organize the first tour in Britain ended up in a scandal. The concerts in London and Manchester were cancelled. First, our t.A.T.u. girls demanded unrealistic conditions for their concerts. Finally, several London venues refused them because of "moral reasoning".
The last grand scandal in "English Style" involved t.A.T.u.'s manager Ivan Shapovalov and a 22-year-old journalist Hanna Pery (sp?) In a respected weekly newspaper the journalist announced that Shapovalov tried to rape her. Her version: "she was lured into the hotel room, where Shapovalov harassed her and the girls enthusiastically watched all this waiting to join in". Manager's version: "the journalist got into the hotel room trying to act like a t.A.T.u. fan. In the room she flirted with Shapovalov and the girls to provoke a scandal. However, since the provocation failed she had to make it all up. It's hard to say where the truth is.
Unlike England, America did not hold a grudge against t.A.T.u. although there were reasons to. The girls were completely out of control on a famous talk show hosted by Jay Leno. They delightfully kissed, ignoring recommendation not to. Moreover, they appeared in t-shits with an anti war statement was expressed with Russian profanity. Commenting the scandal with British journalist, Shapovalov mentioned "English don't understand a difference between sex and rape/violence. That's the root of their problems." The girls happily added "We always rape somebody."
Early spring t.A.T.u. provoked a new wave of international protest by asking 300 girls to pose naked for the cover of their new album. "We are looking for the most beautiful, smart and young girls" - was the motto of their campaign. Furthermore, the minimal age of the participants was just 14. What a blatant perversion of underage children! Denying the claim that their scandalous image is created for the sake of promotion, t.A.T.u. said "This is nonsense! Why would we need to create it? It is always around us like the air."
All these stories are just a tip of an iceberg. Beneath the water is t.A.T.u.'s behavior on their concerts. Just a little note: during one of the resent concerts after the song Prostie Dvizhenia (Simple Motions), which was accompanied by these "simple motions", Lena stood up from her girlfriend and said "Thank you very much, I finished" (the word she used for "finished" is also a slang for "had an orgasm" ~ elf). In other words, "no" to embarrassment, "yes" to blatant freedom!
The same motto was expected from t.A.T.u. at Eurovision. Surprisingly, Yulia and Lena acted very modestly and did not try to sabotage the competition. t.A.T.u. were to sing a "song that didn't fit the Eurovision standards" called "Ne Ver', Ne Boysya, Ne Prosi" (Don't Trust, Don't be afraid, Don't ask). It turned out to be a typical song by "t.A.T.u. standards" although not as likely to become a hit as "Ya Soshla S Uma" and "Nas Ne Dogonyat". Shapovalov gave an interesting explanation of the meaning of the words: "We address these words to Russia". Probably that's why the duo chose to act decently on the stage. However, the organizers took extra precautions. The filming was from afar with minimum of close-up scenes and the sound was kind of weak. They definitely expected yet another provocation from t.A.T.u. To be honest, the Russian fans also expected it! "It's ok if we don't win, losing beautifully with an international scandal is worth it!". Nevertheless, everybody hoped for the victory since even critics considered t.A.T.u. the favorites to win Eurovision. At the end, they got no victory and no scandal. It's a pity they didn't. Of course, the world-famous performers should have either won or lost big time discrediting the competition. The third place in this case is the worst. It seemed the people accepted them and gave them high points... but not high enough. As Yulia Volkova said before the competition, "What's all this fuss about? We just want to have fun, really." In this case, they reached their goal.
Translation by elf. |
