Chances of the girls' duo to do a comeback were small. First Tatu-girls were busy "divorcing" their producer Ivan Shapovalov and then, Yulia Volkova became a mom. Besides, Yulia and Lena looked less and less as teenage lolitas with the time. Exploitation of the old image ran out of date. All in all, something else was required: songs, image, and a music concept. Yulia and Lena couldn't withdraw either, as according to the contract with their label, they had to make several albums. Now, after a smashing success of their first album "200 km/h In A Wrong Lane", they present new songs. "MK-Bulvar" leaves album reviews for music journalists and talks with Yulia and Lena about their lifestyle.
You've changed a lot since your performance at the Muz-ТV awards this summer. You've both lost weight…
- Lena: Not at all. Yulia has stayed the same. And I, on the contrary, have even gained 3 kg.
You didn't look thin there.
- Yulia: It's just that the shooting was bad and the dresses were badly shortened. Even we were shocked when we saw ourselves on TV later.
Yulia, your hair has been dyed blonde. Classy! But i thought you preferred your hair to be black.
- Generally yes. But i've become tired of it and I have decided to change.
But Lena's hair doesn't change.
- Yes, with my kind of hair, other styles simply don't exist.
Well, in your new video "All About Us", your hair was straightened and had a sophisticated style.
- Аhа, there they straightened my hair and added highlights… If I styled my hair like that everyday, I would become bald in five years.
Yulia's look healthy in that video.
- Yes, I get beaten and dragged by my hair there.
All of this looks so real that it's hard to believe you didn't get any bruises.
- Yulia: In America they know how to remove them. I certainly didn't suffer. Only my hair. (laughs). It had to have it cut short.
Everything is new with you now: management, videos, album. It seems even your name was supposed to be changed to "Tema"?
- No, we were and remain the "Tatugirls".
But do the rights on the brand "Tatu" not belong to your ex-producer Ivan Shapovalov?
- It is his name, but ours too at the same time, as equal partners in the project. Nobody was opposed to us continuing to use the name. We have simply signed legal papers and all that.
What kind of relations have you kept with Ivan?
- Lena: Friendly. We've gone away from him quietly, without scandals. He's in the business like us. We called him from America when the album was being recorded. We can meet to have a cup of tea. Not very often in my case because I don't go out much, but Yulia sees him regularly.
When you left Shapovalov in 2004, the second album was not recorded, plus Yulia got pregnant. You didn't want to go on with show business?
- Yulia: No, on the contrary, we longed to do something.
- Lena: We simply decided to take a small break until Yulia had given birth, to gather forces… The material was prepared, recorded, and in my opinion it turned rather great.
How would you describe your new album?
- For us there are two, the Russian one and the English one. Globally they are less pop than "200km/h in the Wrong Lane", more serious, deep, and adult, more depressive. They contain more of us, our mood, our soul.
And why are you in a depressed mood?
- Just look at what is happening in the world.
You're having a hard time with the war in Iraq?
- Yes. All those political games… Here the Russian album is called "Invalid People", you know why? Because we are surrounded by many monsters: traitors, envious persons, those who can not love, feel pity, and are not capable of kind feelings. We live in such a world, and everybody is involved in this. But nobody tries to change anything.
And you try?
- We've made this album, maybe it will make people think.
While you were working on it in Los Angeles, it was said that you had time for other things. Lena, for example, has recorded a solo album.
- It's not true.
You posed naked for "Playboy"…
- It's not true either. Actually we had negotiations with American "Playboy", but we finally refused to do a photoshoot.
You did not agree on the conditions?
- No, we simply realized it was not suitable for us.
It was also said that Lena had a serious operation.
- Yes, but not that serious, and not in Los Angeles, but in Moscow.
Why? To be at the same place as the specialists is good, no?
- Аhа, probably. This doctor came and said: "you have gastritis, drink juices". But I was sure it was not gastritis. I had a big stone in my gall bladder. As long as it did not bother me, I didn't want to do anything about it. The year went on, and then i had an attack just on my way to Los Angeles, in the plane. You could not imagine anything "better". I almost died. I don't remember what happened, everything was yellow, something passed there… I was put back on the first flight back to Moscow where my mum met me at the airport and brought me to the clinic to see the doctors who had been following me for a long time. I was operated there.
Girls, while you were working in Los Angeles, you were sharing the same hotel room…
- So what? We always take one room. There were cases when we arrived somewhere for a performance and they gave us separate rooms. We made tantrums if they gave us different rooms!
But you are completely different. Working together, and then living together, it's easy to get on each other's nerves.
- We never argue. We can have bad days when we are angry at each other, but it doesn't last, and we get over it.
What about some small bickering?… Like if Yulia doesn't wash the dishes.
- What dishes in a hotel?
Or if Lena scatters things in the room.
- Lena: It's Yulia who scatters! (laughs). I'm the one who has to pick them up.
- Yulia: We've known each other for such a long time: we know each other's habits, what cosmetics we use, who scatters things, where each other's underwear is. We've gotten used to it and it doesn't annoy us, we support each other, we help each other to get rid of some bad habits.
And what have you already helped Lena to get rid of?
- I want her to stop smoking. I myself smoked for six years and then i stopped in one day, one month before getting pregnant. Not because i wanted to become pregnant, it's just a coincidence. In America when things got rough i started smoking again, a month and a half later I stopped again, and now I haven't smoked for three weeks.
Lena, have you tried to change something in Yulia?
- Yes. I want her to stop squandering! (laughs). Well it's the truth when someone goes shopping and buys herself jeans when she already has two cupboards full of clothes…
Which she then scatters everywhere.
- No. She simply doesn't wear them. She wears two pairs and has 250 more at home. Any of the lot would suffice, but new are always necessary.
- Yulia: Lenka always lectures me on that! It's good to spend money on crap! Why do you want these jeans? Will you wear them tomorrow? I say: I like them… But when Katina leaves to Moscow, I go shopping quickly, knowing that Lenka will then kill me.
Yulia, i know that you have developed a private relationship in America. Sorry, but wouldn't it be more logical to live with the young man instead of Lena.
- He lives with us in a threesome. (laughs). But seriously, I went there to work and had a lot to do. It was not the right time to move.
You probably won't tell us about your new love?
- Why? I understand that people are interested in the private life of artists. I will simply say: I have a boyfriend. He is a US citizen, he's been living there for many years, we've met over there. That's all. Why would you need to know his name and other details?
All right, tell us simply what you liked in him.
- Well, when I was younger - 15/16 - like for all young girls at this age, looks were very important to me. At school we are all looking for our prince. But now appearance is not at all important to me. What's important is that the person is honest so I feel comfortable with him. And beauty is far from being everything. What's the point of having a husband who admires himself in a mirror…
You wanted to tell about the sincere qualities of your loved one.
- I will tell this: I love him for who he is, and for what he is with me.
It was said that because of him you left the father of your daughter - Pasha. Is is true?
- The truth is that after living together for three years, I and Pasha have realized that we are different people. It happened when i already was pregnant. Nevertheless we made the decision to separate to not quarrel anymore, to not become enemies. Now we have a normal relationship. When I'm in Moscow, we meet frequently, the last time was the day before yesterday. Pasha also has a new love.
Forgive the personal question but what is the name of your daughter?
- Victoria Pavlovna Volkova.
Was she christened? Lena will be godmother, i think?
- She's not christened yet. I don't know… On the one hand, it is necessary, on the other hand, I'm christian, but I don't carry a cross and don't go to church.
When you decided to have the child, you understood the consequences of this act?
- I went on with it fully aware. Though I hadn't planned the pregnancy and taking a decision was difficult, i was not in a good psychological situation, and there was my career. But I told myself that the child was more important. I went on with it and gave birth, and I don't regret it one second. How could i regret something like that? Yes, if it wasn't for work, I probably would be pregnant again right now. I want more children! Four. That's five with Vika.
- Lena: You did well, Yulka. If i became pregnant, i would have the child too.
Lena, you said in interviews that you were dreaming of having children since you were 14. Now, seeing Yulia having one did not make you change your mind?
- No, why would that make me change my mind?
Well, labour is not especially pleasant.
- Yulia: Оy, for me being in labour was like a party. When i arrived to give birth, i calmed all the pregnant women who were shouting there. I said: girls, where are you now? You've reached the moment of happiness. So why are you shouting? And young women all in labour were also moaning.
Do you ask Lena to nurse your daughter?
- Yulia: You can't nurse Vika easily, she's independent. You can't take her in your hands if she doesn't like it, she can strike. She can recognize people well. She knows my parents, her nurses, she likes them more than me. Seriously, we were in America for six months, she's no longer used to me. Vika knows me and likes me too, but she plays more with her nurses and smiles more often to them.
Do you have any specific parental duties that only you do?
- No, the nurses do everything. And it's really sad. If i have the time, I bathe her and take her for a walk. But today for example I got up at 10am and will be home not before 9pm, so all I'll have left to do is say goodnight to my daughter and that's all.
Did you think of taking Vika with you to Los Angeles?
- Such a young child? She was only 3 months old when we left.
So you didn't feed her long.
- I fed her one month and a half. And then work.
Lena, there has been changes in your private life too. The young man Andrey is no longer with you. But there is now someone else whose name is unfortunately not known.
- Lena: And thank God! (laughs). Andrey is still there too actually, in the sense that we have not quarreled, and separated in consent. I'm in a new stage of my life. I won't give a name. I will say only that we got acquainted in Moscow, in a restaurant, during one of my last stays. We've been dating for a little more than one month now.
You girls are together all the time. What will you do when you get married?
- Yulia: We'll all live together.
- Lena: Precisely. We will buy a nice apartment, enough rooms for ten people.
- Yulia: Our husbands will live in one room and I and Lenka in another. (laughs). Yeah, why not! It's true that we can't live without each other!
MK-Bulvar
Translated by TatySite.net Team
07.09.2005 |
