"Gays are still thankful to us," say the members of scandalous girl duo t.A.T.u. Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, whose career in the beginning was based on the rumours of their relationship.
Lena (21) and Yulia (21) are different as black and a white dog [reference to a popular Polish cartoon movie – rem. Linda16]. Lena takes life peacefully, spends time with her relatives and friends and reads books. Yulia, on the contrary, is not afraid of everything – if there is a party, then there is hell of a party and this happens often. Lena goes rarely shopping, Julia cannot hold her credit card in her wallet and spends most of her free time browsing through boutiques in different metropolis.
The lesbian love of the Tatu girls was a bubble and after it exploded they were disappeared from the scenery for some time. Now Yulia and Lena are back and will arrive in Tallinn in the connection of their concert tour "Dangerous an Moving" next week.
How's weather is Moscow?
Yulia: Getting better, it's not –35 degrees Celsius any more.
Are you resting at home from the concerts and from each other?
Lena: When we are in Moscow, we do not really see each other quite often, I have my own life and Yulia is dealing with her own businesses, but I cannot call it a vacation. When you are permanently away from home, a lot of tasks pile up.
You are always on tours where you are together. Don't you get tired of each other?
Yulia: It happens that we get tired and have a fight, but our fights don't last over five minutes. Our work has a lot of tensions. Most of the time we support each other entirely. Lena is not just a friend for me, but like a family member. I can call her four o'clock in the morning and tell her, come to me, I want to talk, and she will come. I behave in the same way.
Lena: We have very different characters. Yulia is energetic, I am calm. We balance each other. If needed, I can slow her down and on the contrary – she stimulates me the other time. I have the feeling, that if we could put two of us together, we would get an ideal person.
The first album of Tatu was released five years ago. Then the story how much you love each other was a part of your image. You made an impression of a hot lesbian couple. How much does this disturb you now?
Lena: Lesbian image does not disturb us, because we are not lesbians. Yes, we love each other, but I repeat, we are not lesbians. We just show love between two girls, without vulgarities. Our behaviour has been misinterpreted. I have never had a girlfriend and I have never been in a relationship with Yulia. But it's true, that meanwhile Yulia had a girlfriend.
Yulia: There is a love of friends between us. Our slogan is to love and it's not important whom to love. We want to say that a boy can love a boy and a girl can love a girl. If all people would love each other, it would be easier to live in this world. If people are lead by hatred and evil, nothing good would happen from this.
Lena: Although we are not lesbians, gay circles are thankful to us because we spread the message of freedom of love. A person must be free. If he/she wants to love, he/she can do it, it's not important whom she loves. Homosexuals have been disgraced and suffered a lot. My own friends have said - look, this a gay, he deserves to be beaten up. What right do you have to interfere in a person's private life? Nobody has that right.
Why did you refuse to pose for Playboy?
Lena: We do not want to get photographed naked.
You became stars when you were very young, therefore your childhood remained short. Don't you regret it?
Lena: It's difficult to say, was it too early or not. On one hand it was a lost childhood, because our life as musicians started when we were very young. On the other side our life is perfect. A lot of my previous acquaintances just hang around in the streets, but we are travelling around the world and get new experiences. Yes, it's possible to sit and do nothing, but it is also possible to build up your life. We are grateful that life has given us such a chance.
What are your feminine weaknesses?
Yulia: My passion are beautiful clothes, I'm always shopping.
Lena: Ice cream and chocolate. I like to read books and watch movies. I choose movies according to my mood, sometimes I like to watch dramas or history movies, sometimes it's good to watch a comedy. For instance yesterday I sat at the TV till three o'clock in the morning and watched a movie with Catherine Deneuve.
What do you not hesitate to spend money on?
Lena: I do not regret spending money on family and friends. I like very much to make presents. Money is paper, what is needed for living. It's good, if we have it enough to make our plans true.
What was the last present you made for yourself?
Oy, for myself.. I have to think. I bought some clothes recently. It does not happen often.
How many bodyguards are escorting you?
Yulia: We move around without bodyguards. The fame has not disturbed us up to now, we can go freely shopping, in clubs or restaurants. The maximum what people do, they ask for autographs. It's not difficult for me to give it. We are famous and it's a normal part of fame. People do love us.
There are all kinds of people, also malicious ones.
Lena: For us all people are good.
Yulia, you have a small child Vika. Where is she during concert tours?
My baby is with nanny and grandparents. She is still too small to take her with me, but when she will become older, she will surely come with us to the tours.
Lena, when do you plan to become a mother?
The baby will be, when God gives it to me. If I happen to become pregnant, then I will give a birth, but I'm not specially engaged in having a baby. My career and music are most important for me just now. We have a lot of concerts and promotional tours, so there is no time for raising a baby. I want to be a good mother. If I give a birth, I want to be with my child as much as possible, not to leave it with the grandparents.
What does your boyfriend think when you are away so often?
He is proud of me, but misses me also terribly. He is calling all the time and is asking when I will come home.
Is he also a musician?
No, he is a lawyer.
Was he the happy person, whom you made a birthday surprise, when you flew during concert tour from Japan to Moscow to wish him happy birthday?
No, it was another young man. I have a new love now.
What do you know about "hot Estonian guys"? [It's a joke. Russians talk a lot of anecdotes about Estonian guys, whom they depict as very slow thinking and not the brightest ones. Actually, that's not true Estonian guys are usually quite smart. -remark – Linda16]
Lena: I have heard a lot of anecdotes about them. One of them is as following: Estonian guy is on a train. The conductor comes to him and the guy asks, if Tallinn is still far away. The conductor answers that by now Tallinn is quite far already.
You have been in Estonia before. What impressions have you got from this country?
Yulia: Tallinn is very beautiful, especially the old town with its narrow streets.
Lena: I adore Estonia! When we come here we always walk around in the old town. There is so much exciting in it, Town Hall Square and all those historical buildings, cosy cafйs and shops. I like Tallinn, Riga and Prague. They are cosy old towns, similar in some sense, although stylistically very different.
Have you tried the night life in Tallinn?
Lena: Maybe we have gone clubbing there, maybe not. I can't remember. Generally I go to the clubs rarely. Yulia likes partying, she goes almost every day to a bar, restaurant, club or whatever.
I prefer to spend time with people whom I love, with my mother and school friends. Besides after concert I usually have no strength to go partying. Then I would like to get quickly to bed and sleep.
Sven Haljand
Kroonika (Estonia)
Translated from Estonian for TatySite.net by Linda16
04.04.2006 |
