"People Shouldn't Give A Sh*t If With Sleep With Each Other" ("OKEJ" Magazine - Sweden)Time of publication: 13.12.2002 |
Note: Lesbians or not. It's clear that the girls in the Russian group t.A.T.u. want to shock us or make us feel embarrassed over their sexually liberal vocabulary.
"There's a gay persona in all of us," says Lena as she squeezes her friend Yulia's breast. The first Russian pop-invasion has just begun.
Note: Everyone wonders, but t.A.T.u. keeps silent.
Head Title: - PEOPLE SHOULDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT IF WE SLEEP WITH EACH OTHER.
The article:
Challenge is fun. Sometimes. To try to do a good job with the girls in the Russian duet t.A.T.u. is just that, a challenge. They are unfocused, blurry and only one of them, the red-haired Lena, speaks coherent English. Yulia looks like a big question mark herself when you just say "hi" to her. But to talk--they do it more than gladly; in Russian, and with each other!
The Russians still have a few things left to learn on how to behave in showbusiness. At least their manager is a typical example. She steps into the very middle of our photo-session and begins to chat. The result is that none of the girls are looking into our camera anymore.
After a moment she asks, "Are you done now?"
Duh... Sure, we would be if you only could shut up! Get this bitch out! After that, she gets a well deserved dressing-down from their American record company.
Lena and Yulia are a phenomenon. Not only because they are behind the biggest Russian hit in Europe for who-knows-how-many-years until now, but because they give rather unblushing signals that they are lesbians. During our photo session they are more than cheerfully queezing each other's breasts and Lena even puts her hand between Yulia's legs, as if she wants to test if our photographer Ulf would flip out. When it's clear that he wouldn't, the girls seem to get bored by their own shock-tests.
Surely t.A.T.u. is muchly about being provocative to shock the world. It's certainly not every day that we see two 17 year-old girls cuddling each other in their videos, pouring water on their t-shirts on stage, making it reveal what would normally be hidden.
Q: This trick wouldn't work in former U.S.S.R, would it?
A: "No, barely," says Lena. "But Russia is not the land of old values anymore. Russia is very liberal now."
Q: How far are you ready to go to keep this effect blasting?
The girls look at each other, consult in Russian, giggle and state:
"Almost the whole way."
Then Lena tells how the whole country was knocked out by their provocative video, but the storm is over now.
"We are not striving to shock people, we are just like that."
Q: Do you get the same type of questions in Russia as here in Europe?
A: "Yeh," she sighs. "Everybody asks whether we are lesbians or not."
Q: ...and what's your answer?
A: "That no one should give a shit about it! That's our private business. We are pissed to death to hear 'but you can't f*ck, 'cause you are girls.' The fact is that we think that everyone has a bi- or a homosexual side. We just want to show that you don't need to be afraid of showing it."
t.A.T.u. was formed almost 3 years ago. Lena and Yulia met 8 years ago in a children's choir that performed covers for adults, but they wanted to do something on their own.
Today they are the most popular group in Russia and they are more than a little proud of it.
Q: Have you found any little town outside Russia that you may like?
A: "We like Moscow," says Lena firmly.
Q: Last time I checked on Moscow, it was still in Russia...
A: "Yep, but we don't like any other city better than Moscow. You can find everything there!!!"
Translation by Forre.
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