Cheeky Girls vs t.A.T.u. Girls (Romanian Newspaper)Time of publication: 27.01.2003 |
Note: The article is not fully translated, but only the parts that mentioned t.A.T.u. and Cheeky Girls
“You can either like them or hate them. Above all, one thing’s for sure: Cheeky Girls have won their notoriety” – this is the way an article from the popular British newspaper “Daily Star” begins. The article is dedicated to the two twins born in Cluj (Romania) who entered the British charts under the name of “Cheeky Girls”.
Loved by some, opposed by others, Monica and Gabriela Irimia have been promoted to the celebrity status. “The worst act I’ve ever seen”, that’s the way critic Peter Wellerman, described the TV debut of the two Romanians. But this never stopped the “other side” to buy their CDs and get them high up in the charts.
Beyond the controversy, as a proof that anything sells if well-promoted, “Cheeky Girls” seem to have become a true phenomenon in Great Britain, a phenomenon which can be compared with the girls from Las Ketchup in Spain and the ones from t.A.T.u. in Russia.
The sensual taste of their live performances (mainly concentrated on shaking the “bum”), the easy-to-learn lyrics, based on a few sentences, repeated almost obssessively, the exotic biography (two “weird” twins, born on Halloween and who come from Transylvania) have divided the UK in two ‘camps’. A lot of people didn’t hesitate in criticizing their musical talent and even the physical qualities of the girls, saying they aren’t anything more than an “exotic appearance” of which the public will get bored quickly. An image promoted by a record company, nothing more.
The British singer, Badly Drawn Boy, who declared himself a fan of the girls, recently said that meeting the Cheeky Girls let him down. He bumped into them while in the hall of a hotel and noticed that, even though they live in Great Britain, they have great difficulties in using the English language.
Their appearance on ProTV (a well-known Romanian TV channel – KQ) in the News Bulletin, talking live with presenter Andreea Esca, convinced the ones at home that these two young women have big difficulties when it comes to using the… Romanian language even. They also had problems when trying to sing their song.
Probably the CG won’t be around for a long time, but they’re certainly gonna win some good amounts of money. They’re on the first pages of the newspapers, people talk about them. Good comments or bad comments? It doesn’t matter! In show-business, what really matters is that one gets talked about! What’s really interesting is that people talk about them without even knowing their song! If you’re one of them, do know that the girls are helped more by studio effects than their own voices, and that the song can be very well compared to a kindergarten chorus.
“Last summer I was watching the “Pop Stars: The Rivals” show and I was surprised to see two Romanians who were trying their luck there. I have nothing against the fact that they tried. But their performance was horrible and when I saw they didn’t win I said to myself: “It’s good that they’re not gonna embarrass our country anymore”. But it didn’t take long until a producer got his hands on them”, says Lucas, a Romanian from Ireland, in a message left on a forum.
A previous act called t.A.T.u.
Put together at the end of 1999, the band t.A.T.u. debuted with the album entitled “200 km/h In The Wrong Lane” which sold more than a million copies, bringing them the award for Best Russian Act at the MTV Awards. Three years ago, Yulia (17) and Lena (18) were two unknown teenagers. They were picked from 500 girls by the initiator of the t.A.T.u. project, the psychologist and producer Ivan Shapovalov.
He planned an aggressive promotion of the girls, combining innocence with perverseness: they’ve been introduced to the world as two rebellious schoolgirls coming from the new generation of the “exotic” ex-communist Russia, who are in search of their personal and sexual identity, with slight tendencies of lesbianism.
The “cocktail” ‘clicked’ immediately among the Russian youngsters and then in the whole of Europe. In fact, not very important, but still existing, the “gay” factor has been embraced by the promoters of the Cheeky Girls also. They are presented as “friends of the homosexuals”. Numerous concerts of the girls take place in gay clubs. In fact, a Romanian central newspaper says that the Irimia sisters were, before they left the country, “close to the young gay people of Cluj”…
Translation by KillaQueen.
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