t.A.T.u are the first big pop sensation of 2003, thanks to their catchy single All The Things She Said and those lesbian love antics. But how genuine are they? Heat finds out...
The two girls pictured on the right of this page should require no introduction by now. But for those of you who have spent the last month or so living on Mars, here are three words that will tell you everything you need to know about Julia Volkova and Lena Katina, a.k.a. t.A.T.u.: Russian; lesbian; teenagers. It's no wonder the whole world has got its knickers in a twist of t.A.T.u.. With Britney having out grown her ...Baby, One More Time pigtails, the music industry has been desperate to discover a pop act with the same naughty schoolgirl - and money spinning - appeal. Then along came Julia,17, and Lena,18, two Russian teenagers who can hold a tune, look sexy in a short skirt and - bonus! - snog the face off each other. Call it exploitation, call it pandering to the dirty-mac brigade, call it what you will, but one thing's for sure: Russian lesbian teenagers are a marketing man's dream. All the hype surrounding the girls and their relationship has paid off handsomely, helping to propel their single All The Things She Said up the charts faster then a rat up a drainpipe. The single, to be fair, is a worthy occupier of the Number One slot without the hype: catchy and impossible to get out of your head once you've heard it, All The Things She Said is quite simply one of the best pop songs to hit the airwaves in ages. But the big question is are Lena and Julia actually lesbians?
They were recruited to form t.A.T.u by Ivan Shapavalov a former child psychologist who, having already switched careers to advertising, decided he quite fancied trying his hands at directing a pop video. As you do. Lena and Julia, who both studied classical music as children, went along to his audition and got the gig. Whether they became lesbians and embarked on a relationship before or after forming t.A.T.u. is the subject of much speculation, but with massive record sales in both Europe and America, It's doubtful Lena, Julia or Ivan will give a monkey's what the critics think. In the process of organising today's interview with t.A.T.u, Heat is warned that both Lena and Julia can be tricky customers when dealing with the press. The Face flew a whole wardrobe of clothes out to Barcelona for a shoot, only to have the girls reject them on the grounds that they were "shit": the clothes were by Alexander Mcqueen and Chanel... We also hear that the girls are prone to having huge bust-ups in Russian during interviews, which sounds like it could be fun to watch, but isn't so interesting to report when you can't understand a word they're saying.
Fortunately, just as we're about to ring the Russian Embassy in London in desperate search of a translator who is liberal-minded enough to post the question "So, are you two really shaggin'?", heat recieves an assurance that the girls have enough grasp of English to understand our questions. Phew. The girls happily have their picture taken in their vests (it was that or the band's disturbingly revealing school uniforms) so that's one less thing to worry about. In fact, all that remains now is the interview. As we settle down with Julia (the dark one) and Lena (the redhead), the mood appears to be jovial, with no hint of trouble brewing between the girls. They obviously both got out of the right side of bed today. But was it the same bed?
Let's cut to the chase. Exactly how close are you two?
Lena: We are very close friends. [Laughs.]
But how close is "very close"?
L: It means that we are very close friends. Very close. [Laughs.] I need to tell you how we are close? So you want to hear that we are sleeping together, that we are fucking every night?
Well, are you?
L: [Laughs.] Of course!
But are you really lesbians? Some people think it's just a gimmick to sell records.
L :[Laughs.] How do you think?
Er, I don't know.
L: If it's love, if we love each other. We are even living together, but we're always not at home. [Laughs.]
You're constantly snogging in public; do you do it because you want to really shock people?
L : We kiss when we want to kiss. We don't care! Everything is normal if it's love, why not? We want to say to anybody that they shouldn't be afraid of their feelings. This is the message. If it's real feeling, why not? If you love it doesn't matter if girl loves girl, or boy love boy or something or girl love boy. It doesn't matter. It's just love and we shouldn't be afraid of this crowd's opinions. Stupid things.
So what do you both think of the critics who say you are a bad example to young fans?
L: A lot of parents, they just hate us and they don't want their children to listen to us, to listen to our music, to our songs, to see our videos and so on. It's just bad, bad, bad. Why bad? Why bad? Everybody, even almost everybody have their own head, their own mind. They can think what they mean in this life.
So When did you and Julia get together?
L: We are together maybe about four or five years.
Was it love at first sight?
L: [Laughs.] It was love and it is love for a long time.
How do you cope with living and working together?
L: We are private together and we are working together and we sleep together and so on and so forth. Yes! Yes!
Are you ever apart?
L: We have some breaks. For example, now we have the possibility to be with our parents for a long time in Moscow. Julia with hers and me with mine, so we have a little bit breaks.
Are your parents proud of your success?
L: Yes, of course, they are happy.
How do they feel about your relationship?
L: Um. They are parents. They want us to be happy, so...
So they accepted you being lovers?
L: No, first time they can't understand girl love girl, "Oh My God, my daughter love girl, it's not right," and then my mum and her mum, they say, "If it's your life, if you want to live like this, why not. It's your opinion, it's your choice." So we can do whatever we want.
Lucky you. Um, are you OK, Julia? You haven't said a word so far.
L: [Interrupts.] She doesn't speak English, she is trying to learn. [Laughs.] I think she is not a stupid girl, it's very easy, easy language. For me, it was easy.
Right. So, Lena, were you prepared for the phenomenal response to All The Things She Said?
L : When it first came out, everyone was like crazy. It was like, "Woah!" [Laughs.] So this was a real smash.
What's the song really about?
L: The story of the song is that two girls love each other and they want to show it to everyone and they are like from the other side. One side is the crowd of people and on the other side we are together - it's like they can't understand and we are trying to explain to them that it's OK, that we love each other and it's very big love and how can't they understand that and so on.
How would you describe your music?
L: Ah. Our human style, our style of music. Mixed.
Julia [At last!]: We are like Marilyn Manson for sure. [Laughs.]
Er, OK. So, is it weird being recognised wherever you go?
L: Yeah, sometimes it's like this, but actually when we wanted to go to do maybe some shop, or just go to eat somewhere in some resturant, that's not a very big problem. All they can do is just to ask for an autograph or just say, "Oh Julia and Lena, it's t.A.T.u.! We love you, we love you!" Or,"t.A.T.u. is shit." [Laughs.]
How are you handling success at such a young age?
L: Easily. Really easily. It was our dream from the childhood and now we are just working and our dream comes true. Maybe sometimes when we're just tired, but even in other work you can be tired. It's not very difficult for us to work.
How does it feel to be one of the first Russian bands to become successful in the rest of the world?
L: We're not gonna think about it. I mean we thought about it, but we never thought it will be in our real life. We want to do it, because nobody did it before us. We are very happy of this.
Do you miss Russia When you're working abroad?
L: I think sometimes it's very difficult, because we are homesick and we want to see our mums, sisters and our dogs. [Laughs.] But it is work, we want to live like this, we are living like this.
Your album is called 200km/h In The Wrong Lane. Is that because you like living life in the fast lane?
L: Yeah, Julia likes very much, I can't drive.
Er, right. So, are you and Julia quite similar in character? I'd ask her too but, let's face it, there's no point.
L: We are very different and common the same way. It's hard to explain. Of course, we are different, because we are different people. We have different characters. But mostly we can find the compromises.
You must be quite rich now. What do you spend money on?
L: How we like to spend our money? I don't know. Frankly speaking, we don't give a shit how much money we have. It's not a very big problem. Of course, it's good when you have money, but we're still living with our parents now. [Agitated.] Money, money, money, it's such a serious question.
Is it?
L: Everybody wants to have as much as possible. There are no people who say, "Oh, I don't need money." It's such a life and now you can't live without money. We have enough for us, we have enough just to help our parents, to buy something for us like presents and so on. It's enough.
So if money isn't important to you, what is?
L: We just want everybody to be happy and they shouldn't be afraid of their spinnings, [Editor's Note: we assume she means sexual preferences but who know with these two], they just need to be in love. It's the most important thing, just to love somebody.
Transcription by Lord of Ruin.
TatySite.Net |
