t.A.T.u. - You May Love Them, You May Hate Them But You Cannot Ignore Them

My name is Lana, I am a professional linguist/ translator and am in love with writing, too! I was born, brought up and educated in Russia, continued my education and got married in India, now I am living in Thailand and have no idea where I will find myself tomorrow! I love learning languages, travelling and getting to know about other cultures. I know Russian, English and Hindi; some bits of German, Turkish and Tatar, now learning Thai, and have great plans for at least 5 more languages!:) I am happy to share a few articles regarding Russian, Indian and Thai cultures with you.

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The scandalous t.A.T.u., a teenage female duo, has created a new page in the history of Russian pop music and managed to make their way to the top of western pop charts. Formerly spelled as Tatu, they later changed the name to t.A.T.u., having found out that there is already an Australian band with the same name.

The group was formed in 2000, having two members - Lena Katina (1984) and Yulia Volkova (1985) - both came from a popular children's chorus Neposedi (Fidgets). Their producer, Ivan Shapovalov, a child psychologist in the past, developed a concept that nobody dared to exploit on the Russian pop stage before. The two girls who were 15 at that time were marketed as a lesbian couple with we-care-a-damn attitude. Their first song "I've Lost My Mind" which later was translated into English under the name "All The Things She Said" accompanied by a shocking video left the whole country numb.

The response came in two streams. A part of the audience was overwhelmed with indignation seeing the two schoolgirls kissing and caressing each other in the rain; the other part supported the bold idea enthusiastically, turning the debut song into a tremendous success. The same reaction was received from abroad where the English version of the song along with scandalous video came on TV, though a few channels (including the BBC) banned it. Nevertheless, t.A.T.u. managed to climb to the top of UK pop charts and somehow become a Russian pop culture representative abroad. Ultimately, the project reached its aim - as Lena Katina said to the media, "People either love us or hate us, but no one ignores us".

t.A.T.u. firmly stuck to their image, following it on- as well as off-stage. Shocking statements, insolent behaviour, kisses on public and even more daring videos (most of them were banned by all leading channels) kept the audience interest in spite of all controversies. Their first album "200km/h in the Wrong Lane" became a tremendous success both in Russia and abroad.

t.A.T.u. represented Russia at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest where they were considered sure favourites to win. In spite of the success of the song "They're Not Gonna Get Us" they came 3rd and refused to accept the results, stating that the votes were not counted fairly.

In 2004 t.A.T.u. left their producer Ivan Shapovalov, and a chain of confessions and revelations followed. The girls accepted the fact they were not lesbians in real life but had to pretend and follow the strict instructions given by their producer. Volkova even confessed she had an abortion in the past, and the media immediately linked it with Shapovalov. The washing of dirty linen in public and the end of the lesbian teenage couple myth disappointed certain part of t.A.T.u. fans and cooled down the resentment of critics.

Less concentrated on scandals, t.A.T.u. now are mainly targeting the western audience; their second English album "Dangerous and Moving" was released in October 2005 and features Sting and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart among others.