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Underground > Radio & Music >

So T.a.t.u. then?

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12:15 / 27.01.03

Since they're going to be taking over the world soon I wondered what the Barbepinion was on them? Exploited young girls? Smart business woman?

One of the biggest selling artists in Eastern Europe if not the biggest trying to break the UK pop market, first single being "All the Things that she said" - kinda catchy but I'm sure allot people are going to like/hate the video more.

The Sun seems to like them at least with helpful little pictures showing them kissing!!

Anyone?

Matthew Fluxington

12:32 / 27.01.03

Since they're going to be taking over the world soon

I will bet you any sum of money that Tatu will never have a mainstream hit in the United States. Seriously.

12:44 / 27.01.03

ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID has reached No. 1 in Switzerland and is top 5 in France and Belgium.

Having now bought the album 200 KM/H IN THE WRONG LANE, I think TATU definitely put a new slant on edgy girl pop with its East European flavour.

My favourite track at the moment is MALCHIK GAY which is a stripped down pop song which seems to have had some interesting tweaking on the vocals (or maybe they just sing like that...) and contains the great line "I long for you to hold me/Like your boyfriend does". Can you see a theme developing here?

I also love the fact that one of the girls is called Lena Katina. That's the coolest name I've ever heard. Also, for the video for follow-up single Not Gonna Get Us, the girls hijack a fuel tanker and take off across Siberia with it. This is the coolest idea for a video. Ever.

Incidently, you also get "that" video on the album

TATU - The best teenage Russian lesbian band I've heard this year !

12:47 / 27.01.03

I saw one of their videos, can't remember what it was called but I've never seen a music video with so much symbolism, most of it surrounding a class of red liquid and a straw.

Why don't you think they'll have hit in the states Flux?

Matthew Fluxington

13:14 / 27.01.03

Well, quite simply, because their music and their image is just something that's not going to work in the US. I can't possibly imagine the current pop environment going for it, especially since blatantly pre-fab stuff is selling less than usual lately. The 'lesbian' thing doesn't help - it may get them a couple profiles in magazines like Maxim or whatever, but it won't sell records.

14:13 / 27.01.03

I've a feeling they've caught the right wave here, especially as edgy girl pop is a natural successor to the clean and squeaky approach of Brittney etc. Look at the likes of Sugababes. Also, I suspect lesbianism (or bisexuality) is enjoying a certain trend with some but not all teenage girls, if only on an experimental level (which is why characters like Willow from Buffy are not only popular, but can appear on primetime TV without much of a scandal). Plus the lad's mag aspect is always there to be exploited - and they were doing it in the early days with the Russian edition of Maxim.

TATU manage to hit every market which is a master stroke for whoever dreamt up the idea.

It'll be interesting to see how the single fares in the UK (released today) and indeed how TATU get on in the US.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

14:21 / 27.01.03

Best thing Trevor Horn's done in decades.

I like it. Better than David Poxy Sneddon.

15:38 / 27.01.03

There's an expression used by artists who have worked with Trevor Horn coined by, I believe, Claudia Brucken of Propaganda (who had some "artistic differences" with him) - they've been "Horned"

BTW There's also a great version of The Smiths' HOW SOON IS NOW on the album too!

16:30 / 27.01.03

That needs a correction.

There is a soul-crushingly dreadful cover of How Soon Is Now on the album.

Message Ends.

A

02:29 / 28.01.03

It's as good as any Smiths cover I've ever heard, and certainly better than a few. If you want a soul-crushingly dreadful Smiths cover, listen to the version of Panic by the Business. Jaw-droppingly awful.

Brigade du jour

20:58 / 30.01.03

teenage? russian? lesbians? pop music? marketing? horn? album? smiths?

what are these strange things of which you speak? me is too old and furry to understand them.

Matthew Fluxington

21:03 / 30.01.03

I don't hate the cover of "How Soon Is Now", but I think Dan Emerson gets it about right here, though he definitely is bothered by it more than I am.

An excerpt:

Their cover of "How Soon Is Now", though, is actually interesting on its own terms. What first catches my attention is when they sing "of a shyness that is criminally vulgar", possibly the most glaring and incomprehensible incongruity between band and lyric that there has ever been....The point of the song is completely missed; the most notable thing about Tatu's music is that they don't seem to have any clue what they're singing, there's no connection whatsoever to the lyrics, and this is terrifyingly true here...The problem is this: if the girls themselves have no discernable personality and are basically automatons, if there's no sense that they're even pretending to believe or even understand what they're singing, what's the point?

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:23 / 31.01.03

Actually, that Dan Emerson piece really pissed me off. It just strikes me as the same tired old rock critic shit - they're young women making pop music, so they must be 'automatons', they must be being 'manipulated'... People like Emerson can just *tell* when bands have been 'manufactured', don't you know! Gah. He's just doing that very familiar thing of bemoaning an alleged focus on image and not being able to see past that image in any way himself... You know, certain responses to T.a.t.u. were always going to be very predictable, and I don't know which bores me more - the "hyuck, hyuck" lad mag attitude or the by turns patronising "poor, exploited dears" and censorious "how distasteful to filth up the charts with girls kissing!" muso approach...

I really like their single, is all I'm saying.

10:29 / 31.01.03

Yes, it's like Chris 'Coldplay' Martin ranting about 'manufactured pop' that's "killing music". No it isn't, it's all these crushingly dull guitar bands that are killing music.

The TATU album is fun. I can spend hours stroking my chin considering the lyrics of UNKNOWN PLEASURES (which I have playing at the moment), then I can play girl pop such as SUGABABES or whack on an ambient ENO album. Which one is 'real music'?

Here's a thing: I spent last night out and about with 2 Russian girls who looked suprisingly like Lena and Julia from TATU. Life just gets better and better.....

The Natural Way

10:51 / 31.01.03

No you didn't. Yr life is rubbish.

Anyway, moving quickly on from the sorry state of affairs that is arcboi's life (get a life, arcboi), we find ourselves in the muddy waters of "Fuck me! Did Coldplay-penis really moan about that?"

I tried explaining to someone the other day exactly why I HATE! HATE! HATE! dullarse, *authentic*, *earnest* guitarcock more than bubblegum pop (and, in fact, that I don't even HATE! bubblegum pop), and they got all incredulous on me. Arse! C'mon, surely it's obvious that Richard Ashcroft is the worst thing to happen ever, apart from arcboi's life?

Matthew Fluxington

11:16 / 31.01.03

Actually, that Dan Emerson piece really pissed me off. It just strikes me as the same tired old rock critic shit - they're young women making pop music, so they must be 'automatons', they must be being 'manipulated'...

In fairness to Dan, he doesn't seem to have any hardline stance against bubblegum pop so much as he is genuinely put off by Tatu. I think 'automatons' is a pretty good word for Tatu - they really do seem like robot girls. They are really, really creepy that way. They really don't appear to have much of a personality.

I don't really know what there is to see in Tatu beyond their image - I went a good month or two without ever seeing the girls, and only hearing a few of their songs, and I don't think they're anything special. To be honest, I think they sound like a lot like The Cranberries. All of the songs sound like they were slapped together using session musicians and singers, and I can't imagine anyone would may much mind to it were it not for the TEENAGE LESBIAN RUSSIANS thing. After all, it's been, what, eight years since the last Cranberries hit?

11:35 / 31.01.03

Oh come on, 'All the things she said' is about six zillion times better than anything The Cranberries ever did. It's on the radio at the moment and I have to agree with Flyboy... I really, really like it. They don't sound especially automatonish to me. On the other hadn I like creepy robot girls, so perhaps this is colouring my judgement...

Matthew Fluxington

11:44 / 31.01.03

Are you sure? I'd say "Linger" and "Ode To My Family" are a lot better than what Tatu have got, but in all fairness, they're more like "Zombie" Cranberries, which is....different.

They might even have had a shot at getting on US radio if it weren't for the TEENAGE LESBIAN RUSSIANS thing, because I think they'd fit in rather well with Michelle Branch et al. But then again, maybe I'm wrong - if the Donnas can have a novelty hit now, maybe Tatu can too.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

12:33 / 31.01.03

[threadrot]
What's the point of music, if not to be memorable? That has to be it, ultimately, does it make you sing it *in spite of your'self'*, or does it instantly slither from your mind like so much cold snot?
[/threadrot]

I think it's catchy. Whatever reviews have to say, I'd personally rate it as a good pop record, and I don't really give a toss if the girls are gay, straight or bestial, the damn thing is catchy.Hurrah.

Unlike David Poxboy Snedwipe.

18:24 / 31.01.03

I hated "All the Things She Said," but I just listened to "How Soon Is Now" twice in a row. And I may listen to it a third time.

Not an album I'll buy, I think, but I might burn that track to a compilation disc.

Flux: I think a lot of the "automaton" thing is the language barrier. Speaking and singing--different parts of the brain and all--and I don't know if it's a valid criticism or not in the landscape of bright'n'shiny pop anyway. I mean, the ABBA girls sang like heavily-quaaluded Swedebots, and everybody loves ABBA.

Question: are former Eastern Bloc countries going to be the new factory-laboratory for immortal-yet-disposable electronic pop music? Is the Ukraine the Sweden of the new century?

21:11 / 31.01.03

Sorry Runce, but so many bizarre and wonderful things have happened in my life recently that not even your pessimism can bring me down. And it's all true

Apparently, the evening news tonight featured a damning report on TATU as being manufactured purely to pander to paedophiles - so much so that they refused to show the *shocking* scenes from the ALL THE THINGS SHE SAID video. And featured an obviously outraged Judy Finnegan leading the "storm of protest". Yes, the missing scenes from that BRASSEYE special have finally turned up!

Jack The Bodiless

21:46 / 31.01.03

Um... nothing is 'killing' music. Not Coldplay, not T.a.t.u.... nothing. The only thing that's coming close is territorialist attitudes like Chris Martin's, and like... well ,like the one that spawned that phrase.

'All The Things That She Said' is doing well, meaning people like it and are buying it. A Rush Of Blood To The Head is a very successful album, meaning likewise.

Do you see?

Brigade du jour

21:49 / 31.01.03

Just noticed, Richard & Judy want them banned. What do they mean? Banned from radio airplay? Banned from having their records sold in major chains? Or just kept out of the country because they're Islamist paedophiliac terrorists ... probably.

23:29 / 31.01.03

I'm forced to comment on the quote that Flux posted.

The quote:

Their cover of "How Soon Is Now", though, is actually interesting on its own terms. What first catches my attention is when they sing "of a shyness that is criminally vulgar", possibly the most glaring and incomprehensible incongruity between band and lyric that there has ever been....The point of the song is completely missed; the most notable thing about Tatu's music is that they don't seem to have any clue what they're singing, there's no connection whatsoever to the lyrics, and this is terrifyingly true here...The problem is this: if the girls themselves have no discernable personality and are basically automatons, if there's no sense that they're even pretending to believe or even understand what they're singing, what's the point?

The guy who wrote this didn't getthe point. See, the Tatu girls are Russian. "All The Things She Said" and other songs have Russian lyrics which are vastly different from the English lyrics.

07:49 / 01.02.03

It was only a matter of time before somebody tried to ban it. Does anyone feel like putting a petition together to ban Richard and Judy, on the grounds of offensive banality?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:17 / 01.02.03

Can we ban just Judy? Cos Richard's funny. And I want him to co-host a chat show with Prince Philip one day.

09:30 / 01.02.03

I'd sign it. IIRC Dear old Judy also wanted to ban the internet when she realised people could access porno on it. This from a woman who likes to display her baps at awards ceremonies, scaring all the kids in the process. Judy Finnegan - on the gin again. But at least her fans remember her fondly

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:39 / 01.02.03

The Evening Double Standard want to ban Tatu, because two young girls kissing is obviously sick paedo-porn. They helpfully illustrate their point with a photo of the two young girls in question. Kissing.

Also:

Both of these via Pop Justice.

You couldn't make it up.

Phex: Dorset Doom

17:15 / 01.02.03

I'm confused
There's a blonde one and a dark-haired one, they make innofensive pop music and dress like schoolkids.
Why is everyone calling them T.A.T.U and not Linkin Park?

Brigade du jour

20:22 / 01.02.03

Has anyone put the lyrics to their single through the pornaliser? Or is there no point?

Strange Machine Vs The Virus with Shoes

21:23 / 01.02.03

Personally I think the single is great, I even tune into Crapital FM to listen to it. It seems to me that most of the fuss is about the girls being lesbian. The media had no problem with Britney Spears prancing around in a school uniform. Although there was some controversy with Aguilara’s single: Dirrty. There was no major campaign to get it banned, despite being overtly sexual and with a highly provocative theme and video. It was even covered on Richard and Judy with one supporting it and one criticising it. As for T.a.T.u., from what I have seen of the video and performances, any sexuality appears tender and caring: flirtatious as opposed to provocative.

The Natural Way

21:38 / 01.02.03

Arcboi's life is not true.

And Coldplay are destroying everything. The world. Everything.

Arcboi's life is not true.

21:54 / 01.02.03

I'm thinking either A: Richard whacked off to the video, found out they were 14, felt very shameful and guilty and went all a bit blame-happy on us (like the News Of The World, every time they find themselves look at 17 year olds in low cut tops, feeling the need to publish names,a ddress and photos to make sure absoulty eveyrone everywhere ever understands how totally not peverted they are), or B: t.A.T.u. gave them, and C4, and the News Of The World oodles of lovely lovely money to boost sales by causing controversy just before the charts are compiled.

Because, like... they clearly haven't recouped all that investment on a cheap video that's four years old yet or anything...

And on Mondays show: Ricahrd and Judy show us the very large top hats they have fashioned from the used £20 t.A.T.u. gave them, in a large black briefcase, left somewhere suitably remote in a park somewhere.

Brigade du jour

23:59 / 02.02.03

When are they going to realise, lesbian chic is sooooooo 1990s.

Mind you, I suppose it's one of those timeless things that's always guaranteed to sell. At least to guys who are too scared to buy proper pornography.

00:30 / 03.02.03

Ah, but underage lesbian chic is the new black.

Can anyone imagine a similar situation arising wherein the two same-sex popstrels were male?

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