Back in 2000, Russian music mogul Ivan Shapovalov took the music industry for a hell of a ride when he introduced his latest project. A lesbian duo called T.a.T.u., which started their career with a bang. When Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova ventured into this project they had no idea the amount of buzz they would create, an international ruckus came as a surprise with their single “All the Things She Said”. From the beginning, they led everyone to believe they were a couple. Steamy videos for their singles and even steamier live performances that usually climaxed with both of them making out on stage- sure, two girls kissing has been done in television— but all this happened way before the Britney/ Madonna/ Christina MTV lip-locking ménage á troi. T.a.T.u. was definitely turning heads their ways because of their controversial lifestyle and attitude.
Their debut album “200km On the Wrong Lane” did pretty well and it earned them an amount of popularity and internationality that usually takes artists years to achieve.
With their success and all, the future of the duo was still questionable since they were deemed as a one-trick pony and just a transient novelty act.
As they were recording their sophomore English album “Dangerous and Moving”, fans and media where taken by surprise by learning that the romance between Lena and Yulia was just a front, followed by the news that Yulia was pregnant. Although they were branded as faux lesbians, both girls continued as T.a.T.u., still keeping things steamy and relatively close within each other.
Now that all the focus was on their music and they had gathered a decent amount of fans and somewhat respectability, T.a.T.u. ventured into darker territories by not only singing about sexuality but abuse and political issues.
Vesyolye Ulybki
After recording two albums in Russian and two in English, T.a.T.u. began recording their third Russian album, which is the one that has taken the longest amount of time to produce.
It was originally titled “Upravleniye Obtrosami”, which means “Waste Management”- as a tie in to the content in the album focusing on the deprecating and critical aspects of today’s society.
At the last minute however, the name was changed to “Vesyolye Ulybki”, which roughly translates to “Happy Smiles”.
The content and the concept of the album remain the same as it was originally planned with “Waste Management”, but the name change to “Happy Smiles” was the duo’s way of being sarcastic. With such grim topics on their songs, they wanted to have some contrast in the title- showing once again that they are unpredictable and sarcastic.
Unlike their previous albums, in “Happy Smiles” T.a.T.u. ditched their dance pop sound and opted for a more electronic/ rock sound. Not only that, but the voice editing and alteration was kept to a minimum- making them sound more like human and less like chipmunks on valium.
While only three out of the twelve tracks are in English, “Happy Smiles” translates as good music regardless of the language.
This is an unexpected great album that many music aficionados, pop loathers and lovers will appreciate. While it’s on the softer side, it still manages to rock hard, especially on the track “Vremya Luny”, which starts off with a tribal beat and swiftly makes way to heavy guitar riffs and a catchy bass line.
While “Happy Smiles” is still pop in essence, T.a.T.u. explores a different side of it. The darker side of pop never looked or sounded better.
Vesyolye Ulybki Outstanding Traxx: Fly On the Wall, Vremya Luny, Beily Plaschik, You and I, 220
