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Feisty brunette Julia and soulful redhead Lena, two teenage girls from Moscow collectively known as t.A.T.u, are the Russian equivalent of pop-meets-Prodigy.
"People love us or hate us but no one is indifferent regarding t.A.T.u," says Lena Katina, the older of the striking singers. Tearing down walls of all sorts throughout the brave new world, t.A.T.u became the most explosive and controversial act in Eastern Europe last year with the scandalous single "Ya Soshla S Uma" ("All The Things She Said"), the story of a love affair between two young girls. The evocative video was named MTV Russia's Video of the Year. 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, t.A.T.u's 2001 debut album on Universal Music Russia, sold more than 1,000,000 copies, a first for an act from Eastern Europe. t.A.T.u's concert appearances at huge clubs and stadiums have drawn upwards of 50,000 fans.
Now, t.A.T.u's tempestuous teens are ready to conquer North America. Just don't expect the flirtatious, very close friends Julia and Lena to tone down their bold, fearless sense of freedom.
"Our songs are not silly," says Lena. "t.A.T.u is more sincere, more honest about ourselves and others. We don't shape ourselves for the audience. In Russia, life is not polite. If we don't like something, we say we don't like it. If we don't agree, we say 'f*** you.'" Even t.A.T.u's pop electronica has an edge. That's what enticed esteemed producer Trevor Horn to work with t.A.T.u on English-language versions of tracks from 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, to be released via Interscope/Universal. Horn, whose credits include membership in The Buggles ("Video Killed The Radio Star"), prog-rock's Yes and the acclaimed The Art Of Noise as well as production duties for The Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, Seal, Simple Minds and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, compares t.A.T.u's sound not only to Prodigy but also a group he worked with in the '80s, Propaganda.
In the end, however, t.A.T.u is unlike any other in the East or the West. "Russians are not dark but we are not light either," says Julia Volkova. "We have a different view, maybe deeper, because life is more difficult in Russia."
Julia and Lena had already known each other for several years while in another music group when they came together in t.A.T.u two years ago. Both had studied music formally for 8 years. But that's where their commonality ends.
Julia is an only child of middle-class parents; Lena, the youngest of three, is the daughter of a well-known musician/pop-songwriter father. "We love each other very much but Lena is totally different from me," says Julia, who has also acted in small films. "She doesn't like to party, I like to party. She's more quiet, reads a lot. I don't like reading." Yet the contrasts between sweet, dramatic Lena and energetic, in-your-face Julia complement each other in t.A.T.u.
The video for "Not Gonna Get Us" (t.A.T.u's second Russian hit "Nas Ne Dagoniat") has Julia and Lena commandeering a huge fuel tanker, speeding across a snowy Siberian road triumphantly past anyone who would stop them.
"t.A.T.u is about saying what you feel, not what others expect," says Lena. "Be in love. Be yourself. We are."
