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t.A.T.u.

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

t.A.T.u. is a Russian pop duo consisting of Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. The producer Ivan Shapovalov and his business partner Aleksandr Voitinskiy held auditions for teenage girls in Moscow in 1999. Katina and Volkova, both fourteen, already knew each other and had previously been members of the children's group Neposedy. The name sounds like the English word tattoo and is also an abbreviation of a Russian phrase meaning: this girl loves that girl. The concept made the duo stand out as a romantic couple probing the limits of public debate.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album 200 Po Vstrechnoy (2001) was a success in Eastern Europe. After that the duo signed to Interscope for the English-language version, 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002), with the international hits All the Things She Said and Not Gonna Get Us. It was the first album by a foreign group to reach number one in Japan. In 2003 the duo represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest with Ne ver, ne boysya and came third. The second album Dangerous and Moving appeared in 2005 together with the Russian version Lyudi Invalidy. Vesyolye Ulybki and Waste Management followed in 2008 and 2009. In 2011 they split up, but they later reunited several times, including at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

Influence

The music is energetic, electronic pop with heavy beats and dramatic choruses. t.A.T.u. showed that Eastern European pop music could also reach the Western charts.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to All the Things She Said and notice how the song starts quietly and bursts out in the chorus, with vocals that swing between vulnerable and desperate.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists