t.A.T.u. (person)

Passport Paul
101 Things To Say That People Will Misunderstand

To really appreciate these girls, you are going to have to listen to them in Russian. The english language versions of their better songs are passable, and follow all the rules from The Manual, but they have one minor flaw. That flaw is the lyrics. The ability to understand what these little girls are yelling about only detracts from the musical experience. Maybe it is just because translated lyrics never come out that great. Or maybe it is simply because you don't need to understand.

Early on in the history of humanity, music was probably almost completely vocal. Our Paleolithic friends didn't have guitars, saxophones, or pianos. Maybe they had a few cool bones and rocks that made some decent noises, but I wasn't there so I can't tell you for sure. But what I can tell you is that they did have the human voice, without voice lessons or microphones.

There is something about hearing these girls sing that brings me back to that time. I can close my eyes and all the houses, cars, computers, and every facet of modern society will vanish. Instead of two little girls in a studio, I imagine a dark forest at night, a campfire, and singing the way it originally was. This imagery works particularly well with their faster songs, "Nas Ne Dogonyat" actually brought me to tears when I thought about it that way.

A lot of people seem to have a real problem with the fact that these teenage girls are being presented in a highly sexual manner. "They are just children!" Well, Mother Nature, God, and countless generations of humanity are all laughing at those people. Teenage girls are the most sexual thing on the entire planet, and there is nothing you can do to change that. All the rules of society cannot change the fact that human beings are mammals, and that mammals reproduce the minute they are able to. All the Age of Consent laws will never change the fact that human males are genetically coded to prefer younger mates because they are more fertile, and can theoretically produce more children in a lifetime. One hundred years of "Civilization" isn't going to change natural feelings, it just doesn't work that way. So, don't worry too much about the "sexual" image these girls are putting off, it is far more natural than whatever it is that Britney Spears is doing.

Then there is the whole "Lesbian" thing. I researched this a bit, and this seems to mostly be a fabrication. t.A.T.u is manufactured pop, a band that was fully planned before the members were even selected. This group was a pair of "hot lesbian teens" before it ever even had any members. The girls simply signed a contract, and have done what they have been told to do (including losing a lot of weight for Lena, and a change of hair color for Julia). Russian fans seem to almost unanimously claim that the lesbian thing is an act, and it is said that their onstage kissing seems forced, and totally unemotional. Basically, they just don't seem to be into it at all.

One other minor detail I wanted to talk about was the quote about "molesting other band members" that keeps popping up in reference to Julia. Now this sounds terrible, but remember something, she did not say that in english, it was translated from Russian. I am betting it was just a case of a bad choice of words for translation. Today the word "molest" seems to be almost completely reserved to be "diddling children". But that isn't what is in the dictionary, the dictionary says "To trouble; to disturb; to render uneasy". So basically, Julia got kicked out of the other band because she was annoying.

I was able to find four different music videos (five if you count the English version of Ya soshla s uma).

This is the one that everyone is talking about. The girls are behind a fence in the pouring rain wearing schoolgirl uniforms. They alternate between singing, kissing, and trying to break through the fence. The other side of the fence is populated by a huge mass of people who are carrying umbrellas and looking at the girls with disapproving looks on their faces. The video next transitions to a section where the girls stop trying to break through the fence. They instead join hands, begin smiling, and walk away from the fence. The camera pulls back in a way that suggests that it is the girls who are truly free, and the people behind the fence are the ones who are trapped.

This one is my absolute favorite. It is a story of escape, of freedom, from the world and everything. It begins quickly showing the girls have been booked into jail. They escape when they are supposed to be boarding a plane, steal an eighteen wheeler and break through the wall. From there they are on a perfectly straight snowy Russian road. They eventually get out of the cab of the truck and climb on top (while it is still moving, with no one driving, and from the looks of it, they really did this to film the video). The whole thing is filled with powerful imagery. It is too bad that they didn't pick this one to be their "big song", as it really is a better song.

The video for "Prostie Dvizhenia" hops back and forth between extremely sexual imagery of Julia moving her head around in a bathroom, and of Lena looking angsty at a restaurant table. The video has a false ending, and then comes back strong with a lot of black and white video clips interposed with what was already going on. Then the clips get stranger, shagging chipmunks, someones bare ass getting slapped (yes, this video has nudity in it, all of their videos do, except for the "Lesbian" one), and other stuff like this. This is a decent fast dance track, but can't compare to "Nas ne dogonyat" or "Ya soshla s uma"

Julia simply shines in "30 Minute", she shows a bit of acting ability in addition to her singing talent. It begins in the girl's bathroom at school, and alternates between there and a carnival. Julia is in the bathroom setting up a bomb (yes, really), while at the carnival we see a forlorn Julia looking on while Lena makes out with a hot guy in the middle of the Merry Go Round. In the end Julia blows up the Merry Go Round (and apparently Lena and the guy as well), no happy ending in this one.

All four of these videos are available at their official Russian site, which is located at www.tatu.ru. Might as well download them, they are free.