The Song For The Perfect Enemy

t.A.T.u.
“Perfect Enemy”

Why should I welcome
Your domination
Why should I listen
To explanations

I'm not pretending
To make it simple
Try to be something
Experimental

Chorus
You don't turn me off
I will never fail
Things I loved before,
Are not for sale
Keep yourself away
Far away from me
I forever stay
Your perfect enemy

No longer waiting
Remove illusions
No more complaining
Forget confusion

No more confession
Not sentimental
I am now something
Experimental

Chorus (3x)

t.A.T.u. or Tatu was a Russian band consisting of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova. Formed in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov in Moscow, t.A.T.u. is the most successful international recording act from Russia, with a fan base stretching all over the world. Their debut album, 200 Po Vstrechnoy was the first from a Russian act to reach gold status internationally. With the release of their debut English album, 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane t.A.T.u. became the first act to receive an IFPI Platinum Europe Award for the same album in 2 languages. Much of their early success was based on what was thought of as a lesbian image portrayed by Katina and Volkova, and the controversy that surrounded it. However, in December 2003, it became apparent on their reality show, Anatomy of t.A.T.u., that their sexuality was just part of the group's image at the time, and that they were not actually lesbians. Then in 2004, the group took a hiatus after they split from their producer and Volkova had become pregnant. They were soon back in the studio, and in 2005, released Dangerous and Moving and Lyudi Invalidy. Last year, the group has released a compilation album, negotiated out of their contract with Universal records, and announced the production of a 3rd studio album, and a film titled Finding t.A.T.u. It’s all begins in Moscow in late 1999, when Ivan Shapolavov and his friend Alexander Voitinskyi developed plans to create a musical project in Russia. Shapolavov’s objective was actually wanted to create teenage female vocalists because according to him, he always saw the people look up for the porno photos on the internet and most of the was actually the underage. He saw their needs weren’t fullfill and he decided to find the underage girls.

By the end of auditioning, Shapovalov and Voitinskyi narrowed the search down to 10 girls, including ex-members of the group Neposedi, Katina and Volkova. Both girls stood out among the others, especially because of their appearance and vocal experience, but the producers decided to start with 15 year-old Lena Katina. Katina began recording demos, including "Yugoslavia" a song about the Kosovo War, which Voitinskyi had written about the turmoil he experienced. After the demos were cut, Shapovalov insisted that another girl be added to the project, very soon after they added on 14 year old Volkova. The producers decided on the name Тату (Tatu), after completing the duo. It comes from a collocation of "ta" ('that' female form) and "tu" ('that' female possessive form) from the Russian language. The group has stated that the name can mean "this girl loves that girl." When the group planned to release their single for "All the Things She Said" in 2002, they were going to use the name "Tatu," however the name was already being used by a band from Australia. The spelling was changed to t.A.T.u., to avoid any lawsuits. But there’s no difference in pronunciation of Tatu and t.A.T.u. The duo began to record songs with their producers, and eventually, Voitinskyi left the project. Shapovalov decided to sign with Elena Kiper, his then-lover, to make her a co-producer and writer of their upcoming album. Their 1st single was released very early in 2000, entitled "Ya Soshla S Uma" ("I've Lost My Mind"). The song describes the turmoil in a girl's soul because she is in love with another girl, but is afraid to as she has the society frowning upon her and asks her parents for forgiveness.

In late 2001, t.A.T.u. recorded a video for their 3rd single, "30 Minut." The single was released in September, and in August the girls were scheduled to begin recording their songs in English. Yulia, who did not speak fluent English then, enlisted the aid of an English professor from Moscow State University, delaying the recording. The girls continued to tour throughout Europe. Early in January 2002, the girls began recording their 1st English album in England, then in the United States. In April, it was announced that Elena Kiper had left the group as co-producer, and that she was being replaced by Beata Andreeva, a former MTV VJ. They’re recorded the vocal shots for the "All the Things She Said" video, and in September, the single was released on CD format. In late February and early March of 2003, the girls flew to the U.S. to promote their new English album. Filming on the reality show Anatomy of t.A.T.u. began during this time. They caused much controversy through the media for their attitude, choice of words, sexuality and their phrase "Hui Voine!" ("Fuck War!"). The girls first wore shirts with this phrase on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but it was the studio not showing the girls' kiss that got people talking. A day later on Jimmy Kimmel Live, they were not allowed to wear the shirts, however Yulia ended up writing the phrase on Kimmel's hand. t.A.T.u. represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 and were thought to win. They decided to sing "Ne Ver', Ne Boysia", but because of Yulia's inflamed vocal cords she did not take part in rehearsals, and their performance was rough at the beginning.

The girls were placed 3rd but claimed they would have won if the Irish telephone votes had been counted - a technical fault within eircom led to a jury deciding placings (it was also notable that, despite a #1 single in Ireland, they weren't awarded any points by the jury). At the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, t.A.T.u. performed "All the Things She Said" and "Not Gonna Get Us". The performance includes nearly 100 girls dancing around the stage, having them strip at the end of the performance and kiss each other. On September 26th, 2003, the group released a compilation CD of remixes, titled Remixes. The documentary, Anatomy of t.A.T.u., aired on Russian television on December 12, 2003. It revealed that the girls were not lesbians, and that it was all just a marketing plan developed by their producer. The image that Shapovalov had crafted was "underage lesbianism" marketed to straight men but it was masquerading as "mere love for each other". It also showed more facets of the girls' lives; from their religion, to Yulia having a boyfriend, and confessing about an abortion. Much controversy was brought up from drug use to the censorship of their "Fuck War!" slogan. From January – March 2004, STS in Russia aired Podnebesnaya, a 13 episodes reality show/documentary which chronicled the duo recording their second album with producer Ivan Shapovalov. However, in many of the episodes the girls did not show up, or speak with Ivan. Most of the episodes were of Ivan working with other artists, as the girls did not actually participate and record a 2nd album.

Katina and Volkova had left Shapolavov, only a few months after the show aired, claiming the quality of the music being produced was too low, and that he was only interested in creating scandals. According to Volkova, Ivan was busy spending his time thinking about scandals rather than planning their artistic work. She was very sure that the fans wanted to hear new songs rather than new scandals. After leaving Shapovalov, Neformat soon dissolved. Universal Music Russia, who the girls were signed to, worked with the girls to appoint Boris Rensky as their new lead producer. Rensky, coincidentally was Shapovalov's former business partner before t.A.T.u. was formed. Rensky negotiated a new contract with Universal Music International for 4 new albums, worldwide. Volkova announced that she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Pavel (Pasha) Sidorov, which delayed work on the second album in May 2004. During the time that Yulia was pregnant, Lena was off in Moscow studying psychology. She also did various solo works, and some duets with other singers, but none of the songs were officially released. Fans were afraid that t.A.T.u. had split up, and Elena was going solo. However, on September 23rd, 2004, Volkova gave birth to Viktoria (Vika) Pavlovna Volkova, and she soon returned to the studio with Katina. Later in July, hip hop group Flipsyde released their album We the People, which included a track titled "Happy Birthday," which used piano instrumentation from "Gomenasai" as well as various vocals. Nearly 3 years after their first English debut, t.A.T.u. released their second English album on October 5th, 2005 titled Dangerous and Moving. Its Russian counterpart was released on October 19th, titled Lyudi Invalidy.

The 2nd single for Dangerous and Moving was initially going to be "Dangerous and Moving" using the same video as "Lyudi Invalidy". However, due to poor airplay for "Lyudi Invalidy," Interscope decided to switch the order to "Friend or Foe". Soon after the video was released, the group's management replaced drummer Roman Ratej with Steve Wilson, and appointed a new bassist, Domen Vajevec. On November 21st, the region of the Komi Republic in Russia filed a lawsuit against t.A.T.u., claiming that the album and song "Lyudi Invalidy" made fun of disabled people. Leonid Vakuev, a human rights representative for the Komi Republic cited that words written in the booklet for the album, which said: "Disabled people [Lyudi Invalidy] do not know what it means to be a human being. They are fakes inside the human form. They do not live, but - function," were the reason for the lawsuit. The duo also celebrated in 2006 as they were presented with many awards such as Best International Group and Best Pop Group at the NRJ Radio Awards, GQ Women of the year, 'Best Video' at the MTV Russian Music Awards, Best Group, Best Video, and Best Song at the MUZ - TV Awards and Best Group at the Italian TRL Awards. On May 21st 2007 the group were spotted wearing ripped clothes and having dirt covering parts of their faces and hands. Apparently the group were either filming their new video or completing a new photo session. While on May 26th 2007, t.A.T.u. took time out of their recording in Los Angeles to fly to Moscow and speak out against the Government, for the cancellation of the Gay Pride Celebration.