02.24.2003 - Tatu Are #1 In UK For The 4th Week!
Russian Girl-Duo "Tatu" are still leading the official UK charts! It’s
already Lena and Julia’s fourth week on the top. Justin Timberlake,
Sinead Quinn, Kelly Rowland and Turin Brakes are still unable to
beat them.

The duo with the mysterious name "Tatu" appeared out of the blue. Like an
explosion. Actually, nobody even knew what it was. There was only this
song, "Ya Soshla S Uma (I've Lost My Mind)", that soared right to the
top of Russian hit charts in Autumn 2000. Two schoolgirls kissing under
the rain fascinated and aroused the audience at the same time, bringing
a new stream of music into showbiz.

The hit single that made the group popular is "Ya Soshla S Uma (I’ve Lost
My Mind)". This is a heart-wrenching song about love between two girls. It
was written by a group of not-so-professional musicians, like it always is with
super-hits. The second song of the group, "Ya Tvoi Vrag" was written before
"Ya Soshla S Uma", but according to the group's producer, it wasn't as intense.

The writing of the song is a story on its own. Ivan Shapovalov had been
searching for an original, interesting song, that could become a hit, but he
found nothing more than some ordinary songs, "This is all so old, unreal."
Here is what happened as a result.

The song's text was written by an NTV journalist Elena Keeper (who became
one of Tatu's co-producer, and now has formed her own project "Nichya").
Valeryi Polienko, a student, helped to change the text into lyrics. The music
theme was Shapovalov's idea, the rest of the music and the arrangement of the
lyrics were done by Sergey Galoyan.

At some point, the song was released, and the group needed a music video. The
whole process took two weeks. Only the shooting of the main scenes took three
days. The clip was filmed at the very beginning of autumn on Hodynkyi field, in
Moscow. For the filming of the clip, Lena had to lose 10 kilos, and Julia had to cut
her hair and dye it black. Julia and Lena were freezing to death during the filming,
which one could easily see in the music clip itself. In the video, the girls appear to
be totally isolated from the world. At first, they don't know what's happening. But
towards the end of the clip, they cry out that they are not dependent on what the
world thinks of them, and they leave it all behind by walking away. In the end, it
turns out that they've shut out the world, and not vice-versa. After the release of
the clip, there were insane amounts of news concerning homosexual love and the
group itself.

The image of two teenage lesbians was very remarkable. The girls were forbidden
to talk to the press and give autographs.

"Ya Soshla S Uma" has had an incredibly long shelf-life for a debut single. The
video was in MTV Russia’s Top 10 playlist for 2 months, for 3 months was in
Top 5 most requested videos chart, and is still on air.

The audience was first shocked to see two girls kissing in the video, and after they
came to their senses, everyone realized there is much more than lesbian appeal
behind this track. It’s the lyrics, the music, and, most importantly, the message
the girls deliver.