T.A.T.U.: Russia's new power couple

Interview, Feb, 2003 by Anita Sarko

While most upstart pop stars clearly mark their private lives off-limits, the first video from Russian duo t.A.T.u featured the girls in a steamy kiss. Despite speculation that the pair--Lena Katina, 18, and Julia Volkova, 17--are an item, the rumormongers' suggestion is: Don't believe the hype.

"People are able to think what they want," muses Katina, the Kirsten Dunst look-alike. "We want people to listen to our music."

The fact that t.A.T.u. is the first ever platinum-selling recording act in Eastern Europe means people are listening. And after MTV latched on to the unbridled energy of their first single, "All the Things She Said," the pair earned a sizable audience this side of the Eastern Bloc as well. "A lot of teenagers find themselves in our music," Katina says of the key to their appeal and success. "We're sincere."

T.A.T.u.'s new English-language debut, 200 Km/H in the Wrong Lane (Interscope), features several songs in which their poems are arranged by infamous Brit producer Trevor Horn (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) into a brash techno-popgoth-rock extravaganza. They pledge that their next effort will blur boundaries even more.

The sentiment behind the music, says Katina, is simple: "Everyone should love. If they haven't loved, they haven't lived."

Anita Sarko is a frequent Interview contributor.