Lesbianism, the road to fame?
Last week, the Russian teen pop group t.A.T.u’s single All The Things She Said topped the UK singles chart.
And I'm all mixed up, feeling cornered and rushed
They say it's my fault but I want her so much
Wanna fly her away where the sun and rain
Come in over my face, wash away all the shame
When they stop and stare - don't worry me
‘Cause I'm feeling for her what she's feeling for me
I can try to pretend, I can try to forget
But it's driving me mad, going out of my head
-----from All The Things She Said
In the video accompanying the single, Yulia and Lena kiss and fondle one another while dressed in school uniforms. They also frequently kiss during their stage performances, where they prance around in men’s white briefs and blue kneepads. Needless to say, this is causing a stir; several countries in Europe have banned their stage performance, and a few are trying to ban the airing of the video.
Although the teenagers claim to be lesbian lovers, there are growing suspicions that it is all an act. They are even rumored to have boyfriends in Russia!
Producer Ivan Shapovalov chose the girls, who previously knew each other, from among 500 applicants. They were 14 years old at the time (they are now 17 and 18). "My attention was caught by something they had between them, and I developed the rest", says Shapovalov, who worked in advertising and practiced psychiatry before producing t.A.T.u. Shapovalov denies claims that t.A.T.u.'s
lesbian behavior is just an act. “I discovered something real in them that I could show." But, Shapovalov has also called his creation, “an underage sex project designed to appeal to men in search of underage entertainment.”
The act's media buzz depends on a certain ambivalence as to whether they are a real-life lesbian couple or not. Shapovalov controls all interviews, and the girls won't publically commit. However, according to several reports, the girls only embrace and kiss on-stage and when there is a camera around. Critics who have viewed the live performance video, "Mal'chik-gej", taped from MTV Russia, have noted that it looks like the girls enjoy the public's reaction to their kissing more than the kissing itself, and that their gestures on stage
appear a bit tired and routine.
It seems we’re being duped by another ‘created’ musical group. Not that I mind seeing two cute young women kissing, cavorting and singing of lesbian love; I personally hope that Yulia and Lena’s story is true. But I hate musical groups that are ‘created’ and I abhor lesbianism being used as a marketing tool. Hopefully the European media will separate the truth from the hype of t.A.T.u. before they hit the American music scene, because
they are coming!
Related links:
Official t.A.T.u. site
t.A.T.u. Beyond The Hype
8:34:01 PM 
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