I have been a shabiki of t.A.T.u. for about ten years now. I discovered the band back in 2007 and for many reasons they have become one of my inayopendelewa bands. And I will forever miss hearing new muziki kwa them.

While I may have missed my opportunity to see them live (which is a shame because the only reason I never got to was because my parents pulled the “wait until you’re older” card) I still managed to make some fond memories that I associate with the band and their songs. I also remember buying their final album when it was first released. One such memory that I have of the band is that they (along with Smile.dk) were the first albums I brought online lol. And I got the Dangerous and Moving album just in time for Halloween. Alongside this, I used to make a lot of mixtapes. t.A.T.u.’s All About Us and Not Gonna Get Us were on one of these mixtapes that accompanied me everywhere during one the most memorable and fun summers I’ve had thus far. Because of the nostalgia, I enjoy t.A.T.u. zaidi than I otherwise would have.

One of the other huge reasons that I apricate t.A.T.u. is that they were my first experience (so to speak) with the LGBT. Before the band, I didn’t really know much about homosexuality. And I accredit t.A.T.u. for opening my mind to it, even if the sappic songs were just a gimmick.

They also had a large hand in opening me to Russian culture. They even got me into learning the Russian language, just so I could understand their Russian songs more. I truly don’t regret starting to learn the language. muziki really is something that helps bring people together.

Of course, in order to like a band I have to like the songs, they put out. And I really, really do. They are one of the rare bands (alongside Within Temptation, Delain, and Emma Hewitt) that I upendo literally every song they released. In terms of songs, t.A.T.u. never disappointed me—even when they so radically changed their image. Ty Soglosna, Clowns, Cosmos, and ATTSS are among my favorites, but really it’s so hard to choose. I made it a mission to listen to all of the demos and at one time had like three mixtapes of t.A.T.u. remixes alone. Hell, I upendo the songs played in reverse as much as I upendo them normal lol. Every single song that t.A.T.u. has released was catchy and had me imba along.

What’s zaidi is that I upendo their story. A lot of hard work was put into t.A.T.u. They were a band everyone though was doomed to fail from the start, but they lasted a very long time. Yulia and Lena’s first manager even thought that they’d be a one hit wonder with, ‘All The Things She Said’. I had the opportunity to read ‘t.A.T.u. Story’, which was extremely insightful. It gave me a much bigger appreciation for the girls; for one Yulia was suffering from a cyst throughout her entire career and yet she still made it work. For sekunde there are small details like the fact that the girls actually were freezing their asses off while imba Not Gonna Get Us, that also make me admire their work. I mean, not every artist is willing to subject themselves to such extreme temperatures. To be honest I actually kind of hated their first manager after kusoma zaidi about him, he had the two doing a lot of questionable things. One such thing was making Lena diet until she passed out from a lack of food. The fact that the girls endured all of this and still came on stage and kicked punda is hella impressive.

With that in mind, Yulia and Lena seem like such cool people. They are such opposites and are both so amazing in their own ways. Lena seems like a sweetheart and I’d upendo to meet her. And Yulia seems like a badass and always seems to know what she wants. The girl beat cancer, if I remember right.

t.A.T.u is simply an amazing band for a variety au reasons, and for all of these reasons, I am so glad to have discovered them. Purely kwa chance at that.