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From Moscow the road to the poptop goes through "Fucking Åmål". At least when it comes to Tatu - Russias first successful climbers on the international music charts.

After the beakthrough at home in autumn 2000 the promotion in the west has been put to full speed. Tatu - or t.A.T.u, as they call themselves in the west - have translated their energetic popsongs and are now climbing fast on the sales charts.
The popularity speeds up with massive promotion and very distinct image. The18 year old girls, Julia Volkova and Lena Katina, act like schoolgirls in their short skirts and tight shirts, pretending to be more than just friends.

The inspiration is very obvious: Tatu is a musical version of Lukas Modysson's movie "Fucking Åmål" , which under the name "Show Me Love" turned into a big success among young Russian filmgoers.
Julia and Lena flirts and undress eachother on stage. Every concert reach it's climax with a kiss during the megahit "Ya Soshla S Uma" (I'm going crazy) - which was re-named to "All The Things She Said" in English.
Because of this a concert in Bulgaria was cancelled last year on request by the local mayor - but it didn't really decreased Tatu's popularity in the country.

Behind this sensation stands the producer Ivan Shapovalov, who in 1999 picked out the girls individually, after an audition with over 500 competitors in Moscow. If it was the hen or the egg that came first has been deliberately overshadowed to not ruin the excitement circling the duo. Shapovalov has explained that the concept was brought up after he thoroughly studied what niche in Russian showbiz had yet to be used. Today it's called "the success has grown from the feelings".

The girls have chosen to be vague about their relationship on their own. -This kind of love used to be forbidden, but those people are just like us. I sometimes feel like I feel more than just friendly feelings towards Julia, Lena said in an interview over 18 months ago.
To the Russian music market Tatu's success is a gift from above. Though there's several professional singers and dancers, Russian pop has never managed to reach outside their borders. How long this success is going to be has yet to be seen. According to Russian media the girls have had several quarrels and want to split up; meanwhile the composers of the songs threattens to sue the record company for lack of compensation.

The producer Shapovalov is currently scetching a back-up plan just in case. He has written on the band's homepage that he wishes to get in contact with other youngsters for another audition, to create another band. Those who have no musical experiences are welcomed too.
You see, the producer has also put up an add for a future girlfriend...