Do You Remember: The Fake Lesbian Drama of t.A.T.u

Two Russian singers, a catchy tune, and an act that made the world panic.

If you’re queer then the chances are that, at least once in your life, someone has accused you of faking it. Bisexuals such as myself have long faced assertions that our identities are a mere act designed to titillate men or to blow off some steam before we settle down with our future husbands. Such queerphobic criticisms are unduly empowered by anti-diversity narratives that lambast cishet men for wearing nail polish or claims that they’re “queerbaiting” for attention (real people can’t queerbait, you losers.)

It’s also true that there was a weird period in pop culture where Katy Perry kissed a girl but wasn’t serious about it, and Madonna kissed Britney and Christina and shocked the world. Playing around with one’s sexuality often feels inextricable for celebrities who are also expected to nurture a brand and push themselves as a product. As a catflap (swings both ways, baby), I have a lot of feelings on this trend and the oft-incendiary ways that a cishet culture consumed them, and they’ve been at the forefront of my mind in recent months as transphobia has become a societal norm by using a lot of those same ideas and dog-whistles. In an effort to detangle them, I thought it’d be good to do so through the lens of maybe the most infamous example of the so-called “fake lesbian” drama. Admit it, you can hear the song in your head now (running through your head…)

(Image via Wikipedia.)

In 1999, a Russian music producer named Ivan Shapovalov was working on a new project with his friend and business partner Alexander Voitinskiiy. They wanted a new girl band. After a series of auditions, they settled on Lena Katina and Julia Volkova, who had previously been in a band called Neposedi. According to Katina, Shapovalov was inspired to create the duo after watching the deligihtful Swedish film Fucking Åmål, about two teenage girls who fall in love (it’s a wonderful film and you should watch it. It’s on YouTube.) At the time, Katina and Volkova were only 14. They released their first single in Russia in 2000, titled "Ya Soshla S Uma." In 2002, Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records asked legendary producer Trevor Horn to work on some English language translations of songs by this one Russian band. The result was "All the Things She Said."

It became the first song by a Russian act to reach number one on the UK charts and spent 15 weeks in the top 100. It debuted at number one in Australia. In America, it placed in the top 20. And then there was the video, where the pair passionately kissed in the rain. I remember how big this song was. I was there. But more than the two songs of t.A.T.u that became hits in Britain, I remember the headlines.