thequeernessofpostsovietpop

[thequeernessofpostsovietpop]

On Zemfira

Zemfira is a Russian/Tatar pop rock artist that has been very successful in Russia and other Eastern European countries. When she came to prominence in the early 2000s, many of the women that got big in the Russian music scene were pop artists that "used their sexuality" (t.A.T.u were an example of this). My intention isn't to pit pop artists like t.A.T.u and Zemfira against each other, but to say that overt sexuality was important for female artists to get ahead (and can be argued that it still is), yet this was not the case for Zemfira.

But sexuality with passion, rawness, angst, and romance was still important to Zemfira's music (and especially her lyrics). One of her big singles, from her self-titled album, "Снег" (or Snow) starts with, “I burst into your (feminine) life, and you (feminine) were stunned. I wanted love, but you didn’t want it.” Due to Russian being a very gendered language, it was clear that Zemfira was singing about a tumultuous romance with another woman. There was no way to hide the songs queerness. How scandalous for Russian society!

Along with a chaotic live perfomance:

One of Zemfira's biggest hits, "Хочешь?" or "What do you want" was also rumored to be dedicated to a girlfriend, and it's certainly one of her romantic songs.

The lyrics start with:

"Пожалуйста, не умирай / Или мне придется тоже / Ты конечно сразу в рай, / А я не думаю что тоже. / Хочешь сладких апельсинов? / Хочешь в слух рассказов длинных? / Хочешь я взорву все звезды, /Что мешают спать?"

Or

Please don't die, or I will have to as well. You will immediately go to heaven but I don't think I will too. Do you want sweet oranges? Do you want to hear long stories out loud? Do you want me to blow up the stars, that don't let you sleep?

Zemfira has never been open about her sexual orientation, but she has still been controversial for her queerness (that often appears in her lyrics) and her pro-Ukraine stance (even before the 2022 invasion). Zemfira has always presented androgynously and has never expressed interest in marrying or having children, which can also be considered unconventional and scandalous in conservative Russia. Zemfira currently lives in Paris with her partner Russian actress Renata Litvinova (who reportedly divorced with her husband to be with Zemfira). Since February 2023, Zemfira has been considered a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. The case with Zemfira shows that perhaps only a certain kind of queerness in the Russian pop scene, Zemfira wasn't just performing queerness, but living it, which is deemed "unacceptable" by the conservative Russian government and much of Russian society,

[thequeernessofpostsovietpop]

On "From high camp to post modern camp: Queering post-Soviet pop music" by Maria Brock and Galina Miazhevich"

In Brock and Miazhevich's article "From high camp to post modern camp: Queering post-Soviet pop music" they argue that flamboyant, Russian pop singers Valery Leontiev and Filipp Kirkorov, and their "aesthetics can be analysed from the perspective of camp" and bridge the "Soviet and post-Soviet realm" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 993).

The musical genre of Soviet Estrada which is characterized by a "sentimental worldview" and "homoeroticism and corporeality" (that very much contrasts with homophobic, Russian reality) and Western camp which can be characterized by "a predominance of style over substance, playfulness and ironic distancing" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 994-995).

The USSR simply didn't have much of a "public queer culture" that could be found in other countries. Brock and Miazhevich explain, "After the experimentation and liberalisation of the 1920s, no equivalent of the gay liberation movement, or queer identity politics emerged, and ‘muzhelozhstvo’ (i.e. men having sex with men, or sodomy) became a criminal offence potentially leading to imprisonment or forced psychiatric care (the latter more common for women, for example, Gessen, 1994)." (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 997). That's why "queer readings" are important, in order to deconstruct the heterosexual norm in Russia one can do "queer readings of Russian and Soviet art, focusing on popular music" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 997-998).

Brock and Miazhevich state that Valery Leontiev is the "Soviet camp icon par excellence" and that he is "one of the most extravagant stars of Soviet and post-Soviet music, representing Sontag’s ([1964] 2018) definition of camp as a ‘[p]roper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate and the naïve" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 998). Leontiev performances an songs feature great flamboyance, overt sexuality, and physical exuberance he embraces camp and queer aesthetics while not saying much about his sexual orientation publicly.

When Leontiev's popularity was declining in the 2000s, Filipp Kirkorov, "The King of Russian Estrada," "strategically utilised camp aesthetics involving transgression and excess. Kirkorov’s ‘trademark’ stage outfits now incorporated pompous attire and massive head gear embellished with feathers, glitter and stones" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 1001-1002). Unlike Leontiev , "Kirkorov is strategically ambiguous about his sexuality. Throughout his career, Kirkorov’s image has never complied with the usual male/female stereotypes (his extravagant costumes, make-up and wigs exist alongside a carefully groomed beard), creating the androgynous and ambiguous image of a camp diva" (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 1002). While Kirkorov didn't comply with the stereotypes associated with men and women, like Leontiev he "has never openly aligned himself with sexual minorities, he frequently references them, thereby flirting with identity politics" and generally tends to be "ambiguous" on LGBTQ+ issues ( (Brock and Miazhevich, 2021, 1002).

In conclusion, the Russian pop landscape embraces queer and camp aesthetics, yet very few of these Russian pop artists will actually speak up for LGBTQ+ Russian citizens. Russian culture is complex and contradictory, allowing for queer performativity in the pop scene to be successful yet restricting LGBTQ+ activism and life legally.

Citation:

Brock, Maria, and Galina Miazhevich. “From High Camp to Post-Modern Camp: Queering Post-Soviet Pop Music.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 25, no. 4, 2021, pp. 993–1009., https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211021413.

[thequeernessofpostsovietpop]

On the Atlantic's "Why Homophobic Russia Loves Gender-Bending Pop Stars" and Radio Free Europe's "In Russian Pop Culture, It's 50 Shades Of Gay"

Olga Khazan (author of Why Homophobic Russia Loves Gender-Bending Pop Stars") and Daisy Sindelar (author of "In Russian Pop Culture, It's 50 Shades Of Gay") both address the hypocrisy of Russia's love for campy, "queer acting" performers while many Russians have homophobic views and many Russian politicians pass anti-LGBTQ+ laws and policies.

Khazan states that while 60 year old Russian pop star and household name Boris Moiseev thrives "even though he's openly homosexual and most of his performances are flamboyant even by the standards of a pride parade" (Khazan, 2013) in Russia "only 16 percent of people say homosexuals should be accepted by society and where a new law aims to prevent publicly advocating "alternative" sexualities" (Khazan, 2013). Ultimately, "Alternative sexuality" isn't acceptable legally, but it's okay for a performance as long as something like homosexuality isn't explicitly supported.

Sindelar echoes similar statements, quoting music critic and activist Artemy Troitsky, "These artists like Nikolai Baskov, Filipp Kirkorov, Sergei Zverev -- the way they look, the way they perform, is absolutely campy and in a very, very gay style," says Troitsky. "At the same time, of course, we now have state-sponsored homophobia all over the Russian Federation. The success of all those campy singers probably says that Russian society is not as homophobic as Putin believes it is. The whole situation is seriously twisted." (Sindelar, 2013). Troitsky also claims that "what ultimately raises objections among Russians who might happily flock to see Nikolai Baskov or Valery Leontyev, might even defend Russia's gay cultural icons like Tchaikovsky and Rudolf Nureyev, but shake their heads at Elton John. It's not the gay identity, he says, it's the gay activism -- something that Russians see as insidiously Western." (Sindelar, 2013). This reminds me that many Russian conservatives (and Eastern European conservatives and conservative of the global south can be included) position "gender ideology" and "alternative sexuality" as propaganda from the West. Positioning these ideas as ideas of the enemy, help fuel a nationalist, us vs. them mentality. Prime minister Viktor Orban famously studying gender studies in Hungarian universities because it had "no place" there.

Khazan then quotes Stephen Amico who is a professor of music and media studies at the University of Amsterdam, who says that "Russians in smaller cities have told him that they like the pizazz of gender-bending acts, which seem to brighten an otherwise dreary provincial existence. Older women in particular seem to love Moiseev for his emphasis on beauty and tenderness -- two aspects that were lacking in Soviet life. Amico's personal theory, though, is that Russians simply need an outlet to escape the binary heterosexuality that's been imposed on them. The law says you can't promote gay rights, but you sure as heck can rock out to a indefatigable drag queen" (Khazan, 2013).

Russia's hypocrisy on homosexuality is very clear, but the reasons for it are more muddled. Perhaps campy Russian singers provide a form of escapism for its citizens, perhaps they're too deeply imbedded into the culture to be questioned, the list could go on. This hypocrisy is ultimately very upsetting because Russia uplifts "queer performance" while shutting down "queer reality." Performing queerness is celebrated but genuine queerness is looked down upon and suppressed, if you say you're gay, bisexual, trans, queer outright then you're a pedophile, you're ill, etc. Queer reality is just "spreading propaganda" through the eyes of the Russian state.

Citations:

Khazan, Olga. “Why Homophobic Russia Loves Gender-Bending Pop Stars.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 22 July 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/why-homophobic-russia-loves-gender-bending-pop-stars/278833/.

Sindelar, Daisy. “In Russian Pop Culture, It's 50 Shades of Gay.” RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 23 Oct. 2013, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-pop-music-lgbt/25144637.html.

[thequeernessofpostsovietpop]

On t.A.T.u

"Я сошла с ума, я сошла с ума Мне нужна она, мне нужна она" - t.A.T.u, Я сошла с ума ("I've lost my mind")

The Russian, faux lesbian pop duo t.A.T.u were quite controversial across the world at the height of their career in the 2000s. Their provocative, pseudo lesbianism was disapproved by Russian conservatism due to homophobia, while outside of Russia their were concerns over their performances and music videos being child exploitation and ultimately appealing to pedophiles, and lastly the Western European and American LGBTQ+ disapproved of their faux lesbianism due to it being 'bait' for the queer community, as well as a shallow representation of lesbians meant to appeal to heterosexual men. Perhaps all these ideas can coexist, one shouldn't negate the other.

An article that discusses the complexities of t.A.T.u is Dana Heller's "t.A.T.u. You! Russia, the global politics of Eurovision, and lesbian pop" where she argues that the many contradictions of T.a.t.u can be applied to the way "Russia is currently engaging with concepts of the national and the international." (Heller, 2007, 195). One of these complexities includes, " t.A.T.u’s same-sex eroticism is constructed to arouse heterosexual male fantasies and to sell records to a younger audience receptive to explorations of sexual desire that defy regulation and normalisation and that speak to queer desires in terms that champion the authenticity of feeling and object attachment over investments in the politics of identity" (Heller, 2007, 206).

Heller explains that t.A.T.u. project began in 1999, when the two members, Lena Katina and Julia Volkova were only 14 (Heller, 2007, 196). The band was created by Ivan Shapovalov, "a thirty-six year-old former child psychologist-turned-advertising executive" who sensed "homoerotic energy" between Julia and Lena when he saw them perform together (Heller, 2007, 196). This inspired Shapovalov to create this "underage sex project" or a girl group who would greatly depend on their performance of provocative sexuality (Heller, 2007, 196).

"People visit pornographic sites above all others’, Shapovalov has said in explaining his motive. ‘I analyzed it and found 90% of people using the Internet go to porno sites first, and of these nine in 10 are looking for underage entertainment. This means there is big interest as well as some dissatisfaction – their needs are not being met" (Heller, 2007, 196). Shapovalov's response to this "lack" of "underage entertainment" was to create t.A.T.u. (the acronym in English meaning "this one loves the other"). While this was seemingly "genius move" on the part Shapovalov, the fairly short lived success of this project (it ended in 2011), proved detrimental to Julia and Lena mentally. The project ultimately put a riff between them, Julia broke her vocal chords during their second album (Lyudi Invalidy) and her voice haven't been the same since then, and lastly, bombardment from the press and playing a particular sexual persona at a young age also was detrimental to their mental health.

As it was mentioned above, t.A.T.u. were meant to be appealing to a straight male audience, but they also had quite the audience of queer youth. In  Anastasiia Fedorova's article "Russia's queer revolution: reclaiming the not-so-hidden history of the LGBTQ+ underground" she states "When t.A.t.U.’s single All The Things She Said — undoubtedly Russia’s most well known contribution to queer pop culture — came out in 2000, I was 11 years old. I remember seeing the music video on TV: Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova making out in the rain wearing wet school uniforms. I am not sure if the sight of those short checked skirts and rebellious kisses awakened queer desire in me per say, but I was definitely mesmerised by the t.A.t.U universe. The band’s follow-up single, Not Gonna Get Us, was even more powerful. In the video, the duo drove through a blizzard in a hijacked lorry, racing to escape. I remember listening to t.A.t.U. CDs after school, one of the many Russian teens going through a sexual awakening. The desires t.A.t.U. sang about were complex: Simple Motions mused on social conformism, masturbation and queer sex; while Gay Boy described an irresistible attraction to a gay male friend" (Fedorova, 2020).

Perhaps t.A.T.u. were more than just "queer baiters'' or mere victims of child exploitation. In the end the band positively stood out to many queer youth growing up in the 2000s, especially in Russia and Eastern Europe. Perhaps the sound of the songs have become dated, and the sexual provocativeness of their early live performance and music videos leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but many of their complex, often bleak lyrics (at least in Russian) and angsty, passionate vocals really capture the despair and longing many queer teens feel.

Compared to "All the Things She Said" which could be interpreted as more empowering, "Я сошла с ума" potentially has a more realistic vision for what it feels like to be queer Russian teenager, or in this case a young Russian lesbian. Instead of the chorus being "All the things she said running through my head" (in English) it's "I've lost my mind, I need her." This speaks to a feeling forbidden desire and also the pathologization or medicalization of homosexuality (and many will still associate being homosexual with being ill,, including many Russians). "Без тебя я не я, без тебя меня нет" and "А они говорят, надо срочно лечить" or " Without you I'm not myself, without you I don't exist" and "And they say, you need (medical) help now" speak to these ideas as well.

My favorite song by t.A.T.u. will always be "Obezyanka Nol" or "Monkey Zero" from the darker and more compelling, but less commercially successful "Lyudi Invalidy" (which roughly translated to disabled people, which also sparked quite some controversy, but this track is more about being a "moral invalid" or being incapable of love rather than having a physical or mental disability). I interpreted "Obezyanka Nol" as being a song about the oppression, mockery, pathologization that homosexuals go through. The lines "Честных психов можно не лечить," "Обезьянки будут жить в тюрьме," "Всем любовь, а обезьянкам грусть" or "Honest psychos don't have to be treated", "Monkeys will live in prison," and 'Everyone gets love, but monkeys only get sorrow" speak to the medicalization of homosexuality even more bluntly and sorrowfully than" "Я сошла с ума."

Much like Fedorova, I grew up obsessed with t.A.T.u. As a child in the 2000s, I truly believed that they were lesbians and thought that was the coolest, finding it was all a ruse broke my hear. At least both member seem to be firm LGBTQ+ allies (well, Julia isn't quite since she made homophobic comments towards gay men). Despite all the problems surrounding the group, I believe their story is still relevant and that many of their (Russian) songs hold up, while the "All the things she said" will likely continue being an anthem for Western queer youth in the future. And in the end, their music will always be very dear to me as someone Russian and is well, not very heterosexual.

Citations:

Fedorova, Anastasiia. “Russia's Queer Revolution: Reclaiming the Not-so-Hidden History of the LGBTQ+ Underground.” The Calvert Journal, https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/12096/russian-queer-revolution-exhibition-essay-growing-up-lgbtq.

HELLER, DANA. “T.a.t.u.. You! Russia, the Global Politics of Eurovision, and Lesbian Pop.” Popular Music, vol. 26, no. 2, 2007, pp. 195–210., https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261143007001237.