Last week, my column dealt with the Russian pop singer Valeria's plans to sue a British girl band for "stealing" the title of her English-language album, which was expected to become the singer's breakthrough to international audiences. Soon after the column was written, I spoke with an editor at a well known international music magazine and he said he didn't see how an artist could sue another one over an album title as things like that happen all the time.
One way to look at one artist attempting to sue another artist is to acquire some cheap publicity, which Valeria obviously needs in her attempt to conquer the Western music market. In that column, I also mentioned in passing Russia's fake lesbian act t.A.T.u. as an example of a relative success on the international stage. A few days later, I read that the duo had just released a new album in a bid to regain their popularity, which has declined both domestically and internationally.
All that prompted me to question why Russian pop and rock acts have been unable to obtain any major successes abroad. t.A.T.u stands as one of the few exceptions, but again, here we have teenage sex, rebellion and lesbian stuff that attracted people to their supposed lifestyle rather than to their artistic merits. I've heard opinions that t.A.T.u was unable to develop or maintain their global success due to their decision to part ways with their initial producer, which deprived them of a strong promotion strategy. But I would disagree with that theory. The two singers are now grown up, and have shed their teenage sex/rebellion attractiveness. Now, few people will be interested in their songs - regardless of how good they could be. So, the duo's prospects for a new international, or even domestic, comeback look rather slim.
Still, they remain a shining example of how a Russian pop artist could become a hit in the West. But why are there very few other examples of that kind, while most attempts to conquer the world by Russian pop artists have failed?
I would tend to disagree with the idea that you have to come from an English speaking country to be successful on an international pop/rock scene, as there are many artists from countries like Germany, Norway and Sweden that have done extremely well. Similarly, I don't buy the idea that Russian's can't sing in English - they can, no problem.
The first steps towards Russia winning over international audiences were made in the late 1980s by Russian rock artists rather than pop singers. But that effort didn't go well. An album by Boris Grebenshchikov, for example, the frontman of the band Akvarium, which was released by a major label in the US, flopped miserably. Why? Just because the Soviet Union was en vogue in the West due to Perestroika wasn't sufficient to sell material largely mimicking Western artists. The hard rock band Gorky Park was a bit more successful, but its Western career proved short-lived for the same reasons.
In the 2000s, a new generation of pop singers, such as Alsou or the pop duo Smash, took a stab at international fame, but their achievements were limited or short-lived. Why? Probably because they didn't have anything original and unique to offer international audiences. Singing in English and looking like any other Western artists, they failed to stick out, unlike t.A.T.u. with its "lesbian" claim. I'm not saying they should have underscored their Russian ethnicity, but they still should have had some "thing" on an artistic level.
Similarly, I am skeptical about artists that are more recently planning to "conquer the West," like Valeria or the winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Dima Bilan.
At this point, I fail to see what Russian artists can offer the world that is different from the dozens of artists that already are on the international pop scene.
By Vladimir Kozlov
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar