200 on the counter

In 1999, Ivan Shapovalov, a former PR specialist and child psychologist, began shooting video clips. Acquainted with the composer Alexander Voitinsky , he made connections in show business and later they decided to create a musical project, retraining as producers. Having spent $ 300 on casting, they selected Lena Katina for the lead role, having recorded several songs with her, but did not have sufficient financial resources to create the album ^[2] . Shapovalov found an investor for the project, which became Boris Rensky, the owner of R&K. According to the businessman, he offered Shapovalov financial and administrative assistance, spending about $ 200 thousand on the project and later noted that “This was the actual moment of the formation of the Tatu group” ^[2] . Ivan met with Rensky in April 1999 and gave a listen to a demo of the song "Yugoslavia", which was recorded by Katina. Shapovalov wanted to do a television show in support of Yugoslavia, in which at that time there was a war, but the merchant refused such cooperation and in return offered to make a completely musical project ^[3] .

As a co-producer, Elena Kiper was involved in the project, who worked as a correspondent for the Vprok program of NTV television company ^[4] . Together, Kiper and Shapovalov come up with a “provocative and effective as a nuclear bomb” concept about the “lesbian love of two teenage girls” ^[5] . The co-producer suggested using lesbian motifs after watching the film “ Show Me Love ” by the Swedish film director Lucas Mudisson ^[6] . Voitinsky was not satisfied with the concept of the group and he left the project. “Probably, Ivan, a child psychiatrist in the past, was interested in making such a project, but not for me,” the musician said ^[2] . To implement the idea, the producers found a second soloist, who became a friend of Katina, Julia Volkova . Keeper said that Shapovalov deliberately wanted to shock the audience, but the originally recorded songs were “lethargic”. On New Year's Eve, the co-producer went to the hospital and there came up with the refrain "I went crazy" ^[4] . Soon the song of the same name was recorded and in September 2000 a video clip was shot on it, directed by Shapovalov. Already in October of that year, Tatu began to occupy the first lines of the charts in Russia ^[2] .

To record the album, Shapovalov assembled a team of non-professional authors: Elena Kiper, VGIK graduate Valery Polienko and seventeen-year-old Sergey Galoyan , who created the arrangements ^[2] . Galoyan at that time was finishing school and simultaneously showing his musical works to various studios. At one of the studios he was given the telephone number of the producer of Tatu. Soon they met and the musician began to write music for the band ^[6] . It took three months to create and record "I lost my mind". Keeper remembered that she was "born in agony." According to her, at that time Voitinsky decided to leave the project and refused to write music on her text. Then Galoyan came into the project and provided two versions of the song. That same night they sang in the car a sketch of the composition ^[4] . The co-author of the text was Polienko ^[7] .

Galoyan later recalled that Shapovalov showed him the lyrics and the musician wrote a melody on him that evening and created an arrangement. He worked on other songs using the same method ^[8] . “I offered a demo. Well, here, as, for example, with this song. That is, I came with a demo, Vanya gave some text. I sang him in the car there. Then we went to the studio. At the studio I already started to create there, there, as if, to shove such a sound, shove another sound. Then they brought me vocals, I put the vocals on, something there was done by the sound engineer Dima. I told him: “Turn the handle on this side, turn the handle on the other side.” It was with “Tatu” that there was just a lot of creativity, ”Galoyan told about the recording process“ I went crazy ” ^[9] .

Around the same period, the song “They Will Not Catch Us” was recorded, on the arrangement of which Galoyan also worked. Lena Katina said that she remembered the moment of the recording well, since Yulia Volkova had to perform her vocal parts in a “terribly strong voice” and, as a result, broke the bands. Katina also recorded half the students of her class on record, since a chorus was needed for a remix ^[7] . In total, Galoyan wrote music for the album for five songs: “I lost my mind”, “They won’t catch up with us”, “Half an hour”, “Show me love” and “Gay boy” ^[9] . To create the song "Boy Gay" fans were involved. The text was written as a result of the collective creative work of several participants in the competition, which was announced on the group’s official website ^[10] .

“I am your enemy,” wrote the leader of the Technology group, Roman Ryabtsev . Shapovalov initially wanted to collaborate with Dmitry Postovalov from the Arrival band, but the musician was busy producing songs for Demo and redirected the Tatu producer to Ryabtsev. "We met. He said: there is supposedly a girl, her name is Lena Katina, she needs songs. “No problem,” I replied. Composed, recorded, and only then Julia appeared, and the song was remade as a duet, ”said the leader of“ Technology ”. “I am your enemy” subsequently entered the group's debut album, but with a modified arrangement ^[11] .

Singles

• " I'm crazy "

In mid-2000, the first single from the album "I went crazy" was released on the radio. In October, a video clip for the composition is released, which immediately takes first place in the Russian MTV Russia charts ^[12] . Shapovalov and stylist Andrei Drykin worked on the image of the soloists in the clip, who decided to put them on in school uniform ^[12] . Alexey Mazhaev from InterMedia wrote that the clip, at that time, was Shapovalov’s “finest hour” as a director: “The creator came off in full, a rich picture turned out: girl’s kisses, plaid skirts, rain, street, street lamp, net. The clip with minor lesbians was not taken anywhere except for one music channel, but this was enough to create a semblance of a cult ” ^[13] .

A single on CD was released on December ^14th . ^[14] The single received various reviews from music critics. Alexey Mazhaev wrote that Shapovalov managed to create a convincing pop product and he knows "how to work with consumers so that they do not feel cheated" ^[13] . The observer of the Zvuki.Ru portal, Ekaterina Karinina, thought that unnecessary fuss had risen around the group because of the video and the society itself was to blame ^[15] . In June 2001, the group was awarded the Stopudovy Hit Prize for the song “I Went Crazy” ^[12] . On September 6, 2001, the group received the MTV Video Music Awards in the “Viewers' Choice - Best Russian Video” nomination for the video clip “I’ve lost my mind” ^[12] . The single became one of the best-selling in 2001, having received a nomination for the " Record " award in the "Domestic Single of the Year" category ^[16] .

• “ They won’t catch us ”

The second single “They Will Not Catch Us” was released on May 21, 2001, on the day of the album's release ^[12] . Preparation for the filming of the video for the song began in January 2001, even before recording the composition itself ^[17] . In May 2002, Tatu became laureates of the Ovation Prize, having received an award in the category of “Hug of the Year” for the song “They Will Not Catch Us” ^[18] .

The main critic of the InterMedia news agency Alexey Mazhaev gave the album a positive assessment. The author wrote that the number of hits on the album was close to the number of songs in the list of songs, and Shapovalov’s production talent made tATu “a reference in the category of man-made musical projects”. Both the songs themselves and their arrangements were positively evaluated: “The mark given by the first hit was unconditionally sustained. It was possible to do without silly verses and, without adapting to fashionable formats, to maintain the declared degree of provocation, ”wrote the critic ^[20] . Dmitry Mezhik in a review for the portal " Sounds . Ru " praised the sound of the album, song tunes and especially lyrics. The journalist came to the conclusion that “in fact, to talk about Tatu songs with the appearance of Monsieur Paganel studying butterflies is unnatural and useless. To a large extent, these songs are outside the reach of any analytics or interpretations ... Shapovalov, probably, smiles ironically. The Satyricon on the island of Lesbos that he started was a success ” ^[22] .

Mulder from Musical Newspaper also gave positive feedback and noted that the group was one of the few producer projects for which the quality of the material released matters. Praising both the musical content of the album and the vocals of the soloists, the critic came to the conclusion: “In general,“ 200 in the opposite direction ”looks like a highly raised hand with the middle finger set aside in the direction of our pop music from a newcomer who simply believed in himself” ^{[23 ]} . Maxim Kononenko, in an article for the publication Gzt.ru, wrote that despite a provocative image, the group could remain the next pop project in Russian show business if it had not unexpectedly released a “magnificent pop album”. In his opinion, from that moment on, the music that he called “excellent” ^{[5] was} at the forefront of the project.

Sergey Grachev from Rolling Stone Russia negatively commented on the debut work of the team. The critic wrote that “Tatu” could not offer anything new musically, and their success, for the most part, is based on the correct image and marketing: “Typical arrangements for dance music, mediocre vocals, market texts, light melodies,” he described the author of the musical content of the album, finding that “the Tatu project is not only a musical phenomenon, but a social one” ^[21] . Lucio Ribeiro from the Brazilian edition of Folhateen spoke positively of "200 on the counter." The author wrote that despite the provocative lesbian image overshadowing the musical component, the duet's music was performed at a decent level ^[24] . In the Polish magazine Fonorama, the album was given an average rating of 2 and a half points out of five. A critic of the publication considered that only three songs deserve attention on the disc: “I lost my mind”, “I am not your first” and “They will not catch up with us”. The rest of the material was called a “primitive disco” ^[19] .

Reprint

In February 2002, the second edition of “200 On the Counter” was released with the new song “Clowns”.

In the recording and design of the album took part:

Certifications

• The official website of the group
• Official website of the American record label Interscope Records