Trees (song)

Written by Alexei Romanof and Alexander Sakharov, the song was recorded for the third studio album of the Vintage group. On August 21, 2011, the premiere of the song took place on radio stations, timed to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the band. “This song will be the first single of the new, third, album of the band with a very simple and touching title“ Anya ”,” clarified the group’s press attache Angela Avdienko ^[18] .

Initially, the song was to become the third single, but later it was supposed to be replaced by the song “ Stereo ”, after the video clip to the composition was censored and called “provocative work that violates the moral principles of society”, and the group was accused of complicity with extremist sects ^[4] . On August 26, it was reported that due to the ban on the video clip, the song was removed from the rotation on the radio. The press service of the group reported that “the song“ Trees ”had to be removed from the rotation, because without a clip it is perceived differently” ^[19] . On September 14, Alexey Romanof commented on the situation, saying that “Trees” are being postponed, for reasons beyond our control. I think if everything goes well, it will be February 2012. " He also added that the song "Stereo" should be the new single. However, after the release of the video clip, the composition was released into rotation on October 10, 2011, through the Tophit system ^[5] .

“Trees” is a pop composition with a great influence of ethnic music in the arrangement ^[1] . The band members called the song sound eclectic , as it is a kind of table of contents for the entire album. The song uses classical and ethnic instruments, and at the end there is an organ ^[21] . Jacob Zolotov in Dreamiech.ru wrote that the composition “shows the listener a new sound with ethnic motifs” ^[20] . Composer Andrei Finist noted that the song has an unusual structure, since Alexey Romanof is able to create songs not using the standard couplet-chorus scheme. In this composition, the musician noted several completely independent parts, the melodies of which smoothly flow into one another ^[22] .

Regarding the meaning of the song, Aleksey Romanof said that: “ Arseny Tarkovsky has excellent lines:“ Both the interlocutor and the same age as half-century trees, do not look for yourself in the early songs, but in their growth and perseverance ”. This song is the result of our long work, our experience and our aspirations ” ^[21] . In an interview with the Tribune of the Public Chamber, the musician clarified that the composition has a social theme. Noting that Western artists such as the Pet Shop Boys and Madonna often use more sophisticated themes for pop music, Alexey said that the group “looks very much in their direction.” Calling "Trees" (along with the song "The Loneliness of Love ") social, he said that it raises issues of religion and loneliness in society ^[23] .

In terms of text, Jacob Zolotov wrote that “Trees”, with the lines “When were the trees big?”, Describes in the language of metaphors the problem of losing the meaning of love. The journalist clarified that only in childhood, when “the trees were big,” people can see that “love is painted in all the colors of the rainbow” and lose this ability with age ^[20] . Later, the journalist noted that the composition, along with the song “ Ave Maria ”, laid a new sound for the group, which he described as “vintage mysticism” and which the group continued in the song “Hare Krishna” from the album Very Dance . Zolotov described vintage mysticism as a fusion of psychedelic pop music and mystical themes in the text ^[24] .

The song was positively appreciated by critics, music journalists and radio directors' program directors, reaching 6th place in the “Expert Chart” of the Red Star portal ^[1] . On the website of Muz-TV "Trees" was described as one of the most unusual and heartfelt songs of the group ^[6] . Alexey Mazhaev at Intermedia gave a positive assessment of the composition, noting that “the song“ Trees ”, oddly enough, went almost unnoticed during the dispute over the video, although the group very successfully crossed the oriental color with the“ enigmo ”melody” ^[7] . Yakov Zolotov wrote that there was a wide public response to the song, while its range was very broad - “from positive to extremely negative.” “Even if one refrains from assessments, it becomes obvious: there would be no talk from scratch. "Trees" hooked the public. In this regard, both the song and the video have already achieved their goal, ”the journalist specified ^[20] . The song was described negatively on the MirMedzhi website, and the non-memorable motive of the composition was noted ^[25] . On the “Music Card” website, the song received a positive overall rating. The review noted that the musical structure of the song is close to the works of Lady Gaga and, at the same time, "the sample is made so tastefully that it does not spoil the impression from the song." Positively describing the lyrics of the song (“fully meets the modern needs of the young audience”), the publication wrote that it was difficult to call “Trees” a full-fledged hit, but, nevertheless, “the team just once again managed to create a good commercial single” ^[8] .

“Trees” made their debut in the top 100 singles of the general charts Tophit on the 70th place and reached the 13th position on November 20, 2011 ^[10] . The composition performed more successfully on the radio application chart, reaching 4th position ^[10] . In the Russian radio chart, the song reached the thirteenth position, and also entered the top-20 charts of Moscow and St. Petersburg ^[11] . In the Ukrainian radiochart, the composition reached 21 places ^[12] . In Kiev - the 36th ^[26] . The song was more successful in the Russian sales and streaming chart of digital tracks, according to 2M and Lenta.ru . "Trees" made its debut in the ranking in ninth position on November 25, 2011 ^[9] . The composition lasted in ninth place for six weeks in a row ^[27] .

The composition also hit several charts of the Red Star portal (compiled only for Russian-language music). In the radio chart (based on Tophit information), the song took the 4th place, November 13, 2011. In the sales chart (based on the information from the Russian edition of Billboard magazine) Trees debuted in November 2011, in forty-fourth place and, in January 2012, reached 13th place. In November 2011, the composition headed the "Consolidated Chart" portal ^[1] . At the end of 2011, the song hit the 149th place in the Tophit general radio charter and the 67th place among Russian singles ^{[28] [29]} .

Filming and release

Shooting video took place in mid-August in Kiev . The director was Sergei Tkachenko, and the operator was Alexei Khoroshko ^[30] . The plot of the video was inspired by the novels of Dan Brown , in which the theme of religion is present. On the first day of the shooting, scenes were shot where Anna Pletneva with a crown of thorns stood on a pyramid of almost naked people whose bodies were painted with prayers in various languages ​​of the world, as well as a scene where her hair was tied to special transparent threads that should mark the crown of the tree .

On the second day of the shooting, a dance scene on coals was filmed, during which the lead singer of the group received a serious tram: “The shooting took place in Kiev. I could no longer climb the ramp of the plane on which we were returning to Moscow, and I was carried in my arms, ”said Anna ^[31] . “In the finale, Anya will be crowned with a pyramid of two hundred half-naked men and women, whose bodies are painted with prayers in different languages. Then the pyramid dissolves into ashes, in the hand of Ani is a sprout, and then she flies into space. Everyone will go crazy with this clip, ”Alexey Romanof told about the clip ^[32] .

On August 21, a teaser for the video appeared on the Internet, by the example of which one can see that the video is much like the clips “ All the Lovers ” by Kylie Minogue and “ Frozen ” by Madonna ^[33] . September 22, it became known that the release of the clip is delayed due to the fact that it was subjected to censorship . As stated, the officials wanted to ban the video due to the fact that in the teaser video Anna Pletneva “watches acts of copulation with approval in a crown of thorns” and this “traumatizes the consciousness of the younger generation.” In response, the lead singer of the group said: “We just wanted to say that the main thing on Earth is love. It awakens all the best in our souls and does not allow humanity to destroy itself. But, unfortunately, there were people who saw in this complicity totalitarian sects . Censorship always thinks in stereotypes. I assure you, we are far from the Illuminati and global conspiracies ” ^[34] .

In KM.ru, videos have added “Top 5 Forbidden Clips” to their list, but noted that the story of the ban can only be a PR action. The portal also highlighted the fact that the work embodies “the idea of ​​uniting all religions in the form of naked people who delight each other on a giant pyramid” ^[15] . As a result, the video was released on September 28 on the Ello ( YouTube ) channel ^[35] . A day later, on September 29, it became known that the video would be released on television channels, but in an edited version, from which conflicting scenes were removed ^[36] .

Story

The video begins with scenes in the desert , where people are painted on the sand, painted by prayers. Then Anna Pletneva appears, dressed in a red dress in the role of a femme fatale, from whose hands sand is poured ^[32] . When the first verse begins to sound, there are shots with a pyramid built of people. The singer begins to walk in the desert, and people lift their heads up, looking at the sky.

After that, scenes appear where Pletnev is dressed in an exotic Oriental costume with a burqa in precious stones ^[32] , behind her is an inverted pyramid, and around are bright lips on a black screen ^[37] . The pyramid of people begins to move, and light appears on its top, after which a scene takes place where Pletnev appears as a tree. Her legs are depicted as a trunk, and her hair as a crown. During the chorus, people at the pyramid begin to kiss each other and dance, and the singer falls to her knees, after which the picture is transferred underground.

When the second verse is played, frames are shown under the roots of the tree. Pletnev is depicted in hell, tied with his hands to the ropes. Svetlana Ivanova appears here, dancing in a black dress, and around her there are men holding dogs on leashes. Then again there are frames with an inverted pyramid and, after them, Anna appears in the form of a pregnant woman, behind whose back the years begin to count back. This scene was a reference to Sandro Botticelli's “The Birth of Venus ”. The soloist of the group commented on this scene with the words: “In the video I symbolize the feminine principle of all things. As you know, Venus personifies love and mercy, and her beauty led mortals to heaven " ^[32] . Also go shots of dance on the coals.

Then the singer again walks through the desert past people lying on the sand, and when time is measured to zero, she appears in a crown of thorns at the top of the pyramid. At the end of the clip, explosions begin to occur, military equipment falls from the sky, including helicopters ^[38] . The most powerful explosion occurs and the pyramid is shrouded in smoke, after which a tree sprout grows in the desert.

Reviews

The site Apelzin.ru positively described the video, noting that it was made on Western models. At the same time, references were made to the clips of Madonna and Kylie Minogue, as well as to the video “ Hold It Against Me ” by Britney Spears ^[14] . Ruslan Nabilov noted that the clip features the concept from the Madonna’s “Frozen” video, and there is also a hint of a suit from the “Nothing Really Matters” ^[37] . On the Weburg.net website they wrote that a large number of computer graphics were involved in the video, and noted: “At the moment when helicopters exploded on the ground, our editorial team exploded a brain” ^[38] .

Yury Latypov in the magazine “Afisha” noted that the music video was very eclectic and mentioned in this aspect the figure of Yuri Mamleyev . “The apocalyptic esoterica , the lady-gaga of Pletnev in a white corolla of roses, cosmic landscapes, pyramids of people, Hindu copulation - all pens are twisted to the maximum,” the critic wrote, also commenting on the ban on broadcasting video on television and adding: “But the essence Their parables are simple and come down to the cherished spell of Vera Brezhnev : "Love will save the world" " ^[13] . On the Muz-TV website they wrote that the video was simultaneously erotic, mystical and esoteric and noted that Anna Pletneva became the central figure of the clip, who changed more than ten costumes, but the central was the image of a “mysterious sorceress punishing sinners”, especially memorable thanks to the brightly flowing red dress “The editors and computer effects specialists who worked on the video did a great job: the mesmerizing video sequence is so unusual that the song itself can be ignored at first. But you should listen: “Trees” is a very tender and sad composition worthy of such a spectacular video, ”the video on the TV channel’s website ^[6] appreciated.

The video was included in the Video Chart of the Krasnaya Zvezda portal, based on video rotation on TV channels. The clip reached the third line in the chart ^[1] . The video was placed on the ninth line in the list of "20 pop clips of the year" compiled by Alexey Mazhaev for Zvukov.ru ^[16] . On March 27, 2012, the video clip was nominated for the Muz-TV 2012 award in the Best Video category ^[39] . At the award RU.TV 2012, the video received an award in the nomination “Best Video” ^[40] . The video clip was nominated for the ZD Awards 2012 in the Video of the Year category ^[41] .

For the first time, the composition was performed on October 15, 2011 at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, as part of the concert Tour of the Bad Girl . Before the performance of the song, a dance interlude was performed, during which a white cocoon glowing from within ^[42] appeared on the scene and held out many hands. At the first lines of the song from the cocoon, Anna Pletneva appeared in a white robe with a train, which was accompanied by two dancers. After a few more dancers jumped out of the design, dressed like in a video clip and the lead singer of the group passed over their palms, as if hovering above the stage ^[43] . At the end of the number, the vocalist threw off her white coat, wearing a black outfit. The performance was positively greeted with criticism, although it was noted on the Music Card website that “the bad sound and the strong voice excitement of the soloist Anna Pletneva strongly spoiled the impression of the show opening” ^[8] . Denis Stupnikov in Km.ru wrote that with this performance the group demonstrated its commitment to surrealism . In his opinion, the use of the "cocoon" was a reference to Salvador Dali . “According to Salvador Dali, this image symbolizes forbidden desires and carefully concealed temptations of modern man. At a certain moment, the cocoon broke through and numerous golopuz dancers spilled out onto the stage. The very same Anna Pletnyova, in front of the spectators, was transformed from a snow-white angel to a black furious skin, ”noted the journalist ^[44] . Tatyana Sarbaeva in Shalomnews.ru noted bright images and high-quality choreography in the statement: “what only was the image of the cocoon from which Anya Pletneva hatched at the beginning of the concert, gradually turning from a white moth into a black caterpillar” ^[45] .

The group performed the song during the TV show " Red Star ", which was aired on Channel One on December 18, 2011. “Vintage” also performed the composition during the Big Love Show 2012 concert in the Moscow Sports Complex “ Olympic ” on February 14, 2012. Initially, the group presented a number to “Trees”, after which they were joined by DJ Smash and a joint set was performed for the new single “ Moscow ” ^[46] .

• Digital single ^{[2] [47]}

• Radio promo ^[48]

The following musicians took part in the creation and recording of the composition: ^[49]

• Alexey Romanof - music , lyrics , arrangement , sound-producing , backing vocals
• Alexander Sakharov - text, arrangement, mixing , mastering , sound producing
• Anna Pletnyova - sound producing, vocal

Ratings and Lists

•   "Trees"
• Group "Vintage" (audio) in the "Show of Faith Kuzmina and Dmitry Mirimanov" on the radio station " Mayak "
• The performance (inaccessible link) in the TV show “ Red Star ” on the First Channel website