Russian Daily News Information Service

T.A.T.U.'s popularity in Russia has never been as huge as it has been in the rest of the world. Yet it is T.A.T.U. that skyrocketed to the top of international pop charts some time ago. Motherland should have been proud of them. But the motherland was not impressed by the success of her daughters. On the contrary, the motherland was keen to bury them when the project got stalemated and fell into oblivion at a certain stage of its existence.

The girls finally pulled their act together after all those outrageous scandals, pranks and eventual dismissal of their creative troublemaker/producer Ivan Shapovalov. The papers reported that everything was falling into place little by little and a new long-awaited album being in the works.

The new album came out in two versions, in English and Russian. The English-language version is called Dangerous and Moving; the Russian-language version bears the title Disabled People (Lyudi Invalidy). Several trendy people from the Western world of pop music pose for the album cover: Trevor Horn, Martin Kirzenbaum, Robert Orton. The album is apparently aimed at blowing up the market one more time. Sergei Galoyan who was previously involved in the cooking of T.A.T.U.'s bestselling hits looks like a leftover from the past.

Just like true patriots, the girls chose the Russian capital for their album release show. The venue was an industrial club in an industrial neighborhood. Very faddish. A few dozen female fans were screaming in admiration during the show. t.A.T.u. carried themselves like international pop stars. They shot off eight songs from the new album and vanished into the night. Several as members of an audience walked pompously about the VIP zone making faces as if they expected the show to last till down. The new album has not had any effect whatsoever on the local FM stations.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday last week an international airport in the Mexican capital ground to a halt after at least 500 delirious fans filled the arrivals area to take a glimpse of T.A.T.U.. The duet came to Mexico on a promotional tour. T.A.T.U.'s new single All About Us climbed to No 2 on the national charts. Brazil, Argentina, and Taiwan are reportedly very much excited waiting for the arrival of Yulya and Katya. All About Us already reached No 1 on the Taiwanese charts. In Germany, the single has been sitting in Top 20 for nine weeks. It is No 2 in Greece and Japan. The song reached No 48 in the U.S top 100 list of bestselling singles.