Waste Management - t.A.T.u. (EN)

Waste Management is the third and most recent album in English of the Russian group t.A.T.u. Previously, I gave an idea about this album while listening to some known songs, and I said that it will be a successful return.
I was right.




This third album in English of Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina has not only new sounds, complex lyrics and musical maturity. It also has a new concept that we weren't accustomed to hearing from these beauties "in cylliric pop".
What am I talking about? I will admit that you know the new album comes in two completely different versions if we talk about music, although each of these two versions has their own surprises.

I will say that this album is the most mature job of these girls because it mixes an important production work, perfect lyrics (I'll say some words about them later) and, finally, nice and sweet voices that reflect to us the emotion they feel at the time to sing.

These two versions are called "explicit" and "Transcendent". The explicit version only brings an album whose configuration is as normal as other albums. Track by track. A track starts, it ends, pause, another begins. Nothing from other world, beyond the spectacle of its songs and its cheerful strength too much different from what the band showed us in "Dangerous & Moving".
I said just a few things about this version. I’m going to give my opinion (you can agree or disagree) about each one of its songs.

Well, I will analyze the Transcendent Version too. This version comes to my ears for the first time having the disc in hand, checking the quality of its booklet and its good production. Its price in official stores seemed like a real gift. Perhaps, this is an interesting point because many wallets will be able to pay for it.

Let's see...


1. White Robe is a known song whose video surprised thousands of spectators because of its original and critic perception of abortion. A video that reached the peak in MTV Brazil and stays as a hit since it has been released. So epic, so original and gripping. With Ludi Invalidi, first single of the Russian album with the same name, it takes the prize for best video of the duo. Impossible to circumvent it. Ok, this is not a catchy song for all ears in this world, but its wealth falls on its pop/rock music with a electronic final. A familiar track that accompanies in a perfect way to what is really perfect: its video.

2. You & I, another known song because it was a single for "Vesëlye Ulibki". At first, I'll say that its previous instrumental in Transcendent Version is, undoubtedly, a hymn to the power of technology on music. I gave it an interesting similarity with Robot, one of the song of their debut album. Not for direct resemblance, I am talking about the 'quasirobotic' sound that Evgeniy Matveitsev made for us.
You and I is certainly the most commercial song 'at the way of t.A.T.u.' that Waste Management brings. It is impossible not to remember "200km/h in the Wrong Lane" when we hear this song. You and I comes to life with strength and dies making us remember when t.A.T.u. was just a group with great songs and great ideas in its mind.

3. Sparks... a big beginning in its Explicit Version. And in its Transcendent Version, it remembers me to a musical theme for news at TV at the beginning. Is that unusually? Yes, it is. Anyway, I prefer the Explicit Version. Its electronic music is excellent for a DJ, to make it hear at the discotheque... Really? Absolutely. Sparks is the most perfect track to be danced on the dancefloor, it has catchy chorus with which everyone would be breaking their vocal cords shouting "Sparks are flying in my head!" just for enjoy the party. Everybody would want their friends to know that he or she knows the lyrics of this song, although 220 has the perfection between commercial and pleasant. Finally, I have to say that this song takes the fire as central point, instead of electricity. A twist to the meaning of the word "Sparks"? The fire has the honor in this fight at Happy Hour, not the voltage of electric Russian wires...

4. Snowfalls is another known track. A song whose previous instrumental in Transcendent Version is really impressive, it makes you stay in front of the speaker to listen to the awesome sounds that it has. Motorcycles, accidents, sirens... This is a great wink to the video of this song. I will say something aside now: the lyrics, music and booklet of “Waste Management” have something that other albums don’t. We know their videos. Many things are done from them. This is a point that not everybody can do because most albums are made and sold, and the next thing to do is to create its videos. Snowfalls is a good song whose excellent and beautiful first part on both versions deserves great recognition. The electronic maturity at the beginning is incomparable to others. And I think that this is the best of it, nevertheless its original animated video presents adrenaline, action and speed. Its lyrics give an exciting persecution in our minds to feel the emotion of inner strength and self confidence.

5. Martian Eyes has dissimilar comments about how it is. "It has no rythm" "It's just beautiful and nice", "It wastes Lena's power", "It's the best song of the album"... Let me say that this track is a weak ballad which has excellent lyrics and is sung by a sweet voice. Many interpretations can be drawn from here, and bisexual people have identified their lives with this song when they interpreted its lyrics. A nice way to preserve what t.A.T.u. had shown in previous albums. However, thousands of reviews and opinions with good arguments on each side, about whether it's an interesting track or not, lowers the quality of the track. Sometimes, when a lot of voices are discussing about this, it can play against the reputation of the whole song... Lena Katina shows her angelic voice, as she always does.

6. Little People is known by a lot of fans because of a concert published in Youtube. This song is surprising in two important points: the terrible screams of the chorus and the complexity of the production of its music. Particularly, I consider this version better than its Russian counterpart. It's rare to say something like that (because I think that Russian language is one of the most beautiful and richest languages of the world), but it's true. Little People transforms explosive acute vocal cords in a wonderful addiction. It has a good beginning in Transcendent Version too. Two thumbs up.

7. Waste Management is an instrumental track that surprises with its darkness and prodigious rythm. And in this English version of the album, the name is perfect. I didn't think the same with its Russian counterpart. Happy Smiles was an ironic and contradictory name, of course... but not everyone could know it and many people thought that it's not a good one for such a cold, dark, mysterious and industrial instrumental, where the Liquid Metal and the Iron imprison us with claustrophobia. But Waste Management is, undoubtedly, the best name for this awesome instrumental track.

8. Running Blind is known. The strength in its music, in its chorus, reflects what many of us feel. And we want to sing it to those who we love but they are not with us at the moment. Running Blind shows a pure reality. Without big metaphors, it is direct and shows perfectly what it wants to say. Just some phantoms burning in its lyrics are putting the touch of perfection. There is nothing negative to say about this song. I could say without problems that Running Blind is a song to be heard with a high volume in all headphones. Very good.

9. Fly on the wall is also known, but this song is as discussed as Martian Eyes, except that it gets positive reviews. Fly on the wall, being objective, is the most American song of the album. It's commercial, but it's something new in t.A.T.u.'s history because they have never done a pop song like this (I could mention many artists who would sing this song without problems in American market). It has a place in our iPods because of its great catchy chorus with lyrics that point to a 'sexual attraction', reaching an erotic fantasy. The way it is sung (emphasizing the last minute) magnifies this feeling. You know what I mean, don't ya? Uooooh-oooh-ooh. Yeeeh, Yeeeh-eh..
This song had the first places in sale on iTunes. Possible future single for some (it has appeared as a future single, even in Wikipedia!). But another song is running through many heads if we talk about a next video. Be patient.

10. Time of the moon is an intelligent song which many people were waiting for. There's another version of this song that was heard in the movie "You & I". The final version is amazing. In fact, it is the most complex song of the album in everything you can think about. Lyrics will be thousands of interpretations. t.A.T.u. will be our final revelation and we'll never finish to give connotations to them. It's metaphorical from head to toes. Time of the moon caught the attention of so many guys to play to find new and new interpretations. From an allusion to environmental pollution, through the end of the world in an apocalypse, to a search for human consciousness about its work on the planet. Just amazing. However, its previous instrumental in Transcendent Version only makes me feel impatient waiting for the song. Time of the moon is desired behind a 1'30'' of an electronic and repetitive music.

11. Don't regret is, absolutely, the most exciting, beautiful and sad ballad of t.A.T.u. in its history. A track that will make you cry, surely. A song that reflects what it wants to reflect. Just like its Russian version Ne zhaley. And now it's time to say what I was announcing before. This song is a future single for some people, a song to say goodbye. The previous instrumental in Transcendent Version confirms that t.A.T.u. has created a story between Sparks, Snowfalls and this song. Amazing. And it is the best choice to close a disc ... or an ideal.


The rest of the album is divided into three instrumentals (one of Beliy Plaschik, another cosmic one of Running Blind and, finally, a version -happier than original- of Ne Zhaley, perfect to close a disc without the bitter taste of a farewell song) that extends, luckily, the length of the album when we wish it never ends. This album is a great contribution to culture, objectively speaking. It's a magic dust that takes us to an utopian world -just like Cosmos of "Dangerous & Moving"?- where Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina will be forever, where t.A.T.u.'s voices are eternally with its artistic maturity.

Standing ovation.


Zhoffrua.