Singer Svetlana Loboda was born in Irpen, Kyiv region, but made her career mainly in Russia. She sang in the VIA Gra group, released solo albums, and participated in Russian musical projects and television shows. With the outbreak of a full-scale war, Loboda stopped performing in Russia and began doing charity work, helping Ukrainians, including in Irpen, where her family remains. Now the singer lives in Riga, gives concerts in European countries, learns English and plans to settle in Europe or move to the USA. IN interview Loboda spoke to the BBC Russian Service about relations with Russian artists and audiences, songs in Russian and the Kremlin’s offer to stay in Russia after the start of the war. Here are the main quotes from this interview.
BBC News – Russian Service
About war
Now artists have a very big mission. We must convey our position to people. Just two years ago we could afford to be apolitical and not think about anything – just flutter around. At least that’s what I thought. I was very easy-going, cheerful, I had all the possibilities. I opened any door with my feet and felt like a big star. But when a full-scale war began in my country, I realized that I was a very small person. I felt like a person who couldn’t decide anything except tell my audience how I felt. I immediately understood [когда началась война]that everything I had built during my career was collapsing.
I’m really sorry that I can’t change anything. I have a friend who lost his brother in the war, I have neighbors who were killed by a rocket. My mom had a girlfriend in town [Киеве], whose house was hit by a rocket and whose children and mother’s friends died. We have come into contact with a very terrible disaster, and we do not know when this will end. This understanding is very difficult. We all really believe that there will be a good ending, that there will be victory. But I read a lot of news and understand how hard it is for people today and how much grief they have gone through during this time.
On the proposal to stay in Russia after the start of the war
Well, people called from the government. This is being decided at a very high level, assistants call and offer, no matter what amount I name, if necessary, it will be a very large amount, so that the Ukrainian artist stays here and broadcasts that the Russian regime is good.
About the departure of Pugacheva and Galkin from Russia
I’m sure that many [российские артисты] everyone understands. But there is a reality of our life. Not everyone is ready to be an emigrant. Not everyone is ready to give up everything, go to a foreign country and try to start life from scratch. I condemn [только] those people who say that we are for war, that it is possible to kill. In every country there are good and bad people. There are many people who left Russia. I understand that they decided on a lot, this is a very big act – people like Alla Borisovna [Пугачева]as Maxim Galkin. You also need to have the courage and courage to do this.
About songs in Russian
My audience is very large; it has long gone beyond the Ukrainian market. And these people are mostly Russian-speaking, they live all over the world. I don’t want to lose them and I don’t think it’s right. These are the people who have been with me throughout [всего этого] time, I give them information about what I am doing today. They all know my position.
I make a lot of songs in Ukrainian, these songs are incomprehensible to my Russian-speaking audience, so I initially said that I would not translate my songs that were written in Russian into Ukrainian, I don’t think that’s right. I believe that songs that were born this way should stay that way.
About entering the English-speaking market
I really want to try to record a good project in English, but due to my perfectionism it is extremely difficult for me to approve anything. I’m already making notes, but I realize that I don’t like the pronunciation, so I put the song aside and continue to practice it. I will continue to write songs in Ukrainian, in Russian, because [аудитория] very large, and these are the people who support me, who support my country.
For now I have nothing to offer [англоязычной аудитории], because I myself am in this search. I will touch and search, as I did before. You conquer one market, then you test and look for what could work in the next market. Then you come to the third market and start meeting people and studying their mentality. This is a process, this is work.
About life after the start of the war
My life has changed dramatically over the past year and a half. All my life I lived for my work, for my career, for my audience. It’s as if everything has reset to zero for me, and I’m little by little trying to find the ground. I teach English. When you are young, you are good at this, but when you have a lot of worries, family, team – it is more difficult. But I’m trying and I understand that I need it, because today I’m sure that I will live in Europe or America – but I have to find a place where it will be good for me to stay.
About the interview in Russian
I hate interviews because after each one my PR team doesn’t sleep at night and gets very worried. And even the fact that today we speak Russian, believe me, will fly in, no one will understand that there is a main office of the BBC and its divisions. It is not the Russian language that kills Ukrainian children and Ukrainian people. The Russian language does not belong to the Russian government.
