1999: Formation Before production of t.A.T.u. began, the pair were in a group named
Neposedy. Both
Lena Katina and
Julia Volkova were part of the band, along with future Russian artists such as
Sergey Lazarev and
Vlad Topalov. Katina was also in a band named "Avenue" between 1994 and 1997. Both girls stood out among the others because of their appearance and vocal experience, but the producers decided to start with 14-year-old Katina, who sang "
It Must Have Been Love" by
Roxette. Katina began recording demos, including "Yugoslavia", a protest song about the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. After the demos were cut, Shapovalov insisted that another girl be added to the project. Thus, in late 1999, 14-year-old Julia Volkova was added to the group to complete the duo. She also started recording not long after Katina's "Yugoslavia" demo was finished. According to Katina, Shapovalov was inspired to create the duo after the release of the Swedish film
Show Me Love which focused on the romance between two school girls. After completing the duo, the producers decided on the name "Тату" (Tatu). Sounding like the English word "
tattoo", it is also a shortened version of the Russian phrase "
Та любит
ту" (
ta lyubit tu), meaning "This [girl] loves that [girl]".
2000–2002: 200 Po Vstrechnoy Over the next year, Katina and Volkova recorded songs with their producers. Voitinskiy left the project, stating that he was unwilling to support one built around scandals, and Shapovalov signed Elena Kiper as co-producer and co-writer for their debut album. The first single was completed in 2000, titled "Ya Soshla S Uma" (later released in English as "
All the Things She Said"), which was officially issued as a CD maxi single in December of that year. The song describes the turmoil in a girl's soul because she is in love with another girl, but is afraid, as society frowns upon this. She asks her parents for forgiveness. Elena Kiper has been credited with the song, explaining that the idea came to her when she fell asleep at her dentist's office and had a dream in which she kissed another woman. She woke up saying out loud, "Я сошла с ума!" (Ya soshla s uma, meaning "I've lost my mind"). Ivan Shapovalov is said to have added the second phrase of the chorus, "Мне нужна она" (Mne nuzhna ona, meaning "I need her"). The song remained at the top of the Russian charts for over four months, and the music video won the
MTV Video Music Award among the Russian nominees of 2001, marking the group's first nomination and win at the ceremony. In May 2001, the duo signed with
Universal Music Russia for the release of their first album,
200 Po Vstrechnoy. It was issued on 21 May 2001, gaining considerable success in Eastern European markets. It went on to reach platinum status in Europe, with over one million copies certified by
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry — an achievement never before attained by any artist from the
Eastern countries. Their second single, "
Nas Ne Dogonyat", came out the same day as the album, and it was only released in music video form rather than as an official CD single, although a promotional conjoined "Ya Soshla s Uma/Nas Ne Dagonyat" was released in
Poland. This was followed by the third single "30 Minut" in September, only available as a music video. A new edition of the album was reissued on 15 February 2002, featuring, in addition to the original tracks, the song "Klouny" and two previously unreleased remixes. In its first week alone, the reissue sold more than 60,000 copies. The original Russian album was eventually released in
Japan in September 2003. The lyrics of their songs, the related music videos, and their on-stage kisses performed during their shows suggested a romantic and homosexual relationship between the two girls. On several occasions, during interviews, they claimed that the relationship was real, offering details about their sex life, but more often the singers preferred to dodge questions about their sexual preferences, stating that they did not like labels. The group went on tour in 2001, performing routines that were described as 'precise' and included scenes in which the girls had to
strip. which was not part of the duo's debut album. The music video was censored in Russia due to the depiction of Volkova, who was seventeen at the time, in an extended masturbation scene in a bathtub.
2002–2003: 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane and Eurovision In early 2002, the duo signed with American record label
Interscope Records for the release of an English-language version of their debut album. The American music executive
Jimmy Iovine asked the English producer
Trevor Horn to create adaptations of Tatu's songs. Horn wrote new lyrics for "All the Things She Said" and "
Not Gonna Get Us" and coached the duo to sing them in English. He also rerecorded the instruments, as he did not have access to the original multitracks. He described Shapovalov as "awful" and removed him from the sessions after he made the girls cry. Horn said later: "There's no shortcut, you can't bully people." The following month, for the release of their first English-language album, Tatu decided to go by t.A.T.u., using uppercase letters and periods to distinguish themselves from an already existing Australian band, Tatu. The English version of the album was released in October 2002 in Europe as
200 km/h in the Wrong Lane, and it went on to sell over five million copies worldwide. The first single from the album was "All the Things She Said" which was released in late summer 2002. The song peaked at the top spot in countries such as Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The music video caused controversy worldwide, due to the members, who were both 15 at the time of the video's production, kissing behind a fence. Some believed the video promoted
lesbianism and
pedophilia and some branded the group's music as "paedophilic pop". Numerous live performances were also subject to censorship, particularly because of the kisses the two members exchanged on stage. In the United States and
Canada the album was released on 10 December 2002. The same month t.A.T.u. were heralded by
The Face magazine as "The hottest popstars in the world right now." While promoting the album in America, they performed wearing T-shirts with a pacifist slogan, used as a protest against the
Iraq War, causing controversy. On 25 February 2003 the women mocked
NBC's insistence that they neither kiss nor comment on the Iraq War by performing "All the Things She Said" in white "T-shirts that bore the Russian language message
Khuy Voyne! (Fuck the war!) across the front", and by kissing during their performance. The following day, they performed on
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, known for its uncensored style, but the two girls wore different T-shirts with the word 'Censored' and even covered their faces with their hands during the kiss in the performance, as a form of protest. They still wrote the term on
Jimmy Kimmel's hand. The next single "
Not Gonna Get Us" was released in early 2003. Though not as popular as their debut single, it managed to have success in most record charts. The song also reached number one on the
US Billboard Dance Club Songs, becoming the duo's only number-one single on the US component charts. The group then released their third single "
30 Minutes", which premiered only in Europe. A music video followed after the release. The fourth single, "
How Soon Is Now?", was a cover of the song by
the Smiths and came out in May 2003. The same month, Shapovalov was arrested after arranging filming for the group's music video "
Show Me Love" in Moscow's
Red Square despite his application for filming being refused. Shapovalov also attempted to film near London's
Big Ben and various other locations. The footage that was recorded was later used for a music video for the song "Show Me Love", despite the song not being released in any country other than
Poland. Also in May 2003, t.A.T.u. represented Russia at
Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "
Ne ver, ne boysya", where they placed third. After the contest, Russia's
Channel One complained that Irish broadcaster
RTÉ (Ireland's national television broadcaster) had used a back-up jury, and that it had cost them victory; RTÉ did not use the televoting results after some network problems. A statement by Channel One suggested that there were grounds to believe that the contest results could be much different for Russia. RTÉ responded by publishing the unused results of the Irish televote, which showed that had the jury not been used, Turkey, whose entry was also overlooked by the Irish Jury, would still have won. The group's record label, Universal Music Russia, were originally against the group's participation saying that the Eurovision contest was for "young artists" and said "artists of t.A.T.u.'s level will not get much out of the participation in it, We [Universal] would much rather prefer the group to work on their new album, and not to participate in contests for rising stars [...]" Soon after the conclusion of Eurovision, the group was invited to the 2003
MTV Movie Awards, where they performed "All the Things She Said" and "Not Gonna Get Us". On 26 September 2003, the group released a remix compilation, titled
Remixes. "Prostiye Dvizheniya", the controversial single that came out in Russia in summer 2002, and "Ne ver, ne boysya", their entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2003, were included as bonus tracks on the Russian edition of the compilation. In October, t.A.T.u. received three
World Music Awards for Best Pop Group, Best Dance Group, and Best Duo. A DVD compilation, titled
Screaming for More, was released on 24 November 2003, featuring music videos and behind-the-scenes.
Anatomy of t.A.T.u., a documentary portraying the duo's public image directed by
Vitaly Mansky, aired on Russian television on 12 December 2003. The documentary revealed that the girls were not lesbians, and followed the group during their US promo tour earlier that year.
2004–2006: Dangerous and Moving and Lyudi Invalidy In early 2004, t.A.T.u. legally broke their contract with Ivan Shapovalov and Neformat. In the months before the split, t.A.T.u. and Shapovalov were being filmed for a reality show on
STS in Russia titled
Podnebesnaya. The show followed the group as they were recording their second album, to little success, with their producer Ivan Shapovalov. The documentary aired on Russian television from January to March 2004. There were many rumors around the split until the show aired, which depicted the group leaving due to a lack of interest and care from their producer. They also claimed the quality of the music being produced was too low, and that Shapovalov was only interested in creating scandals. Volkova stated, "He [Ivan] spends his time thinking up scandals instead of planning our artistic work. I'm sure our fans would rather hear new songs and new albums than new scandals." Katina then stated, "He made us out to BE lesbians when we were just singing FOR lesbians. We wanted people to understand them and not judge them. That they are as free as anyone else." In one of the final episodes, Volkova mentioned returning to the United States in spring of 2004 to record with new producers. However, she became pregnant soon thereafter, and recording was delayed. Volkova soon joined Katina and previous producer
Sergio Galoyan in the studio. The group was backed by their record label,
Universal Music International, in finding adequate songs and production to release a new album. In August 2005, "
All About Us" and "Lyudi Invalidy" were announced to be the first singles from the English and Russian albums, respectively. "All About Us" was a worldwide hit, charting in the top ten in the majority of European charts. The group released their second English album on 11 October 2005 titled
Dangerous and Moving. Its Russian counterpart was released on 19 October, titled
Lyudi Invalidy. The second single was "
Friend or Foe", featuring
Sting on bass guitar. Soon after the video was released, the group's management replaced drummer Roman Ratej with Steve "Boomstick" Wilson, and appointed a new bassist, Domen Vajevec. Towards the end of the year, they began promoting both albums worldwide, launching their Dangerous and Moving Tour. On 25 March 2006, t.A.T.u. received the award for Best Group at the first edition of the
TRL Awards. On 17 April 2006, t.A.T.u. returned to reality TV in Russia with
t.A.T.u. Expedition, which was broadcast on the Russian music channel
Muz-TV. It chronicled the release of their second album, and the recording of the video for their third single, "
Gomenasai", which was released shortly after the end of the show. The video, as well as the actual song, is quite a departure from t.A.T.u.'s usual style and leaves many of their fans cold. t.A.T.u. performed in
Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 28 April, and the concert was recorded with the intention of being released on DVD later that year; however, its release was repeatedly postponed. On 30 August 2006, the official website announced that the girls had left their record company, Universal/Interscope. In September 2006 the duo's most successful songs were included in the greatest hits album
The Best, t.A.T.u.'s final release under their former label. The only single from the album was "
Loves Me Not", which, however, was released promotionally in only few European countries. Although the song had already appeared on
Dangerous and Moving, it is regarded as the first and only single from
The Best. In 2006, Russian politician
Aleksey Mitrofanov proposed t.A.T.u. to be awarded the
Order of Friendship, but the
State Duma vetoed his idea. Mitrofanov came to write a novel inspired by the duo,
t.A.T.u. Come Back (Russian: ТАТУ КАМ БЭК), which was later adapted into the film
You and I.
2007–2010: Vesyolye Ulybki, Waste Management and hiatus The duo began recording the third Russian-language album, alongside its English counterpart, in early 2007 in Germany. All the Russian-language tracks were completed on 28 September 2007. In the same month, the group released the concert DVD "Truth: Live in St. Petersburg", which was available exclusively in Japan. It marked the group's first release since leaving Universal. In late 2007, "Beliy Plaschik", the lead single from their upcoming Russian-language album, was released. The project was then known as
Upravleniye Otbrosami, which translates to "Waste Management", and was scheduled to hit the stores in June 2008. The second single, "220" ("Dvesti Dvadtsat'"), made its radio premiere in April 2008, and the music video was released on their official
YouTube channel on 5 June 2008. "Beliy Plaschik" and "220" were the main attractions on a special release known as "
Hyperion-Plate", the first-ever EP from the duo. The EP was released on 8 May 2008 and featured multimedia content including music, video, ringtones and wallpapers. Also in May 2008, t.A.T.u. attended the
61st Cannes Film Festival alongside actress
Mischa Barton to present the film
You and I, directed by
Roland Joffé and inspired by the book
t.A.T.u. Come Back by Russian State Duma member Aleksey Mitrofanov, with Barton and
Shantel VanSanten in the lead roles; both Katina and Volkova make cameo appearances in the film, which was shot in 2007. On 9 September 2008, a press release appeared on the duo's official website that declared that the forthcoming album would be titled
Vesyolye Ulybki ("Happy Smiles") instead of
Upravleniye Otbrosami ("Waste Management"). The name change reflected sarcastic comments about the state of the Russian music business made by Volkova and Katina in an interview with Moscow's
Time Out magazine. On 12 September, the album's third single, "You and I" made its radio debut in Russia. On 15 October, t.A.T.u.'s website announced that
Vesyolye Ulybki would be released on 21 October 2008. The songs were also made available internationally through the
iTunes digital music store. Upon its release, t.A.T.u. were also the subjects of an ongoing mini-
reality series on the website Russia.ru., to promote their new project. On 28 November, they were awarded the Legend of MTV at the
MTV Russia Music Awards 2008. In March 2009, a statement was released on the duo's site and
Myspace stating that t.A.T.u. will no longer be a "full-time" project and that Katina and Volkova were working on solo careers. Despite the hiatus, the album's fourth single "
Snegopady" was released, along with its music video. On 13 July, the group released their single "
Snowfalls", taken from the English version of the album,
Waste Management, which was originally scheduled for release in 2008 but was postponed for unknown reasons. The song was issued digitally worldwide, along with its music video. The group's second single for the album, "White Robe", was released by Coqueiro Verde Records online and premiered on t.A.T.u.'s YouTube account. The album was eventually released worldwide digitally on 15 December 2009, and received favorable reception from critics. However, it did not sell very well and was reported to have only sold over 1,000 copies in the United States, as of January 2010. The third single off the album, "Sparks", was released in Brazil and on t.A.T.u.'s official YouTube account on 13 April 2010. Volkova made headlines in Russia with an interview in which she expressed her opinion on Katina's solo career, "She has the right to [sing t.A.T.u. songs], but it's so stupid—absolutely stupid. If you pursue a solo career, it means that you do your own work. Her stuff, that she makes, I think, is silly and very soon her career will wither away and disappear." Katina responded to this interview via her YouTube Page, "I saw Julia's interview. Of course I got upset. But I want to tell everybody that I have a completely opposite attitude towards the whole situation, Julia's project included. I believe she's a very talented person and I sincerely hope that she'll be successful in all the things she plans." In July, Katina made an appearance on a radio station where she was asked about the future of the duo. She responded by saying, "Life has changed a lot. Julia and I are working on our projects now. I, for one, will be traveling to Los Angeles this Saturday, where I will keep working on my album. And I'm preparing a big show in San Francisco in September, so now we are not planning to reform t.A.T.u., certainly not in the near future. Now we really want to concentrate only on our own projects." Lena Katina and her full band performed her first live major solo show in San Francisco on 17 September 2010.
2011: Disbandment At the end of March 2011, t.A.T.u. management released a press release on their official website declaring t.A.T.u. over. Due to conflicts between the two women, and them both wanting to pursue solo careers, the duo was officially announced as disbanded, after a two-year hiatus. After the split, the group decided to focus on their solo careers, both musically and in film. In August 2011, Katina revealed her debut solo single "
Never Forget" which eventually charted at number one on the US
Hot Dance Club Songs for a single week. Volkova was also working on her studio album and released two singles; "All Because of You" and "
Didn't Wanna Do It", but failed to generate interest on the music charts. The following year she confirmed she would be starring in the
dark comedy zombie film
Zombie Holidays 3D.
2012–2021: Aftermath with Volkova and Katina arguments On 2 October 2012,
Cherrytree Records/Universal Russia announced that they would be issuing a special re-release of t.A.T.u.'s
200 km/h in the Wrong Lane. The "10th Year Anniversary Edition" featured all new artwork, a never-before-released song from the 2002 sessions, "
A Simple Motion", a brand new remix of "All the Things She Said" from producer
Fernando Garibay, in addition to newly mastered songs. On 24 October 2012, Cherrytree Records released the official track listing for the album; it was a note addressed to fans handwritten and signed by Katina and Volkova themselves. The album was released on 12 November 2012. On 11 December 2012, the duo reunited as musical guests on
The Voice of Romania, where they performed "All the Things She Said" and "All About Us". It was their first performance together in three years. After the re-release, the group were interviewed by Bradley Stern on MuuMuse, and was asked about a reunion and relationship together. Volkova stated "We don't keep in touch", while Katina stated "Only when we see each other. We have very different lives in different countries now. We are not in a fight though." As for a reunion, Katina said "I believe that there is always a chance for anything in this life. Maybe…." Volkova stated that, while she is not "ready for it", she said "But this won't stop us from reuniting for joint performances. We’ll see what happens!" It was their first concert as a duo since 2008. Despite media reports suggesting a permanent reunion of t.A.T.u., both members later clarified that there are no plans for a full-scale comeback. Volkova told an interviewer that they were not reuniting after all. Katina also stated that her solo career was the number one goal at that time and if t.A.T.u. was going to reunite, it would only be for small things like commercials and concerts. On 27 September 2013, t.A.T.u. performed a concert in Kyiv, Ukraine. Shortly thereafter they wore their schoolgirls outfits from their first album again for a
Snickers Japanese advertisement. Whilst in Japan they also performed "All the Things She Said" live in Tokyo. They also briefly reunited for a series of short concerts and television appearances in Russia between October and December 2013. The duo performed before the
opening ceremony of the
2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in
Sochi, Media reports expressed confusion at this performance, given that there is a lack of
LGBT rights in Russia, especially since the much politicized
Russian law banning gay propaganda aimed at minors that is being used to promote family values. The ceremony's director, Konstantin Ernst, said t.A.T.u.'s "Not Gonna Get Us" was chosen because it's one of the few Russian pop songs that international viewers might recognize. Shortly after performing at the Olympics, the group announced a new single, "Lyubov v Kazhdom Mgnovenii" ("Love in Every Moment"). The song features Russian rapper
Ligalize and Canadian musician
Mike Tompkins. On 17 February 2014, Katina posted a video message on her official
YouTube channel stating that she would no longer be working with Volkova and that t.A.T.u. was once again no longer a group. However, on 20 February, Volkova posted a video message saying that there is "no big reunion" but t.A.T.u. were having "joint projects". She also criticized Katina's "meaning" behind the video and confirmed that they would be shooting the video for the new single. On 5 March 2014, Volkova posted another video message on her official YouTube channel in response to Katina's video. She stated that despite "reasons of severe trepidation on the part of Lena about [Volkova] and [her] behavior," collaboration between the two was possible, referring to the release of their new single as well as their music video. On 6 April 2014, the music video to "Love in Every Moment" was released to the
Cornetto Ru page on YouTube, in which Katina and Volkova filmed their scenes apart. Towards the end of the video, Volkova is shown interacting with a body double of Katina, with the latter's face obscured. The song is part of the "A Sight of Cupid" project which contains several short films about love. In the short film "Together Apart" the duo were portrayed as cupids. On 22 May 2014, both singers introduced the film at the
67th Cannes Film Festival. Due to their conflict and in keeping with Katina's wishes to not interact with Volkova, both singers had separate interviews with reporters. Volkova announced during an interview with the Italian press that the film would be the last collaborative work between her and Katina. However, the artists appeared distant and detached on stage, keeping a clear physical and emotional distance and largely avoiding any interaction with each other throughout the event. On 8 June 2021, a lengthy interview and documentary about t.A.T.u.'s story titled "ТАТУ: 20 лет спустя! Главная российская группа в мире" was published on YouTube on journalist
Ksenia Sobchak's channel. The documentary discussed the formation of the group, its past controversies and Katina's and Volkova's personal and career developments after t.A.T.u. It also included interviews of former t.A.T.u. producer Ivan Shapovalov and Lena Katina's mother. Katina and Volkova were interviewed separately, as Katina rejected a common interview. The interview/documentary was the most trending video on Russian YouTube the day after it was published.
2022–present: Return to the stage , September 2022 In late 2021, Katina and Volkova announced that t.A.T.u. would return to the stage in 2022 to take part in the official duo tribute concert. However,
persistent issues with the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic led to its cancellation. The duo eventually reunited on stage for the first time since their falling out in September 2022, performing at the
Dinamo Stadium in Minsk as part of the Ovion Show event. This was followed by another performance at a sporting event at the
Gazprom Stadium in Saint Petersburg in May 2023. t.A.T.u. reunited again in July 2025 to perform at the Mriya Resort in Yalta,
Crimea. Katina has stated that she and Volkova had resolved their conflict and that plans for the group's future are underway. Shortly after, Interscope Records released a special deluxe edition of the album
Dangerous and Moving to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of its publication, featuring 24 tracks (including several in Russian). In September 2025, t.A.T.u. were announced as brand ambassadors for
Gosha Rubchinskiy, appearing in a new advertising campaign for the designer. On October 24, 2025, the album compilation
V Podnebesnoy was released, a collection of songs recorded in 2004 with former producer
Ivan Shapovalov but never officially released, although some tracks had previously leaked online individually and others had been re-recorded and included on their second Russian-language studio album
Lyudi Invalidy. Katina and Volkova stated that they had nothing to do with the release, and it was noted in the Russian media that the rights to the tracks on the album are owned by Shapovalov. ==Artistry and controversies==