lena katina levantame eurovision russia tatu

Lena Katina — the better half of the now defunct faux-lesbian duo t.A.T.u. — is one of the most accomplished singers in Russia.

Having topped the Russian charts with former bandmate Yulia Volkova, she went on to have a string of solo hits in both Russian and English.

But that’s not enough for this fiery red head, who has released “Levántame” — the Spanish-language version of her song “Lift Me Up”.

In the summery video she’s seen having a great time as she dances on the beach and strums the guitar, interspersed with scenes of her looking at pictures and relishing the memories.

The song celebrates how others lift her up, and how it’s friends and family that make life wonderful.

It reflects the joys of the season — and, no doubt, her pesonal contentment.

She and her husband — the musician Sash Kuzma — welcomed their first child into the world last May.

Usually a song in a second language suffers in the translation, but not here. It’s clear Lena is comfortable in a number of languages and that the emotions remain sincere.

As a member of t.A.T.u., Lena rose to fame under the false pre-tense that she and bandmate Yulia were lesbians. They famously rode that wave to Eurovision 2003, where they placed third in one the closest contests ever.

While Lena herself is straight and blamed her producer for claiming the two girls in t.A.T.u. were lesbians, she has been a strong supporter of gay rights.

In 2007, she participated in the gay pride march in Moscow. And in September 2012, Lena and her band went to St Petersburg to support the international festival Queerfest in 2012.

She said: “We all are very different people and we should celebrate our differences. We should not be silent when we see this intolerant aggression towards the LGBT community”.

What do you think of her Spanish version of her song? Would you like to see her return to Eurovision? And if so, what language should she sing in? Tell us in the comments below.

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nbhff
nbhff
7 years ago

yyaaaaas i want her return to eurovision plz

Shay
Shay
7 years ago

I love it! Her whole Spanish album is fantastic.

Miss Uncongeniality
Miss Uncongeniality
7 years ago

The translation is not good at all, it has a lot of grammatical mistakes… so, yes, this is another song that “suffers in the translation”