God, please, let me be aesthetic, don’t force me to listen to my cringy music
I wanted to share the music that was playing in my head whilst I was in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, I couldn’t include it in the video due to copyright issues, but I’ll at least share it here
(By the way, it’s a fascinating vlog – I’d recommend having a look https://youtu.be/vcr4V16LHGA?si=KDw6XAN83GTSgJyb)
This song is addressed to Yuri Gagarin, who was once a symbol of progress, a bright future, and our country's success. The band sings about how that potential was squandered and apologises to the great cosmonaut for it. The song is steeped in nostalgia for a time when our country seemed to have a truly happy future ahead.
The band themselves are brilliant—you absolutely must listen to their songs. I'd also recommend looking up translations. The lyrics are full of sarcasm and deep meaning, and it's really interesting to delve into them. It's sad you don't know Russian to understand the original. It’s really interesting to really look and those word combinations (my linguistic side is happy)
(The band has been banned in the Russian Federation due to their open dissent against the government and their anti-war stance.)
2) Post-post by Monetochka
A song about growing up, turning your back on education and re-evaluating your life. It really strikes a chord with me, especially ahead of my internship in China. Monetochka is a wonderful singer; her songs are tender, full of deep meaning and a good dose of irony. By the way, another brilliant song of hers, ‘Monopoly’, features in the new Spider-Man film!
(The singer and her family are currently in exile and have been designated as foreign agents due to their outspoken anti-war and liberal views.)
3) This was in Russia by Monetochka
A song in which the singer longs for her homeland. As I mentioned earlier, she’s living abroad. The song is dedicated not just to the country, but to a time of peace when the authorities weren’t messing things up… The song is steeped in nostalgia, and the singer repeatedly says that there’s no other place quite like it and that, wherever she may be, nowhere will ever feel like home. That home is no longer there. The song regularly moves me to tears.
4) Ochki-serdechki by Smetana Band
A song about how a young girl’s happy illusions about reality, her hopes and dreams are shattered into pieces. The song is sung from the perspective of a lad who smashes her heart-shaped glasses, which remind him of the hopes he himself once had. He finds amusement in the girl’s rose-tinted view of life
(A Ukrainian band that used to perform in Russian before the war. This is quite common among Ukrainian artists—many of them sang in Russian before. After the war began, the band continued to perform in Ukrainian. Unfortunately, even though I'm half Ukrainian, I don't speak the language, but I still love their music very much.)
5) Dumay positivno (think positively) by Krovostok
Probably what people most associate with Russian music. Satire, darkness, deep irony, and a frankly gloomy atmosphere. The band creates a truly eerie underground vibe. The songs are full of outright filth, but so what? It's honest. That's what makes Russians Russian — we're crude, openly sarcastic, and yes, we might seem a bit off our rocker. But that's just how we express our emotions.
Take the last line of the song, for example: «Think positively, the glass is always half full, always! Just don't think about what's in the glass. Think that there's water in the glass.»
You can discover the rest of the song's obscenities by checking the translated lyrics. But even just from the sound, you can already feel that very atmosphere.
(The band takes an openly anti-war stance, but they've held views opposing the current Russian government for 10 to 20 years now. So they're "old hands" when it comes to opposing the regime.)
This is roughly what our mood-setting music selection looks like. You might ask—how on earth can someone walking through such a beautiful city have THIS in their head?! How can a gentle, atmospheric vlog come from such an inner world? Well… what can I say… the Russian soul! That's what's going on in our heads. That's what's happening inside us.
Fancy some more of my music playlists? I might even record a couple of covers and post them here on Tumblr. I did promise more personalised content here, after all!
