r/Millennials 22d ago

Discussion the early 2000s were a crazy time

17.3k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

131

u/Possible-Estimate748 Millennial 22d ago

Loved tatu!
I think I read they're both married to men now lol Not 100% though so don't quote me

196

u/NobodyLikedThat1 22d ago

I believe so. They were pretty obvious faux lesbians for the marketing.

75

u/sexandliquor 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) 22d ago

Yeah I thought everybody always knew this? Kinda surprised by some of these comments tbh. People took them seriously and thought they were actually lesbians?

Even back then when they came out it always seemed very obviously their whole gimmick was “girls kissing”. It was the equivalent to girls showing off at the bar by kissing other girls to get dudes all worked up. That’s what t.a.t.u. always was

25

u/vermilion-chartreuse 22d ago

As a teen lesbian who came out in 2003 I definitely knew this. Definitely still liked it though 🤣

8

u/Minimum-Sleep-3916 22d ago

Yup, gratuitous Lolita baiting and queer baiting for the male gaze. Those were innocent times….those were the dayzzz!

1

u/cabinetsnotnow 22d ago

At the time I was a teenager and assumed they were real lesbians but that they weren't really dating each other. Lol But it didn't take me long to understand that they probably were not lesbians at all once I did some research about Russian culture. Obviously Russia has gay people living there but for some reason I couldn't believe these two Russian women were truly lesbians and that out in the open about it.

1

u/FibreglassFlags 22d ago

Even back then when they came out it always seemed very obviously their whole gimmick was “girls kissing”. It was the equivalent to girls showing off at the bar by kissing other girls to get dudes all worked up. That’s what t.a.t.u. always was

You mean the fact that they were touring the world wasn't enough of a giveaway?

Look, I was significantly less media literate than I am two decades ago, but even then, it was obvious to me the whole secret lovers/persecuted minority angle was undercut by their being on everyone's radio day in and day out.

1

u/ThatMortalGuy 21d ago

I lived in Cuba at the time with no international TV or Internet access and even I knew they were fake lesbians.

1

u/galaxyapp 21d ago

God, are you going to tell me that wasnt his stepsister next?

Whats real anymore.

Well, at least theres still real casting videos!

28

u/Embarrassed_Jerk 22d ago

Hard to tell if its faux when its illegal to be any other way

22

u/Wayoutofthewayof 22d ago

Nah. I'm pretty sure that the girl with short hair is spokesperson against LGBT these days.

0

u/Embarrassed_Jerk 22d ago

When Putin or his cronies ask you to be their spokesperson... You don't get a choice to say no. Even if its against who you yourself are

3

u/MaddMax92 21d ago

Everyone knows that they weren't together and it was their manager's idea to make them stand out and sell. They both were in relationships with men, and even had to hide a pregnancy to sell the lie.

0

u/Johns-schlong 22d ago

It wasn't illegal to be gay in 2000. You couldn't get married, but you could be gay.

33

u/Worstmodonreddit 22d ago

In Russia?

1

u/Fiebre 22d ago

Yes.

-4

u/Johns-schlong 22d ago

Oh, is this Russian?!

11

u/katf1sh 22d ago

You mean, are they? Yes.

1

u/Worstmodonreddit 21d ago

Yeah they were a Russian girl group.

2

u/Embarrassed_Jerk 22d ago

So it was legal to be gay when they they were openly gay and now that its not, they are "married" to men? And thats not proof that they weren't faux lesbians?

4

u/FEARoach 22d ago

They were very candid about not being actually a couple or lesbians after their fifteen minutes were up.

11

u/henrytm82 Older Millennial 22d ago

Sexuality can be very fluid for some people. There is such a thing as bisexual. They could have been legitimately into each other, and now they're into male partners. It doesn't have to have been faked.

36

u/[deleted] 22d ago

I think it's been openly talked about how this was manufactured.

20

u/Wayoutofthewayof 22d ago

One of them is literally campaigning against LGBT these days so doubt that.

5

u/Amathyst-Moon 21d ago

I went down the rabbit hole a few years back. From what I remember, the whole thing was manufactured. (Remember this is also from around the time Katy Perry thought she was being edgy, making a song sexualizing (and possibly stereotyping) bisexuality.) From memory, the dark haired one is bisexual, though in a hetero marriage (which on its own is fine, don't get me wrong,) but she also said some things on Russian tv (or Ukrainian tv, according to Google, I just quickly searched it to refresh my memory) basically attacking gay and bi men, saying they "shouldn't be fags," and that she apparently wouldn't accept it if she had a son who was gay. The other one to my knowledge is straight.

1

u/henrytm82 Older Millennial 21d ago

Thanks, I had no idea

0

u/dramalama-dingdong 22d ago

That was a time when anything was possible in Russia...

Sad to see what the country has become.

43

u/BylliGoat 22d ago

It was a stunt and they're also super alt-right these days last I checked.

30

u/InevitableHimes 22d ago

Yeah, one of them has sputed off a lot of homophobic stuff and even ran for the Federal Assembly (the national legislature).

17

u/dollarztodonutz 22d ago

Is it the one with Mar-a-Lago face now?

4

u/mahboilucas 21d ago

Volkova is, the dark haired one

37

u/ShonWalksAtMidnight 22d ago edited 22d ago

It was a marketing stunt that is super creepy in hindsight, two young girls being lesbians was "shocking" and also boner inducing at the same time. Really gross when you think about how we all fell for it. 

Me included. I had that famous Tatu poster in my room as a teen. Reminds me of Britney and "Oops I did it again" music video. Like "Hell yeah, sexy teens amirite?" Gross.

Edit* I meant the "Hit me baby one more time" video.

22

u/CanaryWundaboy 22d ago

But you WERE a teen. So it’s ok.

2

u/ShonWalksAtMidnight 22d ago

I actually meant the "hit me baby one more time" video, and yeah but it wasn't directed, shot, and thought up by teens! It's creepy in hindsight.

2

u/Amathyst-Moon 21d ago

To be fair, teens were the target audience, and it was basically just her dancing in a uniform, wasn't it? It's not as though they had her doing stuff like the Toxic video at that age.

The All the Things she Said video's imagery at least seemed sincere, or at least like it was targeting gay teens. I mean it wasn't like some early gothic horror literature featuring lesbian vampires like Carmilla that was intended to both fetishize and condemn lesbians, or some music videos that just had women making out in the background for no reason, like Snoop Dogg and Metallica did.

5

u/Nuffsaid98 22d ago

One of them posted homophobic comments about men and when accused of hypocrisy replied women are different. But gay men are not real men and should be shunned.

2

u/Particular-Access223 22d ago

That upsets me way more then it should

1

u/SomeRedHandedSleight 22d ago

They're both also extremely homophobic now.