Kristina Orbakaite: “Listen… It’s Me”

As the daughter of Alla Pugacheva, perhaps nobody has been blessed with a bigger headstart in Russian pop music than Kristina Orbakaite. As a consequence, though, of anything being possible, professional choice(s) become much harder! In trying to find a logical or fitting style, Orbakaite has moved through a series of relatively dramatic metamorphoses since her naive debut of 1994, “Loyalty” (Vernost’).

Her second album, “Zero Hours: Zero Minutes” (Nol’ chasov, nol’ minut [1996]) took a sage step backwards in time, dabbling with tangos and a post-WWII chic. A similar, though slightly ironic approach was then adopted in 1998 with the CD “You” (Ty), especially in its closing track, “Ptitsy.”

Since that time, however, she has tried a trendier aesthetic, noticeably in the 2001 collection of remixes (above), and “My Life” of 2005 (below), which threw all kinds of experimentation into a very busy CD. In actuality, “My Life” was more redolent of a crowded stage recording than a studio album. This spoke both to the fact that Orbakaite is a very accomplished dancer and that musicians in Russia today make money from live shows, not (pirated) CD sales.

This week her newest collection has been published: “Listen… It’s Me” (Slyshish’, eto ia). The press-release includes Orbakaite’s schmaltzy statement that the CD is “for everybody who wants to be heard, especially in a world that can be so unloving. Don’t forget, though, that we all have a Guardian Angel who helps us believe in love. And to sing about it, too.”

It’s this confidence that makes the album a pleasing, but strangely conservative outing (reflected in its cover-art). Orbakaite has employed the services of several composers here from a very “adult” or MOR context: Konstantin Meladze and Andrei Gubin, for example. Although Igor’ Krutoi is not a contributor here, he easily might have been. In fact the inclusion of Arkadii Ukupnik throws Orbakaite’s references straight back to the 1980s. A thankful balance between past and present, between fashion and the canon is audible in the opening number, “Heart” (Serdtse):

The best of the ensuing tracks hark back to the polite experimentation of her earlier albums, like the retro-accordion of “Spichka” (The Match).

Or the cinematic elegance of the duet with her mother: “Another Snowstorm” (Opiat’ metel’) used in the recent remake of ’70s comedy classic, “The Irony of Fate” (below).

In short, then, this album – as her discography has long shown! – works best when she either uses her talents to stay abreast of today’s trends or, conversely, throws a long and loving look back to the decade of her mother’s birth. These bolder gestures give us the best songs in her catalog: they give us “I’ll Paint…” (Ia narisuiu), which could easily be a Iuliia Savicheva number:

… or her finest moment in recent years, the wartime waltz from TV series “Moscow Saga” entitled “Clouds in the Blue” (Tuchi v golubom):

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