YMMV / t.A.T.u.

• Anvilicious: The band were anything but subtle about the anti-abortion message in "White Robes".
• Broken Base:
  • Dangerous and Moving/Lyudi Invalidy lost many fans since the musical style (and message) was very different and the focus was no longer on the girls' relationship (while the girls continued to portray themselves in a relationship in both concerts and videos during this era, they dialed it down a lot. Just holding hands, sharing hugs, longing stares, and big smiles. Kissing now was extremely rare and eventually faded completely by the time of their third album). Many fans who could find one or two songs on that album/those albums to appreciate were further displeased with Waste Management/Happy Smiles.
  • Julia's solo career or Lena's? There's a lot of crossover fans, but also quite a few that will rabidly defend one and slam the other.
• Common Knowledge: They are sometimes remembered as one of the most egregious examples of Bait-and-Switch Lesbians. Julia is actually bisexual in real life and Lena has merely never publicly stated her sexuality - but has implied she doesn't see gender as a boundary for affection.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: They have quite a large fanbase in USA, South America, and Japan.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Their early acts concerning queer relationship would net them a jail sentence in Russia had they premiered today. Thanks, Vladimir Putin.
  • "Malchik Gay" especially is this after Julia said she'd condemn her son if he turned out gay, but would happily be a-okay with it if was a lesbian daughter.^note For what it's worth, Lena is one of the few Russian celebrities that is openly supportive to the LGBT+ community in Russia
  • Much of the reality show, t.A.T.u. v Podnesbesnoy becomes this as Julia tells manager Ivan Shapovalov time and time again that being forced to scream was damaging her voice.
  • Their last performance was in promotion of their first new song since Waste Management. They broke up days later.
  • The "30 Minutes" video became this after Julia converted to Islam,^note she later returned to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but still which is stereotypically associated with suicide bombings. The "Mama, Papa, forgive me" line is also very awkward after the 2017 Manchester Arena suicide attack, when the bomber phoned his mother to ask forgiveness shortly before the attack.
  • The lyrics to "Friend or Foe" become this in light of the girls' testy relationship in real life.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In 2003, the girls claimed they would run for president of Russia the following year. Fast forward to 2021, and Yulia actually is a political candidate!
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Every solo song by either of them is about the other girl according to the fan base, no exceptions. They're also still cast as lovers even though they haven't kissed in public in over 10 years, both are married to men with children, and they haven't even been close friends since 2010.
  • Also, "Katya".^note Lena's surname confused enough people to make it a running joke with fans.
  • The band is this amongst the Fanvid community. "All The Things She Said" is especially (in)famous because for a long time it was used for virtually every Yuri Genre couple and Pseudo-Romantic Friendship.
• Misattributed Song:
  • In addition to duo ТЕМА invoking this as mentioned on the main page (under The Mockbuster), debut song "Zavedi" by singer Marina Abrosimova, better known as MakSim, gets attributed to t.A.T.u. quite often due to stylistic similarities and being actually credited to t.A.T.u. on a compilation. For MakSim herself (who became a pop star in Russia in her own right), that song is a case of Early-Installment Weirdness; since it was released in 2002, that might as well be done intentionally.
  • There's a lot of videos on YouTube claiming that the duo recorded a cover of the folk song "Kalinka". This recording is actually by a pop group from Germany called Yamboo.
• Questionable Casting: Sure, they're almost uncontended for the title of biggest international success for a Russian pop act, but in an age of institutionalised homophobia in Russia, people were left wondering why on earth they performed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
• Signature Song:
  • "All the Things She Said" and "30 Minutes".
  • "Nas Ne Dogonyat" is this for the Russian fanbase.
  • Lena adopted "Running Blind" as one for her solo career, because it's probably the most prominent song of theirs that she sang most of the lead for.
• Song Association: "All the Things She Said" is remembered by a lot of WWE fans as being the entrance music for Victoria from the late 2002 to mid 2004 period of her career. Doubly impressive, since it was often re-dubbed on DVD releases and the video games.
• Stuck in Their Shadow: Lena in a major way:
  • Either a song would be split 50/50 on lead vocals or Julia would have all of them and Lena would be stuck doing backing vocals^note "Doschitai do Sta" is an exception, as Julia hadn't been recruited yet. Even on Waste Management when Julia is audibly straining with some of her singing due to previous injuries.
  • Julia was far more outgoing at early live shows, though after Lena had to perform some of their shows solo, she gained more presence.
  • Lena did basically take the lead for the entire reunion run though, as both a vocal tumor and botched repair surgery left Julia unable to sing louder than a whisper for a long time.
• Values Dissonance: The idea of underage girls being sexualised from their first albums, and the anti-abortion messages from "White Robe" went down a lot worse in Western Europe and America than they did in Russia.
• Values Resonance:
  • At the time of its release, the first album "200 km/h in the Wrong Lane" was a controversial record. And while there was indeed stuff that was legitimate questionable in the presentation of the duo^note mostly the image of the girls focusing too much on the sexual aspect of their relationship. Not to mention they were underage when they debuted in Russia, much of the controversy came from outraged conservative media that focused almost completely on the presentation of the duo as a homosexual couple. A few decades later, the discussion of LGBT rights and representation became an important issue in society. In such a newly found social climate, the theme of the album became not only relevant, but gained an even deeper level of gravitas. Songs like "All The Thing She Said", "Not Gonna Get Us", "Show Me Love", "Stars", or "A Simple Motion" are powerful hymns that would resonate deeply with any LGBT individual as well as any person that is trying to relate with the struggle LGBT individuals go through all their lives.
    • In spite of the "All the Things She Said" video being rather obviously shot for schoolgirl titillation (and the Squick involved in how Julia and Lena were minors), it still has a very powerful message about tolerance and acceptance of sexuality - both girls recalling being thanked over the years by numerous LGBT fans who could relate to the music and the video. The video's Aesop is also quite powerful - Lena and Julia are implied to be trapped in a fence because society won't accept their relationship, but the end reveals that they are free to go wherever they please, and it's the onlookers who are behind the fence because of their ignorance.
    • The video of "Not Gonna Get Us" is much less sexualized in comparison to "All The Thing She Said", yet still carries a very deep message about freedom and love. In the video, Lena and Julia are first depicted as criminals locked in some facility, until they manage to escape. The video then shows both girls as they escape in a truck through the footage of surveillance cameras (presumably being watched by people trying to find them as the cameras rewind constantly). At one point, old pictures of the girls previous life are shown in between footage of their escape, implying that they used to be like any other girl. However, this is followed with shots of the truck running over these old versions of them, implying they're never going back to that old life again. They're finally out and free. The final shot shows the truck running over the camera, implying the triumph of the girls, and their love, over their captors.
  • The Value Resonance extends to their later records as well. Dangerous and Moving has both "All About Us" and "Dangerous and Moving". Waste Management has "You And I" which is the last time they tackled this heavy theme related to society being against their love.

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