zhanulka (Zhanna Shatalova) is a Ukrainian indie singer and songwriter. She was born in 2004 in Donetsk. She gained widespread popularity thanks to her sincere lyrics and viral tracks on TikTok. In 2014, due to Russian aggression in the Donbas, she and her family were forced to leave their home and move to Kyiv.
Prior to the full-scale invasion, Zhanna was developing her music career with a focus on the Russian-language segment. In interviews, she recalled that after moving from Donetsk, she lived in Spain for several years, but made her parents take her back to Kyiv because she did not feel in her element there.
In 2021, she performed concerts in Russia. The singer explained this by her inexperience, while her record label at the time, Sony Music, persistently advised artists to "hold their tongues" and maintain an "out of politics" stance for the sake of profit and safety.
zhanulka's stance on the war in Ukraine
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Zhanna was in Kyiv. After the first explosions, she and her mother left for western Ukraine, but Zhanna soon decided to return to Kyiv.
The singer's primary statement became the song "portraits" («портреты»), dedicated to the children of war and the loss of home:
«For many years I have had no home, and your home has no walls left. And everything here is painfully familiar to us, we simply grew older in a single day.» «Only portraits remain on the wall of those we won't meet this summer anymore. In the room where we shared secrets, now only the wind blows.
The release of the track was accompanied by scandal: the Russian office of Sony Music attempted to block the song and issue strikes against it. Zhanna's producer, Gleb Lipatov, stated that the label demanded 50% of the revenue while simultaneously forbidding the artist from speaking openly about the war.
Sony wants to block the song «portraits»... Dudes from Russia are persistently trying to strip away her main statement of recent times. They just don't give a damn about anything — they are trying to extract their own profit.
Zhanna refused further cooperation with major corporations that choose silence for the sake of profits and transitioned to an independent label that supports freedom of expression.
Attitude toward «cancelling» and the future
The singer had a difficult time dealing with criticism in Ukraine over her past in the Russian Federation, but noted that the song «portraits» was her direct response and a reflection of her pain.
They don't understand that this [concerts] is my job. They don't understand how the market in the CIS is structured and why artists from Ukraine work with Russian labels. And they won't understand it because they haven't walked in my shoes. I see no point in trying to prove anything to everyone. People fail to see my direct statement, which was encapsulated in an entire song [«portraits»], about how terribly painful it is for me and that this is not the first time I am fleeing from war. I cannot respond to everyone. If I could, I would answer.
Regarding future performances in Russia, Zhanna's position is unambiguous:
- No concerts in the Russian Federation: She has no intention of traveling there until global changes occur and the safety of her family is guaranteed.
- The fate of relatives in Donetsk: Her grandmother still remains in Donetsk under shelling. Zhanna keenly feels the injustice of her loved ones being in direct danger.
Today zhanulka lives in Spain (Valencia), but periodically visits Ukraine.
Ties with the Russian Federation
Despite her emotional condemnation of the war in her music, zhanulka's musical activities technically remain integrated into the Russian infrastructure. The singer continues to run an official page on the "VKontakte" social network, and her tracks regularly appear on the "Yandex Music" and "VK Music" platforms. Technically, her career continues to be supported by specialists from the Russian Federation (management, production, distribution).
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