TaTu will not be making a comeback

Okay, through channels not worth discussing in public, I've heard the new TaTu, which isn't going to be released in the U.S. until sometime around Octobers 10th. The recording is not a remarkable improvement over 200 KmH In The Wrong Lane, and the "single", All About Us, is merely an Abba-esque attention-getter. There's also a video on-line (Linux mmsclient users might be able to use this URL instead) which intermingles the whole "are they or aren't they" tabloid articles quite nicely with shots of Lena's quite nicely developed bosom and Yulia's new punky haircut. Unfortunately, the video veers off into ugly and silly territory toward the end, but at least you get a nice shot of Yulia's butt in the process. (There's also an "adult and uncensored" version of the video, but I haven't found a copy yet.) [Edit: I've seen the uncensored version: it's more violent, but there's nothing sexy about it.]

The biggest problem is that there's nothing new here. This is the same music as 200 KmH..., some high-quality synthpop overlaid with pretty voices and angsty lyrics. By now, though, the press has sucked all of the mystery and fun out of TaTu, and now that that's over there's just not a whole lot of there there.

The biggest disappointment on the whole thing is that, but for one song, it is entirely in English. One of the guilty pleasures of 200 KmH... was downloading the Russian version and listening to it side-by-side with the English one and noting just how much better, how much more basially passionate, Lena & Yulia sounded in their native tongue. Precious little chance of that here.

I actually own a legit copy of 200 KmH.... I doubt I'll be buying this one, or even listening to it again. All About Us will get some airplay on Top 40 Electronica/Dance stations, I suspect most of it bought with some flavor of payola. It's sad, though, and in the end not even Lena's youthful breasts in a tight corset can breathe deserving attention into their exhausted affair.