The artist spoke about the difficulties in creating new hits and her creative pause
Ukrainian singer Anastasia Prikhodko considers translating old songs a betrayal of herself. She has put her career on hold and openly explained the reason for her decision.
The artist shared this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
More interesting: Prikhodko lost her temper and walked away due to disputes over the Russian language
Why Prikhodko doesn’t translate songs
The singer does not want to change her old hits, as they “will never sound like they originally did.”
“These are my compositions, written back then. They had their time, they worked. This is memory, this is history, I can’t just get rid of it,” she admitted.
She views song translation as a way to remind people of herself.
“Why should I change them now? To remind people of myself? I don’t have such a developed sense of inflated ego and importance that I would distort my songs, because that would be grotesque. They will never sound the way they originally did,” she said.
Prikhodko on Russian-language songs (photo: RBC-Ukraine)
Separately, the singer shared the story of the track “Lyubila,” which she did release in a Ukrainian version. She did this in memory of her friend and manager Grigory Krasnitsky.
“He died in my arms in Truskavets during my concert. He dreamed very much that the song ‘Lyubila’ would be in Ukrainian. But I told him that it would never happen,” Prikhodko said.
“On March 25, 2023, he died at the concert. This text fully belongs to him. This was his dream. Unfortunately, he never heard it. But in memory of him, I did this,” the star added.
“Part of my creativity has indeed died now”
Prikhodko admitted that at this stage, she is facing difficulties in developing her music career.
“The Ukrainian language is not that popular in the post-Soviet space. Part of my creativity has indeed died now. I can’t afford to sing in Russian,” she explained.
The artist emphasized that she could perform songs in Russian, but she currently does not derive pleasure from it.
“It doesn’t suit me, it’s not interesting, and it doesn’t resonate. The songs that made me famous, I don’t perform them. Do I regret it? No, I don’t regret it, because they have been sung, they exist. It’s still my past, and I can’t escape from it,” she clarified.
Prikhodko does not want to sing in Russian (photo: RBC-Ukraine)
“I can’t write a single song”
The star candidly stated that writing songs in Ukrainian is very difficult for her.
“It’s not my native language; I wasn’t taught to speak it. I never heard the Ukrainian language. We studied Russian literature and language, Ukrainian history, and the Ukrainian language. But in school, everyone spoke Russian,” she said.
The only thing the singer remembers from Ukrainian is the program “Territory A.” That’s why it is not easy for her to create today.
“I don’t understand how to write in Ukrainian. I still can’t do it. I know how to sing Ukrainian folk songs. But how to write them musically—I have no idea. I still haven’t found that key. I can’t do it,” she admitted.
She can write a song in Russian in five minutes, but in Ukrainian, “the rhyme just doesn’t come together.”
“I walk around frustrated, and I’ve been frustrated since September, probably. I can’t write a single song. I just can’t do it. I say, ‘If I can’t do it, I’m not going to force it. I’ll just put it on pause,'” the artist noted.
Prikhodko is not ready to release subpar music. Instead, she finds other ways to be useful.
“I also can’t deceive my audience and release a song just to release it… If I can’t, I’ll help in other ways. I’ll help with collections, I’ll do repairs, I’ll come and sing. But if I can’t do it right now, I don’t intend to deceive people,” she emphasized.
Even more interesting:
How Prikhodko took down Elena Mandzyuk
