Polite refusal

The reasons for the failure of Zemfira’s album “Thank You”

The current musical year has been fruitful for Russian music, at least much more successful than the last. The cult jazz-rock group “Auktsion” and no less significant heroes of psychedelic punk “Civil Defense” have released new records, and a new album by the founder of the rock-pop style “Mumiy Troll” has been released.

But there was much more anticipation for the release of Zemfira’s new album. Firstly, Zemfira is the only one we have - whatever one may say, the main girl musician on the Russian stage and the most popular of all the characters listed above. Secondly, and this is the main thing, there was an incredible amount of hype around the recording of the “Thank You” album. Everyone rushed around with him like a white bag, from the singer herself to promoters and journalists who lined up to interview Zemfira. She answered without mincing words that she was indescribably joyful from the work done, that she had recorded her best record.

But now in the domestic press you can hardly find a positive response to “Thank you.” The singer got it for everything - she was criticized for the excessive far-fetchedness of the recording, for weak lyrics, simply for the fact that in one place she gives a rooster. It seems that the reverse principle worked: they were waiting for a masterpiece, but what they got was a passable recording. Perhaps there would have been an order of magnitude fewer negative reviews if such high hopes had not been placed on the album.

Yes, “Thank You” seems to be Zemfira’s least interesting work. The mood of the album is best characterized by the following lines from the song “Sunday”: “On Saturdays we lie in bed all day, / On Sundays I write great songs.” Firstly, the phrase itself does not shine with poetic grace (however, almost half of the album consists of such phrases). Secondly, it accurately reflects the singer’s state - joyful calm, satiety, stagnation. Of course, one should not say that nothing good can come out of lying in bed, and real masterpieces are written with sweat and blood. But in the case of Zemfira, it seems that, having replaced tension with joy, the singer decided that everything would work out by itself. It didn't work out. “Thank You” looks like the singer’s poorest album in terms of lyrics. There is not a single tenacious part of the lyrics of the songs here, some of them are written according to the principle “what I see, I sing” (“Home”, “Metro”), and sometimes Zemfira’s taste also changes - what are the lines worthy of the singer Decl , “Friday - Moscow is going wild” or the vulgar pun “take Chanel - let's go home.” And from someone, like Zemfira, you don’t expect to hear such a student’s clumsy phrase: “And while walking in the morning, I really wanted to be sung about it.”

The musical component is also puzzling. Here the keyboards rule the roost, which every now and then break into a tavern waltz - with its lesser half, the album resembles a luxury café. The cinematography orchestra led by Sergei Skripka, who participated in the recording of the album, only gave it a pompous sound, but was unable to pull out the weak material. And only in a couple of songs on the album can one discern those familiar bright features characteristic of Zemfira’s previous songs. “When it starts to snow” - an alarming rhythm section, nervous tension, a voice breaking into a scream, you can feel the nerve here, while all the other songs on the album fly past the ears, leaving no impression. (With the possible exception of the slow “Take Me,” which contains the most striking image of the album - “a crazy night with a stream of cars.”)

However, the singer was hardly lying when she said that she had recorded an excellent record; it seemed so to her. It is clear from everything that Zemfira sings with rapture, her songs burst with joy. It seems as if she has lifted a pressing weight from her shoulders and is definitely on the rise. It would be strange to assume that the unsuccessful record “Thank You” will put an end to her successful career. It’s much more likely to believe that the thoughtful orchestral arrangements will finally lead to catchy songs and powerful emotions. After all, even if we assume that the singer really succeeds in her best songs only in moments of mental turmoil and crisis, it is unlikely that such things will happen in her life again, especially after such an unexpected, but already obvious failure.

Marina ZENKINA