After the Schoolgirl Uniform

Lena Katina and Julia Volkova were two Russian teenagers in white shirts and plaid skirts kissing in the rain, and the world went insane for it. t.A.T.u.’s entire career ran on the charge of that image—gay, young, defiant, probably manufactured, entirely compelling. Going solo means stepping out from behind the shared mythology, and Lena seems to be finding that the mythology was load-bearing. Her solo work trades the confrontational energy of the duo for something more polished and consequently less interesting. Hard to be too hot for something that defined temperature for a generation.