All the Things She Said

Background

Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina auditioned in a children group named Neposedi. However, Volkova was removed from the group a year later. Russian tabloids believed her removal was based on misbehavior and disrupting other members by stripping, smoking, drinking alcohol and swearing, but Neposedi denied this. Russian producers Ivan Shapovalov and Alexander Voitinskiy held an audition for two teenage girls, where Volkova and Katina auditioned and won the part. Despite knowing each other, both girls did not know they were auditioning. For their Russian debut in 1999, Shapolavov named the duo Taty. The name origins from the English word "Tattoo".

During their first sessions, Voitinskiy left the project. Shapovalov hired Elena Kiper to co-write and co-produce the music of Taty. Together, they wrote "Ya Soshla s Uma". The duo, alongside several other Russian producers and songwriters, completed the group's first album 200 Po Vstrechnoy. The album was a large success in Europe, selling over one million units. Shapovalov persisted to sign the group with an international label, visiting North America with several record companies. He eventually settled a deal with a Russian division of Universal Music Group and Interscope Records.

Composition

"All The Things She Said" was written by Sergio Galoyan, Trevor Horn, Martin Kierszenbaum, Elena Kiper and Valeriy Polienko, while production was by Horn. The song was mixed and recorded by Robert Orton at UMG Studios in Santa Monica, California.

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is composed in the key of A♭ with a time signature in common time, and a moderate groove of 90 beats per minute. Both Volkova and Katina's vocal range is spread between F4 and D♭5. The composition is built on two main live instruments; piano and electric guitar. The first verse has Volkova and Katina "whisper their desires and then blow up the chorus with enough teen confusion and angst to fill up a week of Hollyoaks." Lyrically, the song discusses difficulty in teenagers allowing to express their sexuality. Katina commented "We're singing about love [...] Even all over the world teenagers, can find themselves in our song[s] 'cause we're singing about these problems, we're singing about teenagers, and I think everybody can understand that".

Based on both the English and Russian versions, the song was conceived when Kiper had a dentist appointment. She fell asleep while having surgery and dreamed about kissing another woman. She woke up saying "ya soshla s uma", which means "I've lost my mind!" After discussing this with Shapovalov, he started to write the second phrase "I need her." Shapovalov decided to carry on the concept of lesbianism through the English version.

Critical reception

"All the Things She Said" received mixed reviews from music critics. Erlewine felt the song was a "gimmick" and "suggestive", but highlighted the song as an album standout. PopMatters called complaints about the song "ridiculous" and added that they do not care if they are "transgender, bisexual, lesbian or gay. In the end, it's about people and yourself feeling safe and better together". Bill Lamb from About.com had prospects for the song, feeling his view was "irrefutable". Rebecca Bary from The New Zealand Herald said "Think 'Baby One More Time' spliced with 'Dirrty' and you have the biggest one-hit wonder of the year." She continued, saying "When these obnoxious, school-uniformed Russian maybe-lesbians poured their squirrelly hearts out over a repetitive dance beat, you can't deny it worked.".

The song was ranked at number 452 in Blender magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born. The song was listed at number 8 on the AOL's Top 100 Pop Songs of the Decade. Bill Lamb from About.com listed the song on his Top 100 Pop Songs of 2003 at number 31. He also listed it on his Top 10 Contemporary Girl Group Songs at number ten. Stephanie Theobald from The Guardian called it one of her favorite lesbian songs.

The song was ranked at the top spot on the Australian Top 50 Lesbian songs, which was voted by users. AfterEllen.com criticized the song for being at the top spot, exclaiming; "There are so many better songs than that – my mind is blown… I guess it's one of the easier ones to think of in this new generation of lesbians… I just hope they can open up their ears more and discover so many other amazing (really queer) musicians." Though notified as a Gay and Lesbian anthem, Mia Jones from AfterEllen.com did not add the song, because "she is still not a fan."

Commercial performance

There was a high demand for imports of the single in the UK, causing it to debut at number fifty-seven on the UK Singles Chart. It rose to number forty-four and ascended to the top of the charts the following week. The song spent four weeks at one on the UK Singles Chart. It stayed in the charts for fifteen weeks and was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry, selling more than 300,000 copies. It also reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart. The song peaked at number one in several European countries including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain. The song spent four consecutive weeks at number one on the Italian Singles Chart, and stayed in the charts for sixteen weeks. The song is currently listed on Italy's Best Singles of All Time List at number ninety-one out of 100. It peaked at number one on the German Singles Chart, Spanish Singles Chart and in Romania. By the end of the year, the song had already reached the number thirty-three position in Switzerland's Year-End chart for 2002 with only 2 months on the charts.

The song had debuted at number one on the Australian Singles Chart and stayed at number 1 for two non-consecutive weeks. The song was in the charts for eleven weeks and was certified Platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The song debuted at number forty-nine on the New Zealand Singles Chart and reached number one. It was certified gold by the Recorded Music NZ for shipments of 7,500 units. In the US, the song peaked at number twenty on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. This is the group's only single to chart in the US Hot 100.

Background and synopsis

The song is well known for its controversial music video, which was directed by t.A.T.u's producer, writer and director Ivan Shapovalov.

The video starts with the camera showing a fence and umbrellas, which people are holding on a raining day. After twenty seconds of the video, it then cuts to Yulia singing the song, then having both Yulia and Lena sitting behinds the fence. While everyone on the other side of the fence look at both Yulia and Lena with ignorance (or having a lack of emotion), it then cuts to both of them banging and hitting the fence to be let out. When the second chorus engages, it shows both of the girls coming closer together, and eventually near the finishing of the second chorus, they kiss each other.

On the third chorus, it features the girls kissing each other passionately, with the public looking at this with a poker face expression. The bridge then shows the girls sitting down, seemingly with snow falling down, with the girls gently touching it. At the last bit of the chorus, it shows the girls pointing in different directions, until they both walk around corner and shows a place where the sun is breaking out of the clouds; they clasp hands and walk off together into it. The people on the other side of the fence are left in the eerie green light with rain falling steadily on their heads, and shows that they are the ones that are isolated behind the fence.

Controversy

The video caused controversy in countries where it was played. It was listed on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos at number four. It was listed on FHM Music TV on their Most Sexy Videos at number five. Virgin Media had listed the song on their most Sexiest Music Videos. Standard.co.uk listed the song at two on their top Sexiest Music Videos Ever. Clare Simpson from WhatCulture! listed the music video at number six on their 12 Raunchiest Music Videos ever. She said "I remember when this video came out and being totally fascinated by it – the rampant portrayal of lipstick lesbianism on the music television channels during the day time." MSN eventually called it the most controversial music video. Urban Garden Magazine listed the video on their Most Controversial Music Videos of All Time. The American magazine FHM ranked the video number thirty on their Sexiest Videos of All Time, saying "This video caused uproar across the world" and said the kissing scene was the highlight of the video. Ugo.com also ranked the video at thirty-eight on their Sexiest Video's of All Time. Fuse TV ranked the video at sixty-four on their Sexist Video of All Time. WatchMojo.com ranked it number four for their Top 10 Controversial Music Videos.

After its worldwide release, the song received media attention worldwide. ITV banned the video from its show CD:UK, as producer Tammy Hoyle responded "We could not show the video on CD:UK because it is not really suitable for children." In the United Kingdom, television presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned from television, claiming it pandered to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing. However, the campaign failed. The BBC denied that they banned the video from its weekly Top of the Pops music show. MuchMusic had apparent thoughts of banning the music video from airing, but this decision was ultimately scrapped. According to the president of the show, Craig Halket said "We felt that it didn't oversexualize them and they looked of age, (they were 17 at the time) I can see the controversy. It's like many videos, including the Christina Aguilera video -- it pushes buttons."

The music video was the subject of much criticism throughout t.A.T.u.'s career. The AllMusic review for 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane labelled the band as a tawdry gimmick. A writer from The Daily Telegraph expressed the video as "cliched", while it titillating on a very base and adolescent level, only serves to cheapen the song's lyrical impact. The video is also a sign of how blurred the line between entertainment and exploitation has become.

Three years after the release of the single, Volkova announced her pregnancy. This led to accusations of the girls being "fake", in giving the impression that they were lesbians, although Yulia and Lena have said in the past they are not "together" or "in a relationship". The girls do support the LGBT community.

Modern usage and legacy

The song has appeared in multiple television events. It was WWE professional wrestler Victoria's theme song from December 15, 2002 (at WWE's Armageddon pay-per-view, where she debuted it) to May 2004 with the song starting from "[Y]es I lost my mind". Also, the song was played during the final scenes of the Birds of Prey series on the WB network, in the 2003 episode "Devil's Eyes". This theme was also featured as the opening song of the Chinese drama, Legend of the Heavenly Stones, as a Chinese language dub.

The song was parodied on the Australian sketch show Comedy Inc.. The video was also parodied on The Frank Skinner Show with Skinner playing Volkova and Jennie McAlpine playing Katina. Leigh Francis parodied the video in the second series of his comedy program Bo' Selecta! The song was also parodied by Adam and Andrew, a band that paradies many famous songs, as well as writing their own. The song was titled "I'm a lesbian" and includes lyrics such as "I'm a lesbian, she's a lesbian, we are lesbians kissing in the rain, kissing in the rain!" and "I just licked your tongue. Won't you grab my bum?".

In an interview with The Independent, Yulia claimed that the song had helped people to be honest about their sexual orientations. She said "People used to call us and say 'Thank you. That helped us to come out, [...] You helped us to feel like people.'" She then said "It was our teenage years, [...] You have to try everything. It felt at the time like it was real love – it felt like there was nothing more serious... Now when you look back at it, of course, it's ridiculous."

Live performances

t.A.T.u. performed the song on many television shows in the United States. They first appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where the girls created confusion, because they kissed each other without first having been granted permission to do so. They performed the single on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, AOL sessions, MADtv, Carson Daly Show, TRL and the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. They also performed the song on shows in many other countries such as CD:UK in the UK and Top of the Pops in Italy. On most of the shows, the girls only lip synced because of Yulia's vocal cyst. In some of these shows, the girls were not taken seriously, and there were jokes about their "relationship". When asked if they were lesbians, they always said they only "loved each other". The girls were also criticized for not kissing on TV shows like they used to do in their concerts.