Zemfira and emptiness: Buckwheat for Monetochka
Buckwheat-Monetochka is something so third-rate that only complete despondency and many years of silence in our “smart music” gave them at least some chance.
Now Zemfira owes me! I held on steadfastly all the last weeks and months, when I was bombarded from every information “iron” with news about two rising stars, about two new “voices of the generation” - Monetochka and Buckwheat. With my usual wariness, I reasonably assumed: if I (and everyone else) are being pushed into something so persistently, then it’s not worth listening to, at least for now, in the general hype crowd. But the respected singer knocked my moral stability out from under my feet with her statement “Buckwheat is very bad, terrible voice and appearance. It’s difficult to perceive - she can’t sing, the lyrics don’t convince, and she’s very ugly. Monetochka - excellent texts! He looks normal, unlike Grechka, but his voice is disgusting,” and I broke down and was seduced by the desire to independently evaluate the truth of these words. And he spent half an hour of his life on... Well, actually, now we’ll find out why.
In short, I’ll start with the fact that I, as Polygraph Poligraphych Sharikov, do not agree with either Engels or Kautsky - neither with the fact that Grechka is very bad, nor with the fact that Monetochka has excellent texts.
The fact is that both Buckwheat and Monetochka are the same person. More precisely, one image, one stage image, these are Siamese twins with two heads, but a single nervous system. There is no difference between them. And to understand how true this is, it only takes ONE comparison, just ONE name. But before I say it, a little preface.
As I am sure many people know, the last 30 years have given Russian music and literature a number of wonderful names - extremely strong authors and performers, and in a very wide stylistic and thematic range. Since we have set the rules of the game - “a girl with a guitar”, then in this nomination Monetochka and Grechka, like it or not, will have to stand at the end of the line behind Yanka Diaghileva, Nastya Poleva, Olga Arefieva, Zhanna Aguzarova and the same Zemfira, and so and a host of lesser-known, but no less original performers like Tikka Shellen, Surganova or Arbenina. And in this row they look, to put it mildly, very, very PITY. For one reason only: the identity is not visible. Individuality. Uniqueness. Uniqueness. This is not even an amateur level - this is “wait outside the door for now.”
But the fact is a fact: the popularity, despite this, is obvious. What is the image of our Monegrechka successfully built on? Whose image are they trying to successfully clone?
And here is that very name: Amy Winehouse. Kind of rock, but still pop. It’s kind of underground, but for the masses. It’s kind of rebellious, but very much within the limits. It’s like melancholy, but only slightly. It's like a tragedy, but in a glass of water.
Grechka’s analogy with her “Drug Addict Girlfriends” and others “Sorry Mom” with Winehouse’s messages about Rehab (rehabilitation course for addictions), Addicted and the rest You know I’m no good – simply hits the eye. True, Emmy had a voice and charisma, while Buckwheat had neither of those. And when Liza Gyrdymova tried to shake the universe by breaking bottles in the video “Every Time” - I froze! What audacity! What's next?! She'll scribble an obscene word in the elevator with a nail! Riot! Despair! Pain! (What other hashtags should I add?)
And here, in Russian, they are trying to make a two-headed Amy Winehouse “from pine cones and acorns”, using local material. The image of a young bastard who “wants to get drunk” is not that new, but every generation needs its own heroine. And here this nonsense about the “voice of a generation” comes to the rescue.
The great schemer Ostap Bender once grasped a simple and effective recipe for quick, albeit short-lived success: compose a set of the most commonly used, “hot” vocabulary, arranging it in the right order, you get a boiling text on the topic of the day like “Eastern Highway - this is an iron horse, which, sweeping up the sands of the past with a steel gallop, sets the pace of history, revealing the next gnashing of teeth of the slandering enemy, against whom the ninth wave is already rising.” Buckwheat and Monetochka (especially the second head of our Siamese twins) went exactly this way: you need to cram more words from Internet jargon into the texts and the shkolotrons, squealing with the joy of recognizing their native publics, will give you a million views.
To put it delicately and roundly, it sounds like this : “To the accompaniment of a piano, the girl spoke touchingly about teenage everyday life, joked about politics and modern culture. Listeners appreciated her talent, and after a few months Monetochka turned into an Internet meme: her songs perfectly reflected the already established public culture.” In this case, of course, no special meaning, poetry or originality was required - in the same way, you can create a hit song about the Afghan war from the set of “shuravi”, “perfume”, “black tulip” and “Kandahar”, as well as about the thieves’ share from a dozen words corresponding to the topic (well, here “Radio Chanson” will help you with carts indistinguishable from each other). Those who need it will listen and wipe away their tears. Target audience, niche and all that. Which, in general, is what Gyrdymova (a wonderful surname, if Tolkien had known it, would have called the leader of the orcs) demonstrated in the song “Ace of Trumps”:
Separately, it is necessary to say about the monstrous, hopeless vulgarity of both stage names. “Monetochka” immediately activates in the memory a phrase from a former hit about “For a coin, for a pill they took our little girl,” and Grechka is, damn it, heroin in St. Petersburg slang, or what? However, in a paradoxical way, you still get into the image: Gyrdymova’s pro-furist and lascivious coloring somehow actually hints at inexpensive prostitutes, and Grechka’s voice resembles a tasteless brown mess from a public catering establishment. Whatever you call the yacht... it serves you right!
A plush non-rebellion (or, given their age, a pedo-rebellion?) with “Yaga” at the “last disco” and a list of jargon of the Internet era will, of course, have an effect. Fast. But not for long. The audience is growing rapidly, and in five years there will be different Internet realities.
In fact, I feel very sorry for all of us in this situation. Buckwheat-Monetochka is something so third-rate that only complete despondency and many years of silence in our “smart music” gave them at least some chance. Well, the fresh stuff will quickly go rotten, and there are still no other, more worthy names. In pitch darkness, even the light of a cigarette seems like a star.
Alas, the best review of the work of these two girls can fit in three short words: nothing. And this is the verdict both about the songs and about the singers themselves. It's a pity for half an hour of life.
Grigory Ignatov
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Creative impulses
Anastasia started her career on the street. She played artists' songs, and people threw money. She received up to 1000 rubles a day. At that time, Nastya was in 11th grade, and therefore it was a solid income for a schoolgirl.
Some people thought it was shameful, but the parents supported their daughter, seeing nothing wrong with it.
Subsequently, Nastya began to compose and perform her own songs. When she decided to share her creativity on the Internet, she decided to take a new name for herself. At that time, she was eating buckwheat with milk and sugar and therefore decided to call herself the same.
After studying at school, I went to enter the College of Water Resources in St. Petersburg. After 2 years I left the establishment, believing that it was a boring profession.
Personal life of singer Grechka
On her VKontakte page, Grechka complained that with her move and the advent of popularity, she lost most of her best friends. “I wish all my old friends success and prosperity, but I no longer have any interest in communicating with you,” the girl commented on the situation. At the same time, she is not eager to make new acquaintances.
Grechka has several tattoos on her body - a tetrahedron on her finger (a symbol of “openness to the world”) and the inscription “My love”, divided into two forearms.
Childhood and youth
Grechka (real name Anastasia Ivanova) was born on March 1, 2000 in Kingisepp (Leningrad Region), where the girl lived with her mother until she graduated from school.
Among the idols of her youth were Nirvana, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and singer Demi Lovato. After watching the film “Camp Rock” with the participation of the latter, Anastasia wanted to create her own rock band.
Singer Grechka at school graduation
At the age of 12, she became the owner of an acoustic guitar and began playing on the streets of the town and near supermarkets. In public, Grechka performed only cover versions of famous songs, for example, compositions by Valentin Strykalo, and shared her own compositions in a small VKontakte group.
In 2020, having entered the College of Water Resources, Nastya moved to St. Petersburg. The singer answers questions about her chosen specialty with embarrassment: “Master of housing and communal services of some kind, a very long name.” The girl states that she went to college because she simply did not know what to choose. “But it’s practical: the toilet at home was broken, I fixed it.” In St. Petersburg, Nastya began renting an apartment with a friend.
In her native Kinigsepp, Grechka performed on the streets
In the Northern capital, she continued her street performances, but the St. Petersburg public, spoiled by amateur artists, almost did not react. As Grechka admitted in one of her first big interviews, her record for fees for a street performance is about 700 rubles.
Buckwheat now
The version of the song “Love me, love” performed by Grechka was included in the rotation of St. Petersburg radio stations at the beginning of the year. At the end of March 2018, Grechka became the musical guest of the “Evening Urgant” show on Channel One.
As soon as Anastasia turned 18, she dropped out of college and decided to devote all her time to what she loved - music. According to the singer, she does not stop making home demos and soon promises to please fans with new recordings. The girl also plans to go on tour and release a second album, adding “something electronic” to it.
Popularity
One fine day, Anastasia performed at Ionoteka, a St. Petersburg club and an important underground point in Russia. The girl admits that she really liked this place. Soon Nastya was lucky enough to meet its owner, Alexander Ionov, who, after listening to her home recordings, took the singer to his label Ionoff Music.
The debut album of the young singer, entitled “Stars Only at Night,” was released in December 2020. Ionov himself (bass) and drummer Ivan Griboyedov took part in the recording of the album.
The album consists of songs about youth, love and drugs (which, according to the singer, she has never tried and generally “doesn’t like drug addicts”), and also contains a cover of the song “Love Me, Love” by the group “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” with redone verses .
Singer Grechka performs at the Ionoteka club
After the release of the album, Grechka attracted the attention not only of the Ionoteka audience, but also of reputable publications and subscribers of well-known public pages with indie music on the VKontakte social network.
At the beginning of 2020, Grechka’s first debut concert took place in Moscow, which coincided with the girl’s first visit to the Russian capital. At the concert, the singer performed with an electro-acoustic guitar, which she bought for 3,000 rubles. “In general, it was sold on Avito for five, but Sasha Ionov helped negotiate,” recalls Grechka.
Buckwheat became popular overnight
Many listeners noted that Grechka’s breakthrough is reminiscent of the success formula of the Ukrainian group “Vulgar Molly” by Kirill Bledny, which captivated the audience in a matter of months. It is noteworthy that the singer performed as the opening act for “Vulgar Molly” at a concert in St. Petersburg in February 2020.
