T.A.T.u, made up of Lena Katina and Julia Volkova, leaned heavily into the band’s controversial persona. The lesbian iconography of t.A.T.u was intentional from the start - epitomised in ‘All The Things She Said’. The name was chosen to sound like ‘tattoo’, while being a shortened version the Russian phrase “Та любит ту”, meaning “this girl loves that girl”. They apparently drew inspiration from the Swedish film Show Me Love, which centres around two schoolgirls who find themselves in an unexpected romantic relationship. T.A.T.u was formed in 1999 by music producer Ivan Shapovalov and his business partner, who wanted to create a Russian musical project with teenage girls at the centre.
