Svetlana Loboda

Svetlana Loboda / Світлана Лобода

Published: November 21, 2016

Svetlana Loboda (Світлана Лобода) is a contemporary Ukrainian pop singer. Though she sings mainly in Russian, most of her career has taken place in Ukraine, and she is widely esteemed in her country. She was named a Distinguished Artist of Ukraine in 2013.

Loboda grew up in Kyiv, where her parents encouraged her musical leanings from an early age. She studied not only singing but piano and conducting when she was in school—and she put on a lot of impromptu home performances. She then entered the Kyiv Performance–Circus Academy in the pop–jazz vocals department. While studying, she joined the pop group Cappuccino (Капучино), but decided to leave when the band began to stall. Her contract prevented her from any outside musical activities, though, and she began touring and performing under the name Alisiya Gorn so her producers wouldn’t find out.

Her first success under her own name came soon after, when she was cast in the Ukrainian musical Equator (Экватор). Her first recording, “Black Angel” (“Чёрный ангел”), was from the film’s soundtrack. After the show closed, she started a new band, Catch (Кетч), but she gave it up in 2004, when she was chosen to be the new vocalist for legendary Ukrainian pop group VIA Gra.

Yet that powerhouse couldn’t hold her for long—she left that December and almost immediately released her first solo clip, “Black–White Winter” (“Чёрно–белая зима”). From there the pieces fell into place. She released six albums in quick succession between 2005 and 2009, a highlight being 2008’s controversial F*ck The Macho and Not Macho (Не Мачо). She was also Ukraine’s Eurovision entry in 2009.

In 2010 Loboda rebranded herself, naming her music career LOBODA. She’s continued to release singles and music videos and tour widely. Her most recent clip, “Your Eyes” (“Твои глаза”), appeared in September 2016. Besides her musical activities, she has been outspoken against domestic violence, participating in benefit concerts.

Though by now it looks like it was an easy path, Loboda is particularly proud of the hard work she put into building her career. As her website states, “The history of Svetlana Loboda’s life and creativity is a bright confirmation of how hard and painstaking work, together with indisputable talent, is the surest path to success.”

Find Svetlana Loboda on Amazon

 

 

“Beloved” (“Кохана”), Loboda’s first Ukrainian-language song, 2013:

 

Lyrics for “Кохана”:

З казки ти прийшла,
Бо в твоїх очах
Місяць тане.
Я тебе стрічав,
Я тебе вінчав
На кохання…
Чарівні світи
Залишила ти
Там ночами,
Так шумлять вітри,
Так спішать сюди…
Розлучальні!

Приспів:
Ти тільки знай,
Знай, одведу біду,
Куди б тебе вітри
Не занесли,
Кохана!..

Чарівні світи,
Залишила ти
У кохані…
Є шляхи сюди,
Приведуть сюди –
Ти зачекай-но…

Приспів.

Мене чекай,
Чекай – і я прийду!
Де б не була,
Ти б не була,
Ти б не була,
Кохана!

 

 

“To Hell with Love” (“К чёрту любовь”), one of Loboda’s most recent and most popular songs—and rather controversial:

 

Lyrics for “К чёрту любовь”:

Я с закрытыми глазами, прямо в пропасть между нами.
И покорно вниз до дна, в чём, скажи, моя вина?
Кто же мы теперь друг другу?
Ложь, звонки и всё по кругу.
Притворяюсь будто я, больше не люблю тебя.
Не люблю…

А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё понимаю, но я, опять влюбляюсь в тебя!
А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё хорошо, ты держись.
Раздевайся, ложись, раз пришёл!

Полночь, кофе, сигареты?
Я не знаю с кем и, где ты.
Ранит и сбивает с ног, ревность, как электрошок.
Сердце может возвращаю – не могу ходить по краю.
Как же мне тебя забыть?
Взять, стереть и разлюбить.
Разлюбить…

А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё понимаю, но я опять влюбляюсь в тебя!
А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё хорошо, ты держись.
Раздевайся, ложись, раз пришёл!

Просто вышло так, не знаю, с кем ты, где ты, как!
И сколько, поцелуев на твоих губах.
Сколько же ночей с ума сходила в темноте.
Но а сегодня говорю я тебе.

А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё понимаю, но я опять влюляюсь в тебя!
А может к чёрту любовь?
Всё хорошо, ты держись.
Раздевайся, ложись, раз пришёл!
Раз пришёл! Раз пришёл…
Раз пришёл…

 

Find Svetlana Loboda on Amazon

 

About the author

Julie Hersh

Julie studied Russian as a Second Language in Irkutsk and before that, Bishkek, with SRAS's Home and Abroad Scholarship program, with the goal of someday having some sort of Russia/Eurasia-related career. She recently got her master’s degree from the University of Glasgow and the University of Tartu, where she studied women’s dissent in Soviet Russia. She also has a bachelor’s degree in literature from Yale. Some of her favorite Russian authors are Sorokin, Shishkin, Il’f and Petrov, and Akhmatova. In her spare time Julie cautiously practices martial arts, reads feminist websites, and taste-tests instant coffee for her blog.

Program attended: Home and Abroad Scholar

View all posts by: Julie Hersh