– Singer, actor, humorist, TV presenter and you seem to enjoy each of these roles. How do you do this? Where do you get inspiration and most importantly – how do you relax?
– And there it is. I enjoy every manifestation of my personality in creativity. It doesn’t matter if he is an actor, presenter, singer or comedian. I try to improve myself by trying something new in every profession. Later, these professions are brought together to achieve a certain universality. Therefore, all roles are interesting to me, but sooner or later I will definitely come to a unique and global role.
Although I am very extroverted on stage, in real life I am quite closed and introverted. I need to save energy and the best savings is to be with myself, nature, sea, sun. In general, I feed on energy from Mother Earth.
– You recently released the single “Your Story” about unrequited love. What is his story to us?
– There were a lot of songs about unrequited love in my life and they were all sobbing. The song “Your Story” hooked me with its atmosphere: very relaxed, full of longing for the love that left, but also danceable. The idea is that if love passes, there is no need to die, no need to suffer. Let the past be a pleasant memory that you put on the shelf with your favorite books, and remember it with a smile when you open it whenever you want.
Are you currently working on a new song? What will it be about?
– In the fall I will present both the track and the video at the same time – “Ice Heart”. This is a song about how emotions can change a person. I used to be a pretty cold and tough person, it was hard to connect me to anything, and you can really say I have an ice heart. But there was a girl in my life who could melt the ice in me and awaken emotions.
– Your video for the track “Your Story” is a real performance shot on real historical walls. Tell us why you decided to do this?
– I once visited the gripping “Anna Karenina” performance in Kazan. I was so inspired by the atmosphere, costumes and actors that I decided to make a video in this style. And then the piece “Your Story” appeared. The story of Anna Karenina is connected with love, feelings, so the music and atmosphere of the novel came together. And I think the work turned out colorful and bright.
– You left the Once Upon a Time in Russia program stating that you gave everything you could to the project. And what attracts you to “The Mask”? How long will you stay in the project?
– “Mask” is notable for the fact that it is impossible to predict what scenario the program will follow. How long do I want to stay on the project? Of course, the longer the better. Now I’m doing my best to make the project interesting. It’s not just me, but a great creative team working on the show.
– “Mask” is one of the most popular projects on Russian television today. What do you think is the phenomenon of its popularity?
– Intrigue, because everyone is always interested in solving a riddle. Here you can check not only intuition, but also by voice, habits, gestures, behavior and speech to know the performer. The mask show kindly attracts adults and children alike, featuring interesting music news, cartoon characters living their own lives. Isn’t that happiness when the whole family gets together and plunges for several hours into a parallel fairy tale world of good news and good mood? This is the phenomenon of the success of the “Mask” – it causes a huge amount of musical endorphins in the audience.
– Many viewers of the third season fell in love with Capricorn. At the same time, they write in the comments on social networks that it was “leaked”. Why do you think Capricorn didn’t make it to the final?
– It is difficult for me to say why Capricorn did not pass the final. Although the mask show is a musical show, the artistic and acting components are also an important factor here: how the person gets used to the image, how he communicates with the jury and the audience. Vocals don’t always stand out. It’s like playing roulette. For example, you can choose the wrong song that will be weaker than the other participants. I guess you can’t say someone “leaked”. First of all, we are guided not by logic, but by emotions. If there is such a feeling in the audience at that moment, it means that he was born that way and it could not have been otherwise. Accordingly, it influenced the outcome of events.
– Would you like to visit the show as a participant and not as a presenter?
– Mask, I had the opportunity to participate in the Showmaskgoon project along with other participants in Superstar! and youre awesome!” In this show we showed nine different types of unmasked musical numbers and I tried myself as a solo artist. So we can say that I have passed this musical stage, it will probably not be very interesting for me to try myself as a member of the Mask from now on.
Which suit would you choose? Which costume do you remember most in the history of the show?
It’s hard for me to say which suit to choose. When you come to the selection of costumes, you first set out from some psychological aspects of your personality and try to find the embodiment of yourself in the image you created with the producer. I remember each costume in its own way. Of course, there are also bright ones, such as Parrot, Lion, Rhinoceros, Llama, funny Tumbler. Amanita muscaria is often my special love, one of my favorite costumes. I could think of many more interesting costumes and rank them endlessly because they were all unique and distinctive.
Is there an artist you would like to see as a participant in the exhibition?
– I will be glad to everyone! Especially those who can reveal themselves in a new way or disguise themselves so that I cannot recognize them. I will welcome every artist who wants to take part in the Mask project with open arms.
– Tell us about your most memorable shooting day on “Mask”.
– One of the shooting days at the beginning of the second season coincided with my birthday and it was a real holiday for me. My favorite artists, whom I admired since childhood – Valeria, Philip Kirkorov – all congratulated me, gave me gifts, sang me the song “Happy Birthday”, so I will definitely remember that day for the rest of my life.
– Which of the judges can you call the most understanding?
– We have a record holder for the estimated number of masks – this is Timur Rodriguez. A detective with excellent hearing and knowledge is a tracker. It always estimates the maximum number of masks.
– Recently, singer Alsou was accused of using a phonogram in a project. Do you believe in such assumptions or is it just a singing skill?
– Recently, Alsou released a video where she sings the song “Love of Tired Swans” live with the voice of a Bee. There is no doubt that he was the one singing in the Mask. The fact is that there are a lot of timbres, sound techniques, colors that successful artists do not use. But that doesn’t mean they can’t. And Alsu proved it. Therefore, almost no one had any idea that Alsou could hide under the mask of the Bee. We know his work from a completely different vocal, and the Mask show once again showed that by joining him, you can reveal yourself from different sides, even the most unpredictable.
– At the end of May, NTV announced the “Avatar Show”, similar to “Mask” but featuring virtual characters. Why practically duplicate the project?
– This question is clearly not for me, but for the creators and producers of the show. But in my opinion, “The Avatar Show” is a big technological leap forward, it never happened on television. I suggest you watch this show first and only then ask such questions and draw firm conclusions. I’m in frantic anticipation for the project.
Will the audience be able to empathize with the cartoons?
– Well, how can they not? In our childhood, we empathized with our favorite heroes in Soviet cartoons or computer games. And now these heroes will be practically on the same stage with us, and they will also communicate with us. It will definitely be very exciting and the audience will really empathize with these cartoons.