“The box with disorders is open” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 152 (7353) of 08/20/2022

The Kis-Kis group released their third studio album, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Boris Barabanov listened to how the most popular alternative group among young compatriots (410 thousand subscribers in the official group on VKontakte) shares their impressions of adult life.

The title of the review of the new album of the St. Petersburg group “Kis-Kis” asks for the name of Zemfira’s song “The Girl is Ripe”. The title of the album is borrowed from a book by Dale Carnegie, and on the cover, vocalist Sofya Somuseva portrays a psychotherapist while drummer Alina Olesheva sits in her patient’s chair.

It seems that today’s youth heroes should sing about clothes and fittings, and not about depression and family problems. However, “Kis-kis” took on adult topics even at the stage of recording their debut EP “Toy Store for Adults” (2019). And the music they played seemed to be not at all modern – pop punk from the 1990s – early 2000s. However, the sincere intonation of the songs brought the group popularity on a federal scale.

In 2022, on their third studio album, Kitty Kitty, they continue to play polished pop punk, in which it is easy to recognize obvious sources of inspiration: Avril Lavigne, Blink-182 and others. As for the texts, the answer to the question “How to stop worrying and start living?” they are not worth looking for. On the contrary, life, according to the group, only throws up new causes for concern.

“Zdorovyu.net” is a continuation of the theme raised 12 years ago in the song “Arrange Destroy” by Noize MC. The idea that it is easier for the older generation to appoint the guilty – games, television, social networks, musicians – than to solve problems within the family and society does not lose its relevance. We’re going in circles and there’s no way out of it. “Paddocks” is a chronicle of the depression of the lyrical heroine: “The box with disorders is open, bear with me. I will be happy in the morning, and in the evening I will become unbearable from breakdowns. You need to “endure” the title character of the song “Bitch”, her boyfriend can only be pitied. The theme of depression is also present in the “Webcam” sketch: her central character is a webcam model, and this craft, as it turns out, has become her salvation from psychological problems.

The heroine plunges even deeper into the study of her own “I” in the song “You are no longer a child”: “A role in extras is also a role, but it will hurt from the problem of eternal choice. Where did I go? Did you turn there? And who in the end was now? The song “You’re not a child anymore” fits the role of the central number of the album. At the same time, if in other tracks the life philosophy of the heroine contrasts with springy and optimistic surf-punk riffs, then for this song there will surely be a place in the soundtrack of some dramatic “growing up series”.

And “Stepfather” is a funny story about how the mother of the heroine of the song, who is not good at all, cannot make a choice and stop at one of the partners replacing each other. The video for the song starred rapper GONE.Fludd, blogger Maxim Golopolosov (Max +100500) and Artem Khorev from the Anacondaz group. For the latter, this is a rare opportunity to appear to the general domestic public today – his group is actually banned in Russia.

The Kis-kis themselves also walked literally on the edge. Without them, as well as without Anacondaz, this summer the St. Petersburg “Excellent Fest” decided (hardly of its own free will), performances at a number of other venues were also under threat. The group miraculously made it to Wild Mint (see Kommersant of June 20) and probably decided not to tease the geese anymore – they didn’t swear on stage and didn’t make dangerous statements. Alina Olesheva’s spring tweets, in which she reacted sharply to a special military operation, are no longer to be found.

But things have picked up on the other front. A message for fans appeared on the group’s social networks: “No more restrictions and transfers, only youth and intoxication!” – and the schedule of the tour in Russia, which will begin on August 22 in Smolensk and cover the European part of the country, Siberia and the Far East. It is easy to conclude that Kis-kis is no longer on the blacklists of concert organizers, which were actively discussed by the media this summer. However, no one has seen the lists themselves. Virtual cancellation is also virtually cancelled.