other. Each of us had our own relationships, and we couldn’t imagine what to do with all this love... it seemed to us very inappropriate. We haven’t even met in real life. So Ilya put all his feelings into music and sent the first version to me. His message was so powerful so I wrote a vocal part that perfectly merged with the music. This track didn’t fit for either Pur:Pur or Dub Beans, that’s why Ilya decided to give it to me for my solo project. As an answer I proposed him to make Astronata together... He said yes :)
There are some interesting things going on in the track musically. Ilya, tell us where did you get the ideas for this particular song?
Ilya: This track has been started while I was jamming in my studio. Sometimes I just play some improvisations on piano – it’s the easiest way to put down my emotions into music, because I’ve been playing piano since I was 4. The main piece of this song that you can hear at the beginning is just a short part of such an improvisation. Later I’ve decided to mix this familiar thing with something new for me, and Juke/Footwork music was the first that came to my mind. A month before I wrote the first version of BeLoved, I finished my first Footwork EP for my project Dub Beans, and was still very impressed by this important moment of my life. This experience helped me to concentrate on musical and emotional flow instead of technical issues of the style. That’s why I’ve reached miscellaneous and rich sound with minimal amount of instruments.
You are also a team member of Ukrainian band called Pur:Pur. As I know you wrote most of the lyrics for the Pur:Pur band. What about your solo project Astronata? Was it you who wrote lyrics for “Beloved”?
Nata: That’s true. I don’t sing any lyrics not written by me. And I wrote lyrics for KOOQLA - another project I took part in with TYOMA. Also I write for movies and cartoons... And of course I write all the Astronata texts. I love singing about myself, telling my own story without twisting the truth, straight from the heart. In Pur:Pur I write in three languages: English, Russian and Ukrainian. The music and songs are rather soft and romantic there. In Astronata we have very strong emotional messages, naked feelings, it’s all about us and is very personal. It’s only in English by this moment, but I thought it would’ve been cool to write something also in Ukrainian. I’ve never heard good examples of immersing this language into a bass music.
I know you took part in Eurovision National Final 2018 with Pur:Pur. Tell us about your experience and your thoughts regarding the refusal of Ukraine to participate in Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Nata: It’s an interesting experience. In Ukraine most of musicians who participate in this contest take it as a promo platform for their new tracks and have no interest in winning at all. Some of them even hope to lose! It’s like a huge underground television live festival where you can meet big Ukrainian stars or completely newborn projects. It’s a shame that MARUV wasn’t allowed to represent our country. I know Anya personally, she is from Kharkiv like me btw, and I believe she’d be very successful if she attended. But there were very strange claims from National Social Broadcasting Company of Ukraine laid to her and she was forced to refuse.
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