超速快感 (2002)

200 km/h in the Wrong Lane (also titled t.A.T.u. in Japan) is the first English-language and second overall studio album by Russian music duo t.A.T.u. It was first released on 7 October 2002 in Europe, then on 10 December 2002 in North America, by Interscope Records. It is the duo's first studio album to be associated with Interscope after signing to Universal in 2001. Due to the duo's lack of English vocabulary, the album was produced and written by producers such as Trevor Horn, Martin Kierszenbaum, Sergio Galoyan, Robert Orton and Ivan Shapovalov, who was placed as the duo's manager and executive producer. 200 km/h lyrically explores themes such as teenage rebellion, love, sexuality, sadness, independence and social rebellion.

The album received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Many critics praised the catchiness and production standards, while ambivalent towards the duo's imagery and vocals. Upon its release, it debuted inside the top-ten in many European countries including Denmark, Austria, Finland, and Italy. It became the duo's best-selling album on the US Billboard 200, peaking at 13. The album became the highest selling album in Russia, with estimated shipments of one million copies. t.A.T.u. went on to promote the album with their Show Me Love Tour.

One of the three official singles, "All the Things She Said", became one of the most successful singles of the 2000s, charting at the top spot in over 20 countries. The song was responsible for bringing the group to the spotlight, particularly with the accompanying music video, which caused international controversy. The following singles, "Not Gonna Get Us" and "How Soon Is Now?", charted moderately worldwide. The album was the first by a Russian act to chart in many countries, and the second to chart on the US Billboard 200, following Gorky Park in 1989.

Background

Prior to t.A.T.u., Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina had auditioned as members of Neposedi, a Russian children's theater-atelier. Shapolavov has said the two girls stood out from the rest of those that auditioned; however, 14-year-old Katina was initially the only one chosen for the group. She sang "It Must Have Been Love" and later recorded a demo release of "Yugoslavia" for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Later though, Shapolalov decided he wanted to create a duo, and 14-year old Volkova was recruited. When both Katina and Volkova were cast for the group (under the name 'Taty'), they began to record their first album. Then, in 2001 the duo released "200 Po Vstrechnoy", which became successful in Eastern Europe. Producer Alexander Voitinskyi left while the album was in production, delaying the release. However, Shapolavov later signed Elena Kiper as the new co-producer and co-writer for the album. With the success, Shapovalov decided to sign the duo to Interscope and its parent Universal at the headquarters in Russia.

The duo started recording the album at Trevor Horn's home studio in London and having some recording sessions in Los Angeles. When the duo were signed and ready for recording, both Volkova and Katina felt it was easy to understand the English language. Volkova stated that Martin Kierszenbaum helped her with pronunciation, while Katina was already speaking English before production of the album. However, during the times recording in studios, Volkova constantly lost her voice.

Recording

Katina commented on the collaborations, saying; "It was great [...] I think he [Martin Kierszenbaum] was involved in some translations because we wanted to keep the meaning of the songs, and to keep the structure specifics. I think that Martin is a little bit of a fan of t.A.T.u, so he was really trying hard to make us big everywhere! We had an opportunity to work with great producer, it was valuable experience. I am talking about Trevor Horn. And in general, just imagine: Two girls are coming from Russia, which is another world compared to the USA, working with a high class producers and writers and management. Everybody is so professional. Working with Martin and Interscope in general brought us to an absolutely different level."

Composition

The music of 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane is derived from a wide variety of pop and dance genres while heavily incorporating different musical styles not being present on their previous Russian record. It encompasses a broad variety of genres, such as electronic, rock, industrial and Eurodance. It is considered that the album is a departure to their Russian debut, because that contained heavy Europop, Eurodance and techno influences.