“Friend Zone” is a school pop-punk band from the city of N, saturated with teenage dreams and the smell of cheap cigarettes. You can’t get out of this friend zone - we love you, but as a friend.” This text hangs on the “Friend Zone” group on VKontakte, which has almost 150,000 subscribers.
This is a surprising amount and surprisingly fast: the first post on the page appeared just three months ago. For comparison: in VK at Grechka, despite the fact that the information noise around her continues much longer.
Another indication of the unprecedented interest in the “Friend Zone” in the VK music ecosystem: this playlist of their debut album with a telling name“Flirting on the List” under 2 million plays.
What are they
All five "Friend Zone" participants are fictional cartoon characters with corresponding names: hidden face lyricist and outsider Make Love, rapper, hooligan and drug dealer Kroki Boy, the most noticeable and spoiled girl in Maby Baby’s class, DJ Valera DJykin, passionate about music “it’s possible that he’s gay,” and cat Kisyosh Pisyosh - producer team. Each of them has their own VK account.
Musically, the “Friend Zone” was clearly pushed away. But if the other a new group, “I’ll Quit Tomorrow,” the appearance of which could not but be dictated by the popularity of Kirill Bledny, clearly plays on the same field with the “inspirers,” then the creators of “Friend Zone” went further. There is not only synthpunk here, but also trap beats, neo-RʼnʼB instrumentals, pop songs inspired by Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, and even emo-cons in the spirit of the late Lil Peep. Overall, the full range of music that middle and high school kids go crazy for is covered. Moreover, the sound of the songs is studio-style, but bland, leaving a slight feeling of homemade performances. This, obviously, should also add some “crunchiness”.
Track "Virgin"
The roles are divided according to the images: Maeby Baby intones along with songs past the notes with a stereotypical “girl” pronunciation, Make Love draws sweet-voiced vocalises, and Kroki reads rap verses in a hoarse voice, distorted by the sound effect (we’ll talk about why this was needed later).
They sing and read about what, as if by default, should worry most about today’s teenager: sex, alcohol and drugs, a slight interest in same-sex relationships and other joys of adult life. Which coexist with chaste compositions about embarrassment in the first kiss or an invitation to dance on school disco. The same character Make Love in one track is afraid to kiss the girl he likes, in another he confidently declares that he needs a virgin.
Glorified by “Propaganda” and “Factor-2”, teenage nihilism, straightforwardness, indecisiveness and hooliganism are found in modern times with the expression of Kirill Bledny. Plus endless topical name-dropping, also aimed at the intended listener: the texts feature Face, Rick and Morty, K-pop stars BTS, The Weeknd, Britney, Dorn, Supreme, Leviʼs, as well as swipes, Instagram, Twitter, VK and shipping in fanfiction.
Having released their debut video “Boychik”, the cartoon group burst into the real world, immediately announcing a tour of 20 cities in Russia
The idea worked for some of the target audience - in the comments to “Boychik,” for example, they seriously discuss the relationship between the group members or look for clothes in the style of each of the characters. It turns out that “Friend Zone” is a project that tries to use all the keys to to the young listener. Here is the serial line of relationships between the characters, and all the popular musical archetypes at once, and a teenage cry of the soul, and stylish attributes, and forbidden fruits.
In the newest musical history In Russia, this seems to be the first example of such an obvious production project, with clear targeting and taking into account all the realities of promoting music on social networks
Who's behind them?
They are already trying to figure out the real participants of the “Friend Zone” - in particular, a funny investigation has appeared on YouTube. Interestingly, it was quickly blocked for using fragments of “Friend Zone” tracks - at the request of the copyright holders. This is quite atypical and looks like an attempt to prevent the spread of the video, the creators of which reveal the identities of the project participants. Now the video has been re-uploaded, removing the “Friend Zone” songs from there, and it’s .
The video states that the voices of the project are rappers from St. Petersburg Galat, Trippi and Emelevskaya, and the producer is Mikhail Panshin, the creator of the popular youth public VK “Rhymes and Punchies”. And although no evidence is provided, there is quite a lot of indirect evidence in favor of this theory.
As for Galatus, the timbre of his voice famous participant The “friend zone” and rap battle veteran is too recognizable to hide it with sound effects. It is impossible to confuse, and even more so to believe in a coincidence. It is significant that Galat has not released new material for a long time.
As for Trippi, he completely cleared it out and renamed it, but reposts from there can be found in Galata and Trippi (what a coincidence!). And here, too, it’s easy to notice a strong similarity - both in the voice and in the singing manner of Trippie and Make Love.
It’s more difficult to say anything confidently about Emelevskaya: Mabe Baby’s plaintive “girly” pronunciation gets in the way.
It is worth noting that the most significant support for “Friend Zone” releases is received in the public (2.5 million subscribers), where all “Friend Zone” premieres take place. Which from the rap community on VKontakte has grown into what would previously have been called a production center: “RiP” actively pushes the artists under its wing on social networks (you can recall the so-called records for reposts on VK, which were set by Face and Lizer), has been organizing tours for a long time and is running the Rhymes Show music festival for the second year. Where, by the way, the first performances of “Friend Zone” will take place.
The “Friend Zone” autumn tour, entitled “The Main Record of Your Life,” includes 20 concerts. The sites are small by today's standards. But as we know, the distance from small stages to soldouts in halls with a capacity of thousands these days is overcome in a very short time.
“Friends” is a group from Russia, a youth music production project of actor and composer Alexei Vorobyov.
The emergence of an unusual team
The Friends group, photos of which can easily be found in glossy periodicals, began in 2013 as a joint project of two friends Alexei Vorobyov and Sergei Romanovich, who decided to joke about modern pop music on the stage. “Musical banter” - that’s what they called this group, and official name was "Gop Friend Y".
Alexey Vorobyov was not only a producer, but also a composer, lyricist and arranger of the project. Qualitative musical material was the result of his painstaking work. The word “gop” in the name of the group began to look stupid and pretentious, inappropriate musical aesthetics. Therefore, the first video filmed, “First,” belongs to a group called “Friends.”
Group, line-up and participants
Since its inception, the project has not had a permanent composition. Various vocalists took part in the recording of the first songs.
At the end of 2013, the project began to undergo changes. I couldn’t fully engage with it and left the post of producer. Alexey began to take his project more seriously and, in collaboration with Yana Rudkovskaya’s center, found soloists for the updated group - Nastya Dvoryanskaya and Pasha Korolev. Alexey began to jokingly call the soloists of the group “my beloved kindergarten,” because Nastya was 13 at that time, and Pasha was 16 years old. By January 2014, the guys recorded five new songs in club style: “She and Me and YEAH”, “Samba”, “Everything suits a scoundrel.” The production project was a great success
The video “I’ll Always Be with You,” released in the spring of 2014, featured new soloists and their producer.
The departure of Pavel Korolev
But in 2015, Pasha had to take final exams, and he left Friends. Alexey Vorobyov, with the help of “Love Radio” and “Music of the First”, is conducting a casting. He auditions more than two hundred or even three hundred gifted guys. And in February, a message about a new line-up appears on his social network page. Now in musical group three performers: Maxim Matsyshin, Roman Larin and Nastya Dvoryanskaya.
Composition of A. Vorobyov’s production project for today
Romeo - Roman Larin, born on August 19, 1997 in Kursk. Favorites musical instruments- piano and guitar. Writes poetry and music. Alexey Vorobyov characterizes him as a romantic of our time.
Andy - Anastasia Dvoryanskaya, was born on October 25, 2000. She is a Muscovite. Anastasia loves and knows how to dance thanks to classes at GallaDance and Todes studios. Visit theater studio“Square” allowed Nastya to study acting. She performed in 46 performances at this studio. Currently studying at the Academy of Film Business and Show Business.
Nastya is the winner of the title “Model of the World 2013” in the category under 16 years of the World Championship in Performing Arts. She has several prizes at the Kinder MUZ Awards 2013, and the “Discovery of the Year 2014” award at the “Young Star of Russia” competition-festival. The head of the “Friends” project speaks of her: “Today her goal - to sing and dance all the time - has become her specialty, and “Friends” is a group whose composition is unthinkable without her.”
MaxMan - Maxim Matsyshin, was born in 1991 in Saratov. Since childhood he has been interested in music. He graduated from arts and became a vocalist of the Saratov Regional Philharmonic. Maxim is the winner of many competitions, the winner of the Grand Prix of the projects “City of Stars” and “On the Wings of Talent”, as well as a gold medal for vocals in tenths. He holds the title of the best European singer according to the results of the Bulgarian competition “Sarandev”. Max's friends consider him the life of the party.
Boss - Alexey Vorobyov, was born on January 19, 1988 in Tula. The musician, actor and director writes lyrics, music, and creates arrangements for “Friends” songs. He is the author of the script and director of all the guys’ videos.
Creativity now
In the fall of 2015, Alexey Vorobyov staged a premiere screening of the new video “Girl best friend" The performers have just returned from Los Angeles, where two more videos were filmed. IN this moment The band's album is being worked on in the studio. Members of "Friends" allow fans to watch rehearsals in real time, broadcasting them in one of social networks. It must be said that many fans of this musical group were happy with this decision.
The team of musicians does not have many songs, but most of them are famous and recognizable. The popularity of Vorobyov’s works was brought by the humorous series of the TNT channel “Deffchonki”. All the soundtracks for this sitcom were recorded by Friends. The group, whose members are still working hard on their next album, is gaining more and more popularity. Their musical works broadcast not only on radio stations, but also on television. Increasingly, young guys are invited to various parties and concerts. Therefore this music group there is a great future ahead.
Video marketing -
powerful promotion tool
Interview with the stars. Friends group
Be ready! Take advantage of every chance! Always work on yourself!
Visiting the magazine Women's Time group "Friends", produced by Alexey Vorobiev. Maxim Matsyshin and Roman Larin began their joint career with a recording studio in Los Angeles. Now the guys are greeted by crowds of fans in every city, and the video for the song “I will always be with you”, recorded with famous blogger Sasha Spielberg, has already received more than 6 million views. And this is all just the beginning. Enough a good start, In my opinion.
Maria: What steps are required on the path to success?
Maksim: You have to be on top every minute. Because if you sang somewhere, performed somewhere, someone noticed you, recommended you to someone, advised you, as was the case with Roma or me.
You must take every chance you get. To use it, you must be ready. To be ready, you must always work on yourself.
Roma: The most important thing is self-development. You must mold yourself into the artist that the producer wants to promote.
Maria: How did you choose your path?
Maxim: I think from childhood, both Roma and I, from the age of two or three, we sang in kindergarten, school, music school, institute and after training. We have already walked this path since childhood. The track, of course, changed somehow along the way, the vector changed, but I personally never stopped singing. Despite the fact that there were other professions in my life, for example, television.
Roma: I have the same situation, all since childhood. I remember when I saw Philip Kirkorov on television, I thought: I will grow up and become like Philip Kirkorov. Then I saw Nikolai Baskov, and everyone started calling me Nikolai Baskov, because I sang the song “Hurdy Organ”. Then Dima Bilan came on stage, and I decided that I would become like Dima Bilan. Then I saw Justin Bieber, I thought I would become like Justin. And then I came to Moscow, got into the group “Friends” and wanted to become Alexei Vorobyov. In the end, I am who I am.
Maria: “I will always be with you” - I think a lot of girls want to hear this phrase from you. What kind of girl does it have to be to hear it?
Maksim: Personally, I like girls with a sense of humor, kind, and patient.
Roma: What kind of girl should she be? Favorite, I think. And the rest, of course, are also important points, but the most important thing is to be loved. After all, they love the soul, not the shell.
Maria: Our female audience is very interested in what external factors do you pay special attention?
Maksim: I have always loved well-groomed girls. Despite her wealth, if a girl has an innate sense of style and taste, then she can even dress in inexpensive stores and look amazing, and men will turn to her. I even have such an example in my life. In general, I have always loved well-groomed girls who take care of their hands, hair, and smell delicious. You know, there is such a saying - clever woman will not allow herself to be ugly. I am sure about that. Of course, you need to lead a sports lifestyle. Alcohol, smoking - all this affects the skin, the condition of the head, hair, and so on.
A smart woman will not allow herself to be ugly! A girl should make you want to strive to be next to her, that she is some kind of diamond, unframed by your charisma.
Maria: And finally, what do you wish for women?
Maksim: Forgive men for some quirks and weaknesses. We do all this for you. We joke, we smile, sometimes we even get capricious and wait for your attention, just because we like you.
Roma: Girls, remain as beautiful as Sasha Spielberg in the video “I will always be with you.” And most importantly, love and be loved.
Interview with Maria Prokopchenko
“Friendzone” is a group designed to break stereotypes about how things are done contemporary music. This is a school group from a certain city in the country, which began its rise to fame through promotion on the VKontakte network.
- Date of foundation: May 3, 2018.
- Founding city: N.
- Zodiac sign: Taurus.
- Height and weight: unknown.
At first, the “Friend Zone” group seemed like the embodiment of simple amateur performances by high school students. But as time passed, everyone realized that this team did not appear on the Olympus of glory in order to quickly disappear. Her appearance and rapid rise to fame once again proves that in electronic world and the digital economy, emerging artists no longer need reputable record labels. If the public is interested in the team’s work, they will notice it on social networks.
Fame
There are five in the group fictional characters, drawn in a “cartoon” style.
- Make Love in a black and white outfit, hiding his face behind a mask.
- Crokey Boy, rapper and hooligan.
- Maeby Baby is the first beauty of the class. A girl with blue hair who is not shy to talk (and sing) about what worries everyone around her.
- Valera DJ, just a DJ, whose life is only music.
- Kisesh Pisesh is a producer who tries to keep order in the group.
All heroes have their own account on the VKontakte network. But main reason success lies not in unusual animated musicians, but in a mixture of the most popular rhythms among young people: trap beat, city punk, rhythm and blues instrumentals, pop and emo songs.
The real members of the group are considered unknown. And yet the circle of names that pop up next to this project is narrow: Galat, Trippi, Emelevskaya. And the cat producer is Mikhail Panshin. In the “Bottle” video, rapper Galat appeared in a recognizable form.
The group sings about current problems for teenagers: relationships with each other, with parents, self-determination, attitude towards same-sex couples, first feelings and complexes that interfere with them. The songs resonated with thousands of teenagers in just a matter of months.
Teenagers see the Friend Zone group as a manifesto of their main themes and problems in life. Adult journalists note that the team has a strong production team to support it, which amateur teams rarely have. T-shirts and other commercial goods with the band’s attributes could be bought almost from the first days of its appearance on the networks.
Personal life
The personal lives of the group members are shrouded in darkness. While fans are figuring out who could sing there, it is difficult to predict what kind of relationship there might be between these people.
This closeness allows the group to sing and make videos about various problems. In the “Boychik” video, a beauty with blue hair is looking for a boy’s kiss. And in the video for the track “Bottle,” her goal is to be in the arms of a girl.
Apparently, the personal lives of the team members will be kept secret even more strictly than their names.
- Video for the song “Boychik” for a short time Viewed by about 4 million people.
- The group's first tour was supposed to cover 20 cities.
- In the first 3 months of the team’s existence, its public page on the VKontakte network gathered about 150 thousand subscribers. Now their number exceeds 270 thousand.
- There are suggestions on the Internet that the production project “Friend Zone” was created in such a way that various artists can appear under the guise of characters in different videos and tracks. Will it be the same personalities or will they be replaced from clip to clip? This question is not yet certain.
- The video for the song “Bottle” gained a million views in just 2 days from its release.
- vk.com/friendzona
- instagram.com/friendzonaa