Instead of representing Ukraine at the Eurovision 2019 Song Contest, she held concerts in Russia. She considers Russia's war against Ukraine to be a "political misunderstanding." In this article, we will tell you about Maruv: her preferences and affection for Russia, which are converted into Russian rubles and, as a result, into missiles that Russia is firing at Ukraine, and her native Kharkiv in particular.
On January 10, 2024, the Russians once again. They hit a hotel, and as of January 10, 13 people were injured as a result of two explosions. The radio engineering building of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, where Maruv studied, is a 14-minute walk from the hotel. The building was also damaged after the missile attack.
Maruv has been indifferent to the fact of Russian armed aggression since 2014, as she actively toured Russian cities, made collaborations with their singers, and publicly blurred the border because "music is a way to bring peace," as she says. But after the Russian full-scale invasion began, for some reason, Maruv did not leave Ukraine for Russia, gave birth to her first child in Kyiv, and recorded a song in Ukrainian. But she continues to receive funds from Russia, creates songs in Russian, and does not break ties with Russian music labels, from which she earned millions.
Does Maruv try to sit on two stools, or is it all about money?
In the second year after the start of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian singer wrote Russian songs, did not break off cooperation with the Russian label, from which she received millions of rubles in revenue in previous years, and uploaded songs released in 2024 to the Russian platform Yandex Music. Is she trying to sit out the war and wait it out, hoping that she will be able to return to Ukraine and easily give concerts here?
Maruv's collaboration with a Russian label and a million-dollar income
At the same time, Maruv continues to support the Russian economy and sponsor the war; as of February 2024, she is still listed on the Warner Music Russia and Warner Chappell Music websites as an artist working under this label. Blogger Bohdan Bezpalov claims that Maruv has not yet canceled her contract despite the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is known that in 2019, Maruv received an income of 6.1 million rubles from Warner Music, and in 2021 — 19.4 million rubles.
Yandex Music: how much she earned in 2022-2023 and new releases
Maruv also continues to publish its new songs on Russian social networks such as VK (1, 2) and buys advertising there and on the Yandex Music platform. And compared to 2022, last year, she still managed to increase her subscribers.
Let's calculate how much Maruv could have earned from auditions on Yandex Music. It is known (1, 2, 3) that the minimum amount of money per 1 listening per subscriber (considering the average cost per listening) is 3.7 kopecks. If we assume that 1 subscriber listened to her song at least once, then 2022 Maruv could have earned at least 337k rubles, as she had 9.12 million subscribers. While in 2023, this amount could have increased to 466k rubles as the number of subscribers on Yandex Music increased to 12.6 million.
The latest song she released (as of March 1, 2024) is the Spanish-language composition "Corazón." It has also been uploaded to Yandex Music to monetize the song.
Maruv Songs in Russian in 2023
The singer Maruv has chosen the image of an outrageous performer, as evidenced by her stage image, lyrics, and, obviously, her political stance. She has three pseudonyms and an alter ego under which she makes music: MARUV, SHLAKOBLOCHINA, and Sharlotta Ututu. While Maruv's image and stage name are known to most for her scandalous statements and positions, SHLAKOBLOCHINA is a rather quiet and relatively young project created in 2020 for the Russian market. The last song of SHLAKOBLOCHINA was released in September 2023. And virtually all the songs are in Russian. At the same time as the Russian-language song "Big Mama Boss" is released, Maruv is creating another project — Sharlotta Ututu - 's song "For my Baby" sounds in Ukrainian.
A statement against the war?
Did she make any public statement against the war? Two days after the invasion began, she posted a post on her Instagram (VPN) saying that she was having trouble dealing with her emotions and calling on the Russian military that "military action, let alone human casualties, will not help make people better or happier."
Maruv's Instagram page is blocked for users from Ukraine (1, 2), and to see what posts she publishes, you need to use a VPN.
Maruv has not spoken out about the war and remains silent.
What is happening to Maruv now?
In March 2022, the Russian magazine HELLO! Russia published an interview with Maruv and put her photo on the front page. After criticism from Ukrainian host Lesya Nikitiuk and Ukrainian journalist Kateryna Osadcha, the article was supplemented with the statement that the singer had given the interview in late January and was near Kyiv as of March 2022. Information online shows that Maruv gave birth to a child in Kyiv in 2022.
That is, according to Maruv, she faced a full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine.
The 2022 and 2023 concerts in Europe and the United States were canceled. Since the outbreak of the full-scale war, Maruv has not held concerts in Ukraine, and the ones scheduled for March 2022 were canceled.
In 2022, she was in Ukraine with her husband, according to media reports and Maruv herself. In November 2022, she reported being "in a safe place and everything is fine." Presumably, she and her husband live in Dubai, as Oleksandr follows Dubai news channels on TG. She posted photos on Inst from the UAE (1, 2), Oman (1, 2), Turkey (1, 2), Thailand (1, 2), Georgia (1, 2), Armenia (1, 2), Spain (1, 2), France (1, 2). According to the publication (1, 2) of Maruv's husband on 02/01/2024, the last place of residence is Kazbegi (Stepantsminda) in Georgia.
Ambiguous political statements and tours in Russia. What else is Maruv remembered for among Ukrainians?
Participation and victory in the National Selection for Eurovision 2019
This is how Maruv commented on her refusal to participate in Eurovision 2019 from Ukraine when she was reminded of the clause in the rules about Russia's refusal to perform.
In early 2019, it became known that Maruv was touring Russia after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. She said that the band continues to perform in Russia because it "brings peace" and that "some people take up arms, and some people take up music," and this is her "way of bringing peace."
Maruv won the national selection. UA: PBC (National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine) provided her with a contract stating that if she participated in the competition, she had to refuse to perform in Russia and pay all preparation costs and fines on her own. It was also necessary to transfer the rights to the song and video, which belonged to the Russian company Warner Music russia (and still do).
Maruv refused to participate in the contest, promising to support Russia at the contest. She continued her active concert activity in Russia.
Maruv concerts in Russia
Who is Maruv? Briefly
Maruv's real name is Anna Popeliukh. She was born in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipro region. She graduated from the Lyceum of Physics and Mathematics. At school, she studied music and dance. In 2014, she graduated from the Faculty of Automation and Instrumentation of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, receiving diplomas in Radio Physics and Electronics and Intellectual Property Specialist. At the same time, she studied vocals. In 2014, Anna participated solo in the 4th season of the vocal show "The Voice" in the team of Russian Sergey Lazarev.
"Drunk Groove" is one of Maruv's most famous songs, with 258 million streams on YouTube Music at the time of writing. It has a simple and compulsive motif and vivid images. Here, she compares her song to a Russian "chanson." She also claims that such music is "very Slavic." Such statements can be left to music critics to debate. But what is definitely worth paying attention to is the singer's love for the Russian audience.
Maruv's music career began in 2013 when she formed the band The Pringlez. The same year, the band won the Pepsi Stars of Now competition.
Since 2015, she has been performing in Russia after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. As part of the band "The Pringlez," she went to Sochi, Russia, to participate in the "New Wave" competition and took third place.
The singer created the song "Drunk Groove" in 2017, together with guitarist Mikhail Busin (alias Boosin). The track was made in Russia under the Warner Music Russia label. Maruv performed this song the following year at the opening of the Russian music award "Muz-TV." In the same month, she performed in Moscow at the FIFA Fan Fest concert dedicated to the FIFA World Cup in the Russian capital.
2018, she collaborated with Russian director Sergei Veyn to shoot music videos.
Maruv.
How many songs has Maruv released for the Russian-speaking world?
In 2020, Maruv released 9 songs, including 5 in Russian.
In 2021, she released 19 songs, including a duet with Kirkorov "No more(Komilfo)" and a total of 3 in Russian.
In 2022, she released the songs "Destination", "Fingers up", and in Russian "Shpok Shpok" (SHLAKOBLOCHINA). The author of the song "Зоря" by the Ukrainian singer Ivan Navi (Inst) is mentioned, which was released in October 2022.
In 2023, Maruv released "On Fleek Baby", "Killing Me Softly" (Sharlotta Ututu), "Bali Song" (Sharlotta Ututu), "Mother's Song" (Sharlotta Ututu), in Ukrainian "For My Baby" (Sharlotta Ututu), in Russian "Big Mama Boss" (SHLAKOBLOCHINA).
In 2024 (as of March), she released a song in Spanish "Corazón."
Maruv. Dossier.
- Name:
Anna Popeliukh (Korsun)
- Social networks:
Inst1, Inst2, Inst3, FB1, FB2, YT1, YT2, YT3, YT4, TG, TikTok1, TikTok2, VK1, VK2, VK3, TW1, TW2 (del), OK, Threads, website (archive), Pinterest, Ask.fm, Likee, Picsart, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
- Property:
She owns three apartments. Two belong to her husband: Horlivka, Donetsk region, which has been occupied since 2014, Kharkiv. Another condo in Kyiv belongs to Maruv herself.
- Trademarks:
As of February 2023, Maruv has 6 registered trademarks in Ukraine: Shlacoblochina, Sharlotta Ututu, ZORI SOUND, MARUV, CATS, and Black Cat. Since 2020, the application for registration of the BANG SHOW trademark has been under consideration.
- Family and connections:
Popeliukh Borys Anatoliiovych (12.04.1968, Inst) - father. He is retired and used to work for DTEK.
Popeliukh Nataliia Volodymyrivna (18.07.1968, Inst) - mother. She has an apartment in occupied Donetsk. She works as a senior state inspector at the Pavlohrad State Tax Inspectorate.
Oleksandr Korsun / Bykhtenko Oleksandr Stanislavovych (30.05.1989, VK, OK, Inst (del), Inst2, TW, FB, Threads, Ask.fm, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) is the husband of Anna Korsun and the director of the band Maruv. He is from the temporarily occupied Horlivka. He studied at the Kharkiv National Air Force Academy "KhAI." In 2017, he entered (1, 2) the acting department at the Moscow VGIK.
According to insiders, TG's search interests include Sochi and prostitutes. At the end of December 2021, he was actively ordering Yandex.Eat delivery. His address in Russia is known as 43/16S2, Novokuznetskaya Street, Moscow.
Relationships:
Kirkorov Philip Bedrosavich (30.04.1967, Inst) is a People's Artist of Russia and a supporter of Putin's government. Together with Maruv, they released the song "Komilfo" in 2021.
Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev (01.04.1983, [email protected], +79651172536, [email protected]) is a Russian singer, actor and TV presenter. In 2014, he was the coach of Maruv in the 4th season of the vocal show "The Voice." He is under sanctions by Ukraine because he publicly calls for an aggressive war, justifies and recognizes Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine as legal.
Busin Mykhailo Mykolayovych (28.10.1984, [email protected]) — a musician known as "Boosin," born in Kyiv. In 2017, Mykhailo Busin met Maruv. The first song by Maruv & Boosin was called "Backs." In 2017, they recorded their second song, "Drunk Groove". The following year, they shot a video for this song. Maruv & Boosin also created their own label, Zori Sound.
Nepomnyashchyi Roman (Inst, [email protected]) is Maruv's sound producer. Maruv calls him partner. He founded the music label Monoton Music Label.
Maruv worked in Russia for years, receiving thousands of rubles in addition to the attention of her fans and, accordingly, paying taxes to the aggressor country. These were then used to buy missiles that the occupiers have been using to shell Ukraine every day for three years.
Every ruble earned is automatically converted into a tax to the Russian Federation, and as a result, new missiles and weapons are purchased, which the Russians use to kill Ukrainians every day.
It seems that the fact that Russia is launching missiles over her native Pavlohrad or that Russia is trying to destroy Kharkiv, Maruv's city of youth and students years, does not bother her. She has several million subscribers on Yandex Music, and it brings her passive income, even without concerts in Russia. In the meantime, she will stay in a "safe city" and release a song in Ukrainian, hoping that “people's memories are short, fortunately.”
