House of Alena Sviridova. “A house in Kerch is better for me than a cool hotel.” Recently, the singer changed her image and presented her new video to the public

Next to such adult sons, the singer looks like elder sister: her physical form and a slim body can cause envy in 25-year-old girls. It is not surprising that the hero of the day can afford to pose in a bikini.

The original decoration of Sviridova’s Crimean dacha are flags. “My home is international,” the singer wrote on social networks on the eve of the anniversary. - Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Jews, Greeks. Here is the real flag of Soviet Georgia, which I bought at a flea market last year. Here is the Belorussian, which my mother brought. Also hanging are the flags of the Lithuanian SSR, also from a flea, Hungary, which was a gift from friends, Canada, where Vasya lives, and the Republic of Palau, where I participated in the “Island” project. I would like to hang many more flags: hanging nearby, they give me a nostalgic feeling of peace and security...”

With her “Pink Flamingo” she appeared, it seemed, out of nowhere - not at all like the future star: lanky, slightly stooped, with short hair and in a trouser suit. But it was simply impossible not to appreciate her sincerity and at the same time, paradoxically, a certain mystery. Your 43rd birthday popular Russian singer, actress, TV presenter and (in Lately) writer Alena SVIRIDOVA noted in her native Kerch.

“If you pay attention to all the publications, you won’t have enough health”

The Russian press writes that you fled to Kerch after a divorce from your second husband Dmitry Miroshnichenko...

This is all nonsense. We really broke up with Dima, but there was no divorce and there could not be - we lived in a civil marriage.

Yes, but from this marriage you have a four-year-old son, Grisha...

He will stay with me. Of course, I will not forbid Dima to see his son.

What caused your breakup?

I prefer not to talk about this topic. This is my personal life. But, believe me, the reasons for the separation were very compelling.

Yes, but Miroshnichenko is not silent. He claims that you simply bought him, a young (Dima is 15 years younger than Alena - Ed.) and a handsome model, as a toy...

I repeat once again: I don’t want to comment on all this dirt. If Dima said so, the path will remain on his conscience.

Admit it, do these types of publications annoy you?

No. I treat them completely calmly - as atmospheric phenomena: It’s raining, but soon it will end... If you pay attention to all the publications, you won’t have enough health. In general, I call everything that is written about artists legends and myths Ancient Greece. Your colleagues need to treat their readers with something, so they invent all sorts of tall tales.

How do you cope with difficult moments in life?

I have this attitude: if no one died, everything else is nothing, a matter of everyday life. I take all difficulties very calmly. I know for sure that there are no hopeless situations. There is always a way out. You need to sit down, think, figure out what's what.

But you don’t always have time for this, do you?

Unfortunately. There are situations when it is simply impossible to remain silent. I remember a year ago, I was traveling by train to Crimea with my mother and three-year-old Grisha. And unfortunately, she forgot to take her son’s birth certificate with her. When crossing the border, Russian customs officers said that I was taking the child to Ukraine... to sell for organs! In the middle of the night they broke down the door to the compartment and literally threw me out onto the platform with a pile of luggage and my crying son. Real wildness!

“As a child, I looked like a boy...”

Apparently, you often visit your native Kerch...

Yes, almost every year. I have many relatives there. I was born in this city, I even went to school, although I soon moved to Minsk with my parents.

What childhood memories do you have about Kerch?

I spent every summer with my grandmother. We can say that these were my first travels and discoveries. All entertainment took place on the pier and wooden bridge, which, unfortunately, has now completely collapsed. There was also a five-meter tower, from which I once decided to jump into the sea. I was very afraid, but I did it. We caught gobies from the bridge, grabbed jellyfish with our hands... I had a huge mask, which I tightened so that marks remained on my face. I dived in it and collected mussels. Then we lit a fire and roasted them on a metal sheet right on the beach. I still haven't eaten anything tastier. At that time I looked like a boy. Grandfather cut my hair shorter so that it would not be hot. And even top part I started wearing a swimsuit only when there was clearly a need for it. And before that, I was running around in my underpants, everyone turned to me: “Boy!” - and I was incredibly happy about it. I liked being in the company of boys. We read Jules Verne, Stevenson and dreamed of travel. Life was heavenly!

Is male society more interesting than female society?

I feel comfortable in any company. There are some very interesting women. I have a friend in Yalta, she sells diving equipment, I experience tremendous pleasure communicating with her. We have the same sense of humor - we laugh, excuse me, all the time. We seem to be two grown women, but we act like fools. This is a very comfortable state.

So, does female friendship exist?

Certainly. I really like communicating with both women and men. That's two different worlds, so you need to combine them. But I manage to communicate more often with men, because at work there are only men: all the musicians are men, and so are the operators. I can write books on male psychology! I am a spy in the enemy camp, as they say, a sent Cossack (laughs). Therefore, it is completely useless to fool me.

"Music is the only thing I take seriously"

The yellow press portrays Alena Sviridova as such an insidious woman who abandoned Andrei Makarevich, breaks the hearts of men and always does what only she wants...

Yes? Curious. But an insidious woman is one who tries to appear completely different from what she really is. I'm as straight as a rake. As I say, so it is. Maybe I give such an impression because of my coldness? I often put up a wall in communication, I can be sarcastic somewhere, laugh it off and, without thinking about the impression made, I can easily get away from an undesirable situation. All this is nothing more than a defensive reaction of my tender and vulnerable soul. And in relationships with men, I always behave as my heart tells me. I never adapt to them, I have no desire to bet on them, to realize myself at their expense. I just fall in love, and if you look at it from the point of view of calculation, then in not the most successful options.

Have you made a name for yourself on stage?

I do not attribute one hundred percent of success to myself, because if the most talented arrangers, musicians, directors, cameramen, artists and simply were not with me at a certain moment good people, it’s unlikely that anything would have worked out.

For you, is music both work and hobby?

Yes, a happy coincidence. Although work is something for which money is paid and which does not bring pleasure. At school it was work - a year of assignment after college. And what I’m doing now... I would do it anyway, even if they didn’t pay for it. This is the only thing I take seriously. When something works out, it brings such unspeakable joy, such a charge of energy!

“The new album will be on sale this fall...”

Fans have already been waiting for the release of your new album...

There's not long to wait (smiles). This summer it literally hit me. And somehow so colossal. And the muse was so powerful that in two weeks I wrote the entire album from scratch. I sat in the studio at night. I came up with some incredible song - and how it went! I didn’t adhere to any formats - I wrote the way I wanted. I didn’t care if these songs were picked up on the radio or not. I was a free person who did not need to think about the commercial component. It's a crazy thrill. But when I recorded the album, it turned out that, in principle, it could become commercial. In my opinion, this will be a new word in music. I called the album “Siren, or Ten Stories Told at Dawn.” It will go on sale late this fall.

You once said about Zemfira: “She sings so well that it doesn’t matter at all what she looks like.”

I think it's a compliment to the artist. Montserrat Caballe is not a top model at all, but... The fight against time is a hopeless thing. And if an artist is not a hostage to his image, he can work as much as he has enough talent. The spirit is always younger body. Songs never get old.

Is that why you covered old songs?

That's not the only reason. These are my favorite tunes that I remember from childhood. It’s just that before it wasn’t clear to me how to work with them, but now it suddenly became clear. I think we managed to give familiar melodies a new sound. We recorded several cover versions of famous jazz themes - Gershwin, Porter. In the West, only the lazy did not sing them. Sting, Kate Bush, Elton John. And here... I thought: maybe the problem is English language? And she wrote Russian texts - these are not translations, these are versions. I tried to keep my spirits up. It seems that it turned out well - a little hobby turned into an album.

“I would love to star in a good movie”

You came to music from the theater. Are you currently receiving offers from directors in the capital?

I worked at Raikhelgauz’s School of Modern Play for two seasons. I played enough (laughs). I would probably act in a movie now. (After a short silence) In a good movie. Theater takes too much time. It becomes difficult to combine it with the main job.

What about writing?

Writing doesn't interfere. You can write anywhere at any time.

When did you want to entrust your thoughts to paper?

I started writing on the plane when I was returning from a London tour. I didn't have a book with me to read. There were only a notebook and a pen. I thought it would be an article about education in England for a reputable magazine. And the resulting story was “London, Freud and the Duke of Marlborough.” Now I’m already an accomplished writer - I have a whole series of stories (laughs).

“It feels like childhood ended just yesterday”

How was your birthday in Kerch?

Amazing! I celebrated it in my old house, where I was once born. It feels like childhood ended just yesterday (sighs heavily). Our closest friends arrived. Of course, Grisha was with me - he actually spent the whole summer in Kerch with his great-grandmother. Unfortunately, there was no eldest son - he now lives and works in Canada, a real computer genius - he writes programs.

Do you miss your son?

Of course. But we see each other often. I am a frog traveler by nature. I've already traveled all over the world. And after Makarevich got me into diving, the life of Jacques Yves Cousteau generally became an example for me to follow (laughs).

Is it true that you like to communicate... with a bronze bust of Dante?

Maybe (smiles). This is a very interesting bust - in a cap, on a marble stand. It's in my bedroom. Just don't take me for crazy! Dante just helps me do psychoanalysis (laughs).

Recently, the singer changed her image and presented her new video to the public.

Alena Sviridova.

press service materials.

— Alena, you haven’t made videos for almost three years. What was this connected with?
— It was very difficult to promote my previous product. I wrote a song and shot a video for a solo concert. But the main Moscow radio stations did not take it.

— The notorious non-format?
- Yes. Then everything spread from the provinces, where they started playing the song on the radio. And only six months later a video appeared on music channels. How much effort it cost me! It was titanic work, I was just banging my head against the wall.

— And you thought that the game wasn’t worth the candle?
“I needed to take a break, gather new strength. Moreover, the child went to school ( younger son singer Grisha. - ed.). I decided that I couldn’t give my all to a fight that was causing my family to suffer.

— At the presentation of the video, your guests awarded “C’est la vie” the “18+” category. What's so scary about it?
- Well, I strangled my rival there very cold-bloodedly. (Laughs.)

— So there is sex, lies and videos?
- Certainly. (Laughs.) In fact, these were the secret desires of my heroine. The main plot of the video is a session of a psychoanalyst. And all my thoughts become visible - so subtle enough psychological work it worked out.

— Did you talk about some of your secret desires or remember someone else’s experience?
“It seems to me that similar thoughts are present in all people. Sometimes they are very strong, and we feel like we are capable of desperate things.

— How long did you work on the video?
— Filmed in Kyiv. I arrived a day in advance to pick out the costumes. We filmed for almost a day. We had everything clearly outlined, what, how and why. They told me: “We’ll finish by five in the morning.” And we were free at 5.15!

“I needed to take a break, gather my strength.” Photo: press service materials.

— After such a long break, was it difficult to perceive the filming process?
- No. I am a working person and have never had the downtime to lie and spit at the ceiling. And it’s always interesting for me to see how your fantasies come to life in a picture, how your plans come to life. It's a very pleasant feeling.

— Was it easy to strangle your opponent?
— As it turned out, it’s not easy. She is so young, beautiful, with a thin neck. When I laid my hands on her, I became scared. I remembered all the famous murderers, even Raskolnikov. (Laughs.)

— As you know, in the summer you live with your son in a recently purchased house in Kerch. They didn’t take Grisha to the shoot; after all, it didn’t all happen that far away?
— I flew from Moscow and didn’t take my son with me. I think there is a lot of waiting during filming. The episode itself does not take long to film, but rearranging the lighting, new makeup, and changing locations take a lot of time. All this is difficult, and he is still small (Grisha is 8 years old - ed.).

— After a summer spent at sea, was it difficult to return to Moscow and go to school with your child?
- Oh, it’s hard! In the first days of September, I managed to return to Kerch once again; we filmed a program there. And when I left, I cried. I stood in my yard, looked at the sea, how it sparkled, and my heart bled. I have such beautiful apples hanging there, a bunch of flowers, grapes - some kind of paradise. And we need to leave...

“Will someone look after the house while you’re gone?”
- Of course, there are people who will live in it and look after it.

— It is believed that your own home is a lot of problems, from household problems to repairs. And they arise almost constantly. Are you ready for this?
- Well, they are not that constant. This is a dacha, a small house. There is a large space outside - a patio - where life happens. And the house is tiny, typical, white, like most in Kerch, made from local shell rock. I didn't rebuild it. There are half of the city like this, and there are even old ones. For example, in our village of Kapkany (we jokingly call it Cannes for short), next door to us there is a house built in 1897. And on many buildings there are such dates. I tried to restore mine so that it would look like a house from the century before last, but it didn’t work. The fact is that in those days the houses were decorated with interesting architectural details, very similar to stucco. But the “recipe” for how to do this, unfortunately, has been lost. But my house is still very nice.

— Didn’t you lure any of your friends into your Cannes-Traps?
“Everyone who comes there clings to the columns that I have there and wants to stay forever. We just tear them off in tears to put them in the car and send them to the airport. (Laughs.) A lot of people have already put their skis there. And maybe over time we will turn our village into real Cannes? No wonder they say that when Brigitte Bardot arrived in Saint-Tropez, it was a remote village. And together we can do a lot and preserve local beauty.

— Is buying a house a gift more for you or for your son?
- For all. Grisha is very economical. It's amazing that at that age he is interested in chores. He best friend builders. We bought a house two years ago, and every summer we come here there is constant construction going on. Not even construction, but restoration. We were lucky - brilliant people came across them and were inspired by my idea. Of course, at first they were very surprised that I was not building mansions. And I explained to them that I wanted to live in a fisherman’s house. I suspect that behind my back they were twirling their finger at my temple. (Laughs.) But then, when it started to work out, when they began to understand what I mean by the concept of “fisherman’s house,” they somehow became very inspired. And now they root for him as if he were one of their own.

— Is the clip a gift for your anniversary, which happened in mid-August?
- No. I wrote the song, and quite quickly. And it seemed to me that she was worthy good video. Everything worked out quickly and successfully.

- This year is special for you. You celebrated your personal fiftieth birthday at your dacha in Kerch. How will you celebrate your 20th creative anniversary?
— At the beginning of November I will have a big concert. So, I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone. (Laughs.) I worry, I prepare, I don’t sleep at night. The concert will be unusual in that I want to perform all the best songs that I have had over 20 years. And it won’t necessarily be everyone famous hits; I select compositions that fans write to me about on the site, girls from the fan club - in general, songs that I rarely perform. There will not be a single woman on stage yet, only male friends who will perform my songs without changing the lyrics. I offered them such an experiment so that they would try to understand what a woman feels.

There are few people here, my family is here. This city is 2611 years old, and if people lived here for so long for entire generations, then they were not fools. Kerch has its own spirit, atmosphere, everything here is dear to me. After all, blood is not water. You are still connected to the climate, to the place where you were born, at some chemical level. And I feel very good here.

- Is this love specifically for Kerch or for the peninsula in general?

In Crimea it is very beautiful nature. Even Russian territory The Black Sea is inferior to it. Crimea is such a pearl! I tried the so-called “chic life” in all its manifestations. At first it's interesting, and then everything just repeats itself. You can sail on one yacht, or on another - so what? You can relax in the coolest hotel. But to be honest, I enjoy it more now, living in my little house by the sea.

- You once said that you don’t like the cold. How did you live in Moscow and Minsk?

You know, I suffered so much! I did not manage to feel the Kerch cold; I have not spent a single winter here. Well, maybe when I was just born. After all, literally a year later my parents and I left Kerch. My dad was a military man, so for me Kerch is only summer, warmth, sea, fruits, in general, all the best.

- What was your childhood like?

I had a wonderful childhood, I still can’t get out of it (laughs). And now in my home I have managed to completely recreate the atmosphere of those years. I go to the flea market like I go to work. I’m looking for things there that are similar to those that were in my grandmother’s house: all sorts of clocks, shelves, books that I read when I was little. I have an absolute feeling that when I enter the house, I am returning to childhood. This helps a lot. Here for me it’s some kind of refuge, where you immediately throw off all your problems and feel like a child.

Best of the day

- Have you dreamed of becoming a singer since childhood?

Yes. I always sang and considered it absolutely natural.

- And like a girl from a provincial small town managed to become so famous?

The secret of any business is that a person must first of all want. If he really wants it, then he makes every effort to achieve it. To be honest, at first I didn’t understand which direction I should move in, because I didn’t like the songs that were sung in the late 80s. I realized that no one would write to me, there are no such kind uncles. You'll have to do it yourself.

And, in fact, when I did it myself, things went well. We recorded them on the Belarusian radio, my mother worked there, there were friends there who made an arrangement for me completely free of charge. Somehow everything went so friendly, and it turned out that it was interesting not only to me. Although it seemed to me that it was bad and no good. And then, when you want something, you think about it, then you directly accumulate energy, and then circumstances began to develop in exactly the sequence in which it was necessary.

For any business that I undertake, I have already calculated the algorithm: you need to want it. Something needs to be done. And circumstances will work out in your favor. Of course, sometimes fortune turns away from you, but I always blame myself for this. It means that at that moment I relaxed, I didn’t want it enough. Or I was lazy and did nothing. This is also in my character. I blame myself for my failures.

- Do you remember your first appearance on the big stage?

Yes, my first tour was with Valery Leontyev, and then they took me to sing a block of three songs. And I remember this horror when I went out to rehearsal, and Leontyev had already rehearsed, and sat in the hall in the third row, in a dressing gown, scratching his hairy chest, looking: “Well, well...”

I was singing my song “Winter Just Ended”, it’s very touching, pitiful, I sing, and I understand that I’m doing it so badly that, most likely, this is my last concert. And I just felt so sorry for myself at that moment, and I sing this song with such anguish... and when I finished, he clapped me so much and said: “Great, well done.” But I don’t understand what’s “great” about it if I cried and said goodbye to everyone (laughs).

-Have you ever wanted to change your profession?

No, I didn't want to. But I can write a book, an article for a magazine, draw a picture, come up with a concept for a video clip, create an apartment design, sew something with my own hands. By the way, I was given an antique Singer sewing machine for my birthday. And she sews beautifully.

I also cut hair well, I have a real barber’s kit, I cut my whole family’s hair. Cutting hair is the same as carving a sculpture. This is interesting, but if it is put on stream, it is unlikely to be of much use. I can cut my hair once a week and enjoy it. You know, I am one of the “eternal students”; I always like to learn new things. It can be scary and you think you can’t handle it...

So I was invited to a project on Channel One - called “First Squadron”. Stars at the controls of an airplane. And we actually made the figures ourselves aerobatics, I did the Nesterov loop, all sorts of revolutions, “corkscrews”, that is, those things that a common person can hardly imagine. I immediately thought: why do I need this? It's Russian roulette! He will blurt out, but I have a family there, children, what am I doing? And then I thought that if they had offered me ten years ago, I would have agreed without hesitation. And I realized: no! If I don’t get over myself now, I’ll remain on the bench.

Here's another story: I've never driven a car far. And so I decided to go to Kerch by car. When I drove 500 km without getting up, I began to respect myself, honestly. I understand that in reality anything is possible. Maybe it's strange, but I always remember the Great Patriotic War...And I understand that if people then could do heroic deeds, why are we worse?

- What helps you cope with difficult periods in your life?

When the blues set in, there's nothing better physical activity. I have long had the attitude that if no one died or got sick, then everything else is complete nonsense. I believe in good things, so life spoils me in this regard. I live well, I like living!