t.A.T.u. confirmed with a press release today that their third studio album has indeed been titled ‘Veselye Ulybki’ (‘Happy Smiles’), featuring 12 tracks. A press release states: “For almost a year a working title of the album was ‘Upravleniye Otbrosami’ / ‘Waste Management’. But a month before the release – for the sake of ironic smile of those, who understand – the title changed. The essence, however, remained.” Check out the press release (PDF) here.

t.A.T.u. did an interview for Best For magazine, where the Russian pop duo were asked if they changed their attitude towards sexual minorities after their short participation in a Moscow Gay Pride event in May 2007, where many participants were arrested, and others assaulted in full view of the police. Lena Katina responded, “I’d say we changed our attitude towards ‘majorities’.” And Yulia Volkova added, “And not to the advantage of the latter. It’s a pity our country can hardly perceive the idea that each one has the right to be whoever he or she wants.”

The entire interview and pictures at tatu.ru have since been removed.

Lena Katina of t.A.T.u. checked in with fans on the band’s official web site blog on Friday (April 25) following the premiere of their new single ’220′ and in reaction to criticism from fans and Insider at the t.A.T.u. Blog. She writes:

Hello, guys! Well, the premiere happened! Thank you for your contradictory emotions, it’s actually cool that they all exist. I do want you to really get into our new song. ’220′ may seem simple only at first glance, at least to me.

I’ve read the forum… I don’t want to ignore your reaction on our fu**-ups. Artists are human beings. We also feel, get tired, worry about different things, we have problems, bad mood, break-downs… But you don’t give a fu**. And you shouldn’t. Every artist has performances that are not-so-great, and I feel really down about Dubai gig (believe me, everything’s ok with our self-critisism)… I just want to say that no matter how crazy or not-so-crazy we are on stage, we never perform without emotions.

Do you really think we have no idea about what we sing?!… I’m shocked.

Anyway. A professional must always work with 200% result. And we will work like this. Insider wrote many things that we need to work at – I’m not going to repeat them. In June we’re leaving for the US for two months to stage the show.

As for extra fat and fat ass. If you like flat girls with just skin on the bones, go watch some fashion show. Yes, I’m not skinny – and I’m proud of it. At least one can hold on to something! If anybody’s interested, my weight is only 52 kg – and has been for a very long while. And I have no extra fat. If you don’t like it – don’t look at me!

Lena