All the Things She Said

This article is about the t.A.T.u. song. For the Simple Minds song, see Once Upon a Time (Simple Minds album).

"All the Things She Said"
Single by t.A.T.u.
from the album Two Hundred Kilometres Per Hour In The Wrong Lane
B-side	"Stars", "Ya Soshla S Uma"
Released	August 18, 2002 (Europe) September 10, 2002 (NA) January 27, 2003 (UK)
Format	CD single, Cassette Single
Recorded	2002
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	3:34 (Album Version) 3:29 (Radio Version)
Label	Universal/Interscope
Writer(s)	Sergio Galoyan, Trevor Horn, Martin Kierszenbaum, Elena Kiper, Valeriy Polienko
Producer	Trevor Horn
Certification	Platinum (Sweden) Platinum (ARIA)
t.A.T.u. singles chronology
"Prostye Dvizheniya" (2002) "All the Things She Said" (2002) "Not Gonna Get Us" (2003)
200 km/h in the Wrong Lane track listing "Not Gonna Get Us" (1) "All the Things She Said" (2) "Show Me Love" (3)

"All the Things She Said" is a song by Russian recording duo t.A.T.u., which was for their first English-language studio album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002). The song was written and composed by Sergio Galoyan, Trevor Horn, Martin Kierszenbaum, Elena Kiper and Valeriy Polienko, and produced by Horn. The song was the group's first English-based song for their record label, Interscope Records, one of the subsidiary labels of Universal. At the time, the producers of the album were writing and composing most of the album's material, including this song, because the duo, which consisted of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, had begun work on English-language projects.

The song received mixed reviews from music critics, with some highlighting the song as a album highlight, but some dismissed the song because of the lyrics, but some basically called the song one of the best songs yet and sure was a signature song to t.A.T.u. Prior to this, the song was a charting success worldwide. The song topped the charts including Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The song even peaked in the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at number 20.

An accompanying music video was released for the song, which Ivan Shapovalov, who had brought Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova together, directed. It featured Katina and Volkova in a look-alike school from which both were begging to escape, while the public watched them with little interest. Controversy surrounded the music video, which showed Volkova and Katina kissing passionately, which started a media frenzy. The music video received mixed reviews from the public, but mostly negative reviews from music critics.

Background and release

The song was written as t.A.T.u.'s debut English single by Ivan Shapovalov, Sergio Galoyan, Trevor Horn, Elena Kiper and Valeriy Polienko. The song was mostly produced by English producers, like Horn, and Russian producers with excellent commands of the English language, because at the time, neither Yulia Volkova nor Lena Katina were fluent in English. The song is also the English version of t.A.T.u.'s 1999 original selection, "Ya Soshla S Uma". Work on the song had started after the duo had finished its recording of Neposedi. On the strength of Neposedi, Ivan Shapolavov had signed them to Interscope Records through Universal Music Group's offices in Russia.

The song opens with dreamy, trance-gated synthesizers and then shifts into a guitar-based pop rock style with Trevor Horn's trademark huge drum sound, but also lightens up to include softer R&B sounds in the middle eight. The English version was very different from the original Russian version, which featured a more electropop and electronica style, whereas the English version supported a more demure pop rock style.

There are different artwork cover's to the singles release. For the North American, Russian and UK cover, it featured both Lena and Yulia n the cover posing in school uniforms. For the Australian and New Zealand release, it featured Yulia and Lena in an animated format, with them both in bed together, with Lena asleep and Yulia looking to the side of the bed, seeing something is underneath the bed. A VHS tape was released in France and Spain. A DVD Single was released in the UK and US to promote the single as well.

Critical reception

"All the Things She Said" had received mixed reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlwenine from Allmusic reviewed the song and said that it has a "heavy Europop sound" and has a "gimmick suggestive name", however, he did highlight it as one of the best album tracks. Andrew Lynch from Entertainment.ie described it as a "raunchy video and a superior synthpop song". Sputnikmusic said it was one of a "merit of a pop anthem" and also "It’s a great piece of writing slightly angsty lyrics but not enough to really get worked up about and an electro beat combined with a somewhat hypnotic rhythm make this a little sample of how good pop can be". Popmatters said that its really "ridiculous that people complain about the song like it has a problem or something" and also added that they do not care if they are "transgender, bisexual, lesbian or gay, in the end, its about people and yourself feeling safe and better together". Blogcritic said it really has a "dreamy synthezisers and has sequels of choruses".

The song was ranked at number 452 in Blender magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born. The song was listed at number 8 on the AOL's Top 100 Pop Songs of the Decade. New Zealand Herald had listed the song at number five on their Top Ten Best Singles of 2003.

Chart performance

t.A.T.u.'s first English-language single made its charts debut in October 2002 in Sweden and Finland, where it reached the number two position in a matter of weeks. After that, the single was released in November 2002 in Switzerland, where the single reached the number one position for seven consecutive weeks. By the end of the year 2002 the single was released in France, Denmark, and the United States. The single hit the number two position in France for three weeks, topped the Danish charts for a week, and in the U.S. peaked at number 20 for two weeks. By the end of the year the song had already reached the number 33 position in Switzerland’s Year-End chart for 2002 with only 2 months on the charts, and the position number 94 in France where the single had only spent 3 weeks on the chart.

In 2003, t.A.T.u. released “All the Things She Said” in Austria and the UK where the single reached the number 44 position on import sales alone before its actual release date. After being released on January 27, 2003, the single went straight to number one with sales of more than 90,000 copies and maintain that position for three more consecutive weeks. This became the girls' first and only number one UK single. After spending four weeks at the top of the UK Single Charts the single received a Silver Award for sales of more than 200,000 copies in the UK alone. t.A.T.u.’s last market was Australia where the single spent two weeks at the top of the charts and reached Platinum for shipments of more than 70,000 copies in Australia.

On 26 January 2003, t.A.T.u. released “All the Things She Said” in New Zealand where it entered the chart at number 49. Over five weeks, it rose dramatically to number two. It peaked at number one for three weeks. It was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) shipping over 7,500 copies. It stayed in the charts for 20 weeks in total.

"All the Things She Said" went on to sell more than 2 million copies around the world. It ended up as the number six best selling single of 2003 in the UK. selling more than 336,000 copies^{[citation needed]} and at number 16 best selling single of 2003 in France. "All the Things She Said" became one of the biggest hits of 2003 reaching number three on the European Singles of 2003 chart, just behind Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and The Black Eyed Peas's "Where Is the Love?."

Music video

Background and synopsis

A shot of Lena Katina (left) and Yulia Volkova in the original video for the Russian version of the song.

Their producer, writer and director Ivan Shapolavov had directed the music video. Being an English dub of "Ya Soshla S Uma" (I Lost My Mind), the music video for "All the Things She Said" features Yulia and Lena wearing Catholic school uniforms, singing together in the rain and snow. The two eventually kiss behind a chain fence, on the other side of which there is a crowd of onlookers. It seems like the crowd is watching these two lesbian girls who feel they are trapped within their emotions. The video ends when the girls go around the corner of the building, and off into the distance as the rain clears, revealing that the onlookers are the real captives — of ignorance. The English video is made up from footage from the Russian version, and there are fewer shots of the band singing, due to the language difference.

Reception and controversy

The video caused controversy in countries where it was played. It was listed on Much Music's 50 Most Controversial Videos at number 4.

In the United Kingdom, TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned from TV claiming it pandered to paedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing. Although their campaign failed, other TV shows took a negative stance to the video and the girls' kissing. In each of the four times Top of the Pops aired a live performance of the girls, the kiss was replaced with footage of the audience (sometimes kissing) instead.^{[citation needed]}

Live performances

t.A.T.u. performed the song on many television shows in the United States. They first appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where the girls created confusion, because although they did not have permission to kiss each other, they still did kiss. They performed the single on Jimmy Kimmel Live, AOL sessions (along with Not Gonna Get Us), Mad TV, Carson Daly Show, MTV TRL and the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. They also performed the song on shows in many other countries such as CD:UK in the UK and Top of the Pops in Italy. On most of the shows the girls only lip synced because of Yulia's vocal cyst. In some of these shows, the girls were not taken seriously, and there were jokes about their "relationship". When asked if they were lesbians, they always said they only "loved each other". The girls were also criticized for not kissing on TV shows like they used to do in their concerts. t.A.T.u. said it was because the TV only wanted to show people their kiss, and not the music, their work.^{[citation needed]}

Other usage in media

The song has appeared in multiple television events: it was WWE pro wrestler Victoria's theme song from December 2002 to May 2004. Also, the song was played during the final scenes of the Birds of Prey series on the WB network, in the 2003 episode "Devil's Eyes".

This theme was also featured as the opening song of the Chinese drama, Legend of the Heavenly Stones, as a Chinese language dub. A parody version was released in the UK. It was a scetch for a program.

Track listings

U.S. CD single
Released September 10, 2002

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "All the Things She Said" (Dave Audé Extension 119 Club Edit)

• "All the Things She Said" (Music Video)
• Behind The Scenes with Lena & Julia (Part 1)
• Photos

Russia CD single
Released September 29, 2002

1. "All The Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "Ya Soshla S Uma"
3. "All The Things She Said" (HarDrum Remix)
4. "All The Things She Said" (Music Video)

Europe Maxi-CD single
Released October 10, 2002

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "Stars"
3. "All the Things She Said" (Dave Audé Extension 119 Club Vocal Mix)
4. "Ya Soshla S Uma" (Russian Version of "All the Things She Said")

New Zealand CD single
Released January 27, 2003

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "All the Things She Said" ((Marks Intellectual Vocal Mix)
3. "All the Things She Said" (Dave Audé Extension 119 Club Edit)
4. "All the Things She Said" (HarDrum Remix)

Europe Cassette single

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "Stars"

UK CD single
Released January 27, 2003

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "All the Things She Said" (Dave Audé Extension 119 Club Edit)
3. "Stars" (Album Version)

• "All the Things She Said" (Video)

UK Cassette single
Released January 27, 2003

1. All The Things She Said (Radio Version)
2. Stars

Japan CD single
Released March 5, 2003

1. "All the Things She Said" (Radio Version)
2. "All the Things She Said" (Dave Audé Extension 119 Club Vocal Mix)
3. "All the Things She Said" (Mark!s Intellectual Vocal Mix)
4. "All the Things She Said" (Blackpulke Remix)
5. "All the Things She Said" (Instrumental Version)

Release history

Region	Date
Europe	August 18, 2002 (2002-08-18)
United Kingdom	January 27, 2003 (2003-01-27)

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)	1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)	2
Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia)	3
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)	3
Denmark (Tracklisten)	1
European Hot 100 Singles	1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)	3
France (SNEP)	2
Germany (Media Control AG)	1
Hungary (Rádiós Top 40)	13
Ireland (IRMA)	1
Italy (FIMI)	1
Japan (Japan Hot 100)	1
New Zealand (RIANZ)	1
Norway (VG-lista)	2
Romanian (Romanian Top 100)[citation needed]	1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	2
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	1
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)	1
US Billboard Hot 100	20
US Hot Dance Club Play (Billboard)	5
US Top 40 Mainstream (Billboard)	8

Certifications

Region	Certification
Australia (ARIA)	Platinum
Austria (IFPI Austria)	Gold
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)	Gold
France (SNEP)	Gold
Germany (BVMI)	Gold
Greece (IFPI Greece)	Gold
New Zealand (RIANZ)	Gold
Norway (IFPI Norway)	2× Platinum
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)	Platinum
United Kingdom (BPI)	Silver

Year-end charts

(2003)	Position
Australian Singles Chart	14
French Singles Chart	16
UK Singles Chart	6

Decade-end charts

(2000–2009)	Position
German Singles Chart	57

External links

• Music Video on t.A.T.u.'s Myspace
• 15 All The Things She Said covers

Preceded by "Dilemma" by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland	Swiss Singles Chart number-one single 15 December 2002 – 2 February 2003	Succeeded by "We Have a Dream" by Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Preceded by "Every Little Part of Me" by Julie	Danish Singles Chart number-one single 10 January 2003	Succeeded by "Every Little Part of Me" by Julie
Preceded by "Sound of the Underground" by Girls Aloud	Irish Singles Chart number-one single 1 February 2003 – 22 February 2003	Succeeded by "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera
Preceded by "Stop Living the Lie" by David Sneddon	UK Singles Chart number-one single 2 February 2003 – 1 March 2003
Preceded by "Lose Yourself" by Eminem	Austrian Singles Chart number-one single 2 February 2003 – 2 March 2003	Succeeded by "Tomorrow's Heroes" by Starmaniacs
	New Zealand RIANZ Sigles Chart number-one single 2 March 2003 – 16 March 2003	Succeeded by "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera
Preceded by "Lost Without You" by Delta Goodrem	Australia ARIA Singles Chart number-one single (first run) 16 March 2003	Succeeded by "Lost Without You" by Delta Goodrem
	Australia ARIA Singles Chart number-one single (second run) 30 March 2003	Succeeded by "In Da Club" by 50 Cent