Lyubov. Yad (Russian: Любовь. Яд; transl. Love. Poison) is the ninth studio album and the first Russian-language album by Ukrainian singer Irina Bilyk released on 7 July 2004 by Mamamusic and Astra Records.
This was the first Russian-language album in Bilyk's career,[2] before that she released only Ukrainian-language material, and in 2003 she released an album Biłyk in Polish.[3]
A team of authors led by Bilyk worked on the album. She was involved in writing or producing almost every song on the album. Artur Zheleznyak, Sergey Dotsenko, Vitaly Kurovsky and Ruslan Kvinta also participated in writing music and lyrics. The album included a song "Ty - na sever, ya - na yug" that was recorded as a duet with Verka Serduchka and which was previously released on her album Chita Drita (2003).
Several music videos were released before the album's release: "Sneg" (directed by Alan Badoev), "Pomnit" and "Lyubov. Yad" (both directed by Alexander and Igor Stekolenko). They appeared as bonus on the CD release of the album.
Lyubov. Yad was released on 7 July 2004. The number of pre-orders exceeded 53,000 copies, and sales in the first two weeks exceeded 100,000.[4] The album was able to receive platinum certification in Ukraine.[5] The album was also released in Russia. According to Irina Bilyk, representatives of the largest Russian radio station Russkoye Radio (and its holding Russian Mediagroup) refused to promote the album in the country.[6]
For the first time since 1995, Bilyk did not go on an all-Ukrainian concert tour in support of the new album.
Russian singer Filipp Kirkorov covered and popularized the cong "Sneg" in 2011. It reached top-40 in Russian music chart and received Golden Gramophone.[7][8] Kirkorov also performed this song in duo with Bilyk on different shows.
In 2012, this album was nominated for the Ukrainian music award YUNA for Best album of twenty years and the song "Sneg" for Best song of twenty years.[9] In 2020, the song "Sneg" was included in the list "20 iconic songs for 20 years" by YUNA.[10]
