Image - Oleg Tolstoy
Fearlessness in music takes bravery especially when your message is to drive political and governmental change. 2014 was a life-changing year for Bloom Twins. Not only were they faced with an uprising in their home country of Ukraine, they decided to use their voices to speak out about it. After releasing a video online covering Bob Marley's 'Get Up, Stand Up' showing raw footage of what was really going on in Ukraine, Bloom Twins wanted to show what the media were not reporting. This courageous move saw them perform on 'Newsnight' with Jeremy Paxman and their bold voices and opinions heard by thousands all over the globe.
The last few months have been crazy for you. How does it feel to to be back in the UK?
It feels amazing. It feels like a whole new chapter. A new book even.
We haven't been away for that long but it certainly feels like we are very different now. Certain things we took for granted all of a sudden mean the world. We don't think we realised all the way what we had. Seems like in order to appreciate what we had, we had to lose it and then gain it back.
Going home, how had things changed back in the Ukraine?
Everything has changed. People have changed. The air has changed. Parts of Ukraine are still a war zone. No doubt Ukraine is at war. People get killed. More than 10,000 people have died on both sides. It's fair to say there is a combination of emotions. On one hand people are certainly proud as last year showed how brave and courageous the nation is. Yet people are tired and want changes. Some people are just getting on with their lives. Accepting new conditions.
How has that effected the music that you're writing?
The love and care we felt - multiplied by 100. We discovered what fear, injustice and loss are and probably our songs are deeper now. Last week we were singing and playing one of our recent songs and tears simply rolled down our faces. All of these emotions are beautiful and strong. We still meet boys and go on dates and it's fun but probably when we will next fall in love - it'll be something very special!
New Years Eve this year was one to remember for you. Tell us all about it...
Imagine young people performing John Lennon's 'Imagine' at events in Cape Town, London, Rio de Janeiro and New York. Imagine the biggest sing-along ever to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on Rights of the Child. We were part of the The World's Version of a song together with artists like Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Craig David, Suki Waterhouse, Nicole Scherzinger, Will.i.am and many others in collaboration with David Guetta. Imagine people from all over the world coming together to make a difference. To change the future. To play the part in making the world a better place for children.And imagine that every voice counts?
It all sounds very grand but it is truly incredible to be part of it. When we saw ourselves so early in the video, we almost fell off our chairs.
How did you get involved?
When we covered 'Get up, Stand up' we had the support from all over the world. Canada, USA, Australia and even as far as New Zealand. We received tons of "Thank you" messages from Ukrainian people around the globe. Ukrainian communities were re-posting our video to voice their support and we were in contact with several of those communities. When we were in Ukraine we got contacted by Kulashko family, that are part of UA community in New Zealand. They asked us to help them a bit with a small charity. There is a boy called Boris and he was born deaf. His family raised money for surgery then things went wrong during it and his heart stopped. He's now got brain damage. We had to go to the hospital and pay for certain medical services with the money raised and spend some time with him.
To be honest we didn't think much of it at the time. We thought we would walk in, meet Boris, give the funds to the family and leave but it turned out to be a lot more then that. It wasn't easy for us. It was a very difficult experience. When we left the hospital we weren't the same. We started to ask ourselves questions about the children in Ukraine, about the children at the eastern border and the orphans too. As we were doing the research, the law of attraction worked. By researching about the kids we saw UNICEF launched the #IMAGINE campaign. We grew up listening to The Beatles. It was one of those moments when your eyes go big and you say "Are you kidding me?" Out of all possible songs UNICEF could pick, they've settled on one of our favourite songs. It was two signs in one and we knew we had to be part of it.
The campaign is still on, and all you have to do is download the #IMAGINE TouchCast app. Record your version of 'Imagine' with your message describing the world you imagine for children and upload your video.
Image - Serge Vane
How important is the project?
"A dream you dream alone is a dream. A dream you dream together is reality"
Do you think that music can drive change?
Music influences our thoughts, feelings, actions. We are probably bias to think that everyone turns to music every time something happens in their life or on the way to work and back. When they are sad or happy; when it rains or when you are in the car. It seems like we all pick soundtracks to our lives and we quote lyrics from songs. So, yes, it's fair to assume that it can drive a change.
Where do you think music comes from?
Your heart. Your soul. When you don't suppress the emotions.
What does 2015 have in store for you both?
We are getting ready to release our next single. It'll be a very special song for us. Dedicated not to boys but to a friend. And towards the end of a year, we want to release an EP. We want to tour the UK. And write write write.
Follow Bloom Twins here: https://twitter.com/TheBloomTwins