Wake up famous. Participant in the show “The Voice” Mikhail Zhitov: “When the electricity was turned off in the north in winter, I was left alone with the piano. What are you grateful to your mentor for?

  • 07.08.2019

More and more graduates of Arkhangelsk schools for later life choose St. Petersburg. This is exactly what Mikhail Zhitov did - and, apparently, not in vain. Now Misha is the vocalist of the popular musical group Vougal, also called in the best voice indie scenes. This is what happens when talent and luck combine in a person.

- Hello, Misha! Tell us about your group and its creation.

- Hello! The guys before our Vougal had a group called Mr. Humbert. They were looking for a good vocalist, and, by pure chance, one St. Petersburg vocal teacher, whom I don’t even know, recommended me. I came to the rehearsal, listened to a couple of songs and said: “I'm in!” We have been creating together for two years now, and I sang closely in the True Jazz Band.

— Why did you decide to change jazz to indie?

- I didn’t change anything. I love different music. And I wouldn't say that we're doing indie. We are pop music after all.

— How did yours begin? collaboration? Did you quickly join the team?

- Quite. When we met, the guys already had some of the material ready. We recorded demos and sent them to our sound producer in Slovenia. His name is Saré Havlicek, he is very a famous person. Worked with David Bowie, for example. They recorded the first EP, released it and woke up famous. Six months later we went to Slovenia again and finished writing the album - releasing it in the spring of 2015. Our singles “No doubt” and “Shine a light” were number one on the Yandex charts. Music, and “Moving on up” is generally included in the list of 100 best songs of the year. World Famous British singer Jessie Ware said I have an amazing voice (translation: amazing voice). We also performed with the Canadian group BadBadNotGood. We are currently writing our second album. By the way, at the beginning of the year, in October, we were selected from all Russian groups to represent new music Russia at the Expo in Milan! And we did it quite successfully.

Photo: Pavel Bychek / Mikhail Zhitov / VK

— You have a lot of achievements, but what is the most significant for you personally?

— Love and recognition of listeners. They are very good and talented! Some sing, some dance, act in the theater. Someone from a completely different path. For example, people often draw me very beautifully.

- Will they recognize you on the street?

- They will find out. Especially here, in St. Petersburg! Usually they shout after him all sorts of cool words and gratitude. I'm serious. Sometimes you can’t believe that you are so lucky in life.

- I can imagine! It seems that you have not had any difficulties on the way to fame. This is true?

— There are always difficulties and there always will be. But this is personal.

- Fine. Tell us more about each member of the team?

— Slava is 28 years old. He is very talented. In our trio he plays guitar and synths. Prefers classical music and rock, but generally a music lover. Misha is also 28 years old. He is also an incredibly talented drummer. He plays like no one in Russia, standing up! Also a music lover. And, most importantly, the guys are extremely talented songwriters! They write very beautiful, soulful songs.

— Apparently, the relationship in the team is good! What about yourself?

— I turned 24. I have been singing and writing songs since childhood. I am constantly improving myself. And, as people say, quite successfully. Exactly Full time job helped me achieve success.

- You have great prospects! How do you imagine yourself ten years from now?

— We imagine ourselves together, happy and happy with life.

- And it’s underway concert activity?

— It was a very active year. Many concerts - a concert in a recording studio, for example. Listeners watched what was happening through the glass. It was really cool. I was sick then and therefore worked hard. But everything turned out just fine. Now we are resting. We plan, highlight something for ourselves, find new sites.

— What is the geography of the concerts?

— Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Sochi. We are not going to Arkhangelsk for now. Let's see where there are cool sites. Russia is an unpredictable country. We played our first album well in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Milan. With the next album we will expand the radius of influence.

— Why did you decide to leave Arkhangelsk?

— I left to study after school and entered the university. I understood crystal clear that my dreams would not come true in Arkhangelsk.

Big city- great opportunities. Tell us about your songwriting process.

“Someone brings the skeleton, and then we finalize it together.” Sometimes it happens that the song is already completely ready and it’s just a matter of arrangement.

— What music do you like best?

- I am a music lover. But I dream of performing with a huge orchestra someday. More precisely, not to perform, but to give a series of concerts with an orchestra.

— Are you going to fulfill your dream?

— Of course, but that’s not what I’m focused on right now. Still, I need to finish the second album.

— What advice would you give to beginning musical groups?

— Listen to more diverse music, don’t get hung up on one genre, surround yourself talented people, trust your intuition.

Elizaveta Trubacheva

By the age of 26, he had already done a lot musical path. Today he is the vocalist of an increasingly popular band Vougal. Together with his band, the singer performed as an opening act for famous foreign performers. An important step his career began with participation in the show “The Voice”. As Mikhail himself admitted, he had been consistently applying for participation in the project for five years, but only this year he was lucky. Get to the finals music competition Zhitov did not succeed today, but this did not upset the participant at all, which he told the Vokrug TV correspondent about.

- The editors told me that now was the time I was truly ready. It’s right that I wasn’t hired for four years in a row. I finally prepared and showed results: at the blind auditions, all the mentors turned to me. During the project, I was constantly worried, even during rehearsals, when something went wrong. And if I had come a year ago, I would probably have gone crazy with what was happening here.

- Did you expect to win today?

- According to all the forecasts, I thought that I would make it to the finals, because I had the highest rating in the Gagarina team. I won’t lie like many people and say that, of course, I wanted to go further. I consider it mine best performance in project blind audition. This single number, which I've watched several times. All the other songs were the mentor's choice - and this is a cliché for me as an artist, although the compositions are certainly cool.

Mikhail Zhitov

- Did you talk about this to your mentor?

There is a specific task and it needs to be completed. We are the wards of a good pop singer. The team must be consistent. She should perform modern pop music. Therefore, I completely agree with Polina. There was never a time when I told her that I wouldn’t sing that. On the contrary, I always tried to find something in the material. In the case of the song I sang last time - “Baby” - at first I was perplexed: “What can be done here?” And then I sat down, got to work and remade the song together with Andrey Timonin, Polina’s assistant, for which many thanks to him.

- What are you grateful to your mentor for?

- I am grateful to her for everything, especially for her kindness and professional sensitivity. She is very honest: she always tells everything as it is. If you sang poorly, that means it’s bad. We don't have baby talk in our team. Although who would have thought - Polina is a girl! But in our team everything was very strict.

Mikhail Zhitov

- Everyone wants to take part in “The Voice” and show themselves, and so do I. Besides, this is my mother's favorite show. I really wanted to do this for her. Plus, this is a huge school, not of vocals, but of life: how to quickly get together and pull something out of yourself in the shortest possible time.

-Who was in your support group today?

- I left all my friends who wanted to come at home. Because here I would only worry about how they sat down, whether they could see everything. It’s better for them to watch my performance on TV and then immediately tell me: “The box was cool” or “The box was not cool.” In general, this is surprising: when I watched the last quarterfinal from the redroom, everyone there sounded simply unreal, but on TV I saw a replay - everything was gone. That's why many people underestimate the participants - they simply don't see them live.

- Has your personal life with the arrival on “The Voice”? Are fans overpowering?

- They write tons of messages to me every day. I honestly try to answer everyone, because it is very important. As long as there are not a million or a billion messages like Celine Dion, I have to read them. The person who wrote to me is waiting for an answer and must definitely receive it. My personal life hasn’t changed at all since joining “The Voice”. I'm all about music and that's all I do.

Mikhail Zhitov and Polina Gagarina

All the mentors turned to this guy during the blind auditions. But Mikhail went to Polina Gagarina - because, as he himself assures, the night before the broadcast he saw her as a mentor. In the knockouts, Zhitov performed together with the participant of the children's “Voice” Masha Panyukova - and this helped. The vocalist is one step closer to winning the project.

-Who came up with the idea of ​​hiring a little singer as an assistant?

First, Polina Gagarina chose for me the song La La La, which is performed by the group Naughty Boy along with Sam Smith, it includes a piece child's voice. And we decided that it would be appropriate to call a child from the “Voice.Children” project to help me and perform this sample live. I proposed the candidacy of Masha Panyukova, who was a finalist in the third season of “The Voice.Children.” It turned out that Polina had previously performed with Masha at one of her concerts, so her candidacy was immediately approved. The number turned out to be very musical and sincere.

Mikhail Zhitov and Elena Ekimova Running - Fights - Voice - Season 5.

I tried to get in previous seasons show, but I wasn’t allowed into the blind auditions. This time, the music editors noted that I was ready for the project, and so, I successfully passed the casting.

- The night before the blind auditions, you “visualized” who you would like to be on the team. Like this?

All mentors are incredibly professional. And the night before the blind auditions, I imagined what songs I could work on in this or that team. My choice of Polina Gagarina was emotional.

- Was your love for music born in your native village?

My creative path began in Kamenka (Arkhangelsk region), where I performed at the first vocal competition. We lived in the calm atmosphere of a quiet northern village: we had to fetch water from a water pump on the street, carry firewood and light the stove. Long, cold winters are more conducive to music lessons than ever, especially when the electricity goes out throughout the area, leaving just you and the piano.

- You recalled that one of the first prizes was a figurine of a cartoon Donald Duck.

IN music school my specialty teacher noted my abilities and began to prepare me for the first “Ringing Voices” competition in my life. It was 1999. None of my peers could boast of cool toys, much less Disney characters, so the competition was serious (laughs). I eventually won the competition, received Donald, and for four years represented the district at regional and all-Russian competitions.

Then you moved to St. Petersburg and created a group whose songs were in rotation more than once. Does the group still exist or do you sing solo?

I don't perform solo. Misha Zhitov does not exist without the Vougal group. We actively give concerts and tour; Just recently we had a sold out concert at the legendary Moscow club “16 tons”. We spend our free time from concerts in the studio, writing new songs.

Mikhail Zhitov Moody's Mood - Blind auditions Voice Season 5.“You all know how few weaknesses I have, and one of them is jazz,” admitted Grigory Leps after the performance of Mikhail Zhitov from Arkhangelsk. Mikhail performed p...

- How did you get into the course of one of the professors? music college Berkeley?

When Gabrielle Goodman came to St. Petersburg, I could not miss my chance to meet her and work out. I am always looking for any opportunity to improve my professional skills and qualities and try to attend all kinds of master classes and music intensives.

- And you also have interesting hobby- horror films and Disney cartoons. How does it fit together?

Not only. I also love Russian cartoons! There was just a period of craze for Disney cartoons in my life - yes. They have such charismatic, textured villains: Jafar, Cruella de Ville, Captain Hook. But, of course, first of all, I was captivated by the magnificent soundtracks. Ask me any song from Disney cartoons, and I will sing it!

I love horror films for their atmosphere and suspense. It's like Stanley Kubrick's The Shining: when you read the book and know what's going to happen, but the director still finds a way to scare you.

", Season 5, on Channel One.

Mikhail Zhitov. Biography

Mikhail Zhitov born in Arkhangelsk. His love for music awoke the moment he heard the voice of Whitney Houston. Together with his band he performed as an opening act for famous foreign performers. Misha sang in the True Jazz Band, and then became vocalist of a popular musical group Vougal, and he is also called the best voice of the indie scene. The group's singles No doubt and Shine a light were number one on the Yandex charts.

“I have been involved with music since childhood, my grandfather played a band for me” Movie", Nadezhda Kadysheva, Whitney Houston. “The Voice” is my mother’s favorite show, I promised her that I would starve this show out! And here I am,” Mikhail admitted before going on stage at “The Voice.”

All four mentors turned to the “conductor of music and love,” as he calls himself, Mikhail Zhitov. They were all shocked. Agutin turned to the singer: “Prove with your whole life and this moment that Leps hasn’t already bought everyone here, after all!”

Mikhail, on the eve of the performance, spent the whole night, as he admitted, visualizing who he would go to, and as a result he chose Polina Gagarina. “A wonderful purchase, Polina, simply magnificent! Even the toad is choking me. I had so many plans for him! He has now ruined his own career!” - “joked”