Little big group. Little Big: how the nastiest group in Russia came to success

Name: Olympiya Ivleva

Age: 28 years

Height: 130

Activity: singer, actress

Family status: Single

Olympia Ivleva: biography

This charming petite girl was about to become professional psychologist, but a happy accident brought her to show business. In 2013, Olympia became the vocalist of a rave group, in which she gained incredible popularity. However, at the peak of success, the singer decided to leave the team to get serious about acting career. In 2017, Ivleva already starred in leading role in the film "Lily".

Childhood and youth

Olympia was born on June 21, 1990 in St. Petersburg. She is a native Petersburger in the third generation. The girl’s parents have nothing to do with creativity, but they raised their daughter to love books and good music.

The school period left an ambivalent feeling in the soul of the future artist: on the one hand, an unforgettable time of childhood, new knowledge, friends, fun communication, on the other hand, the first negative emotions and grievances from abusive relationship other children.

“I never focused people’s attention on my height (the girl’s height is 130 cm, weight is about 40 kg) and I never felt different from everyone else. For the first time I encountered ridicule at school...”, the actress recalls that period of her biography.

In an interview with the “gentle editor,” Olympia spoke about how in the 5th grade she was attacked by two high school students. However, this story ended well, albeit a little late. When the girl was already studying at the university, the offenders met her and asked for forgiveness.

Having experienced in childhood and adolescence a lot of negativity associated with the lack of education of other people, Olympia decided to become a psychologist. And I wanted to work specifically with children with disabilities health.

After graduating from school, Lipa, as her relatives call her, entered the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Special Pedagogy and Psychology, where she studied for 5 years, leaving her alma mater as a certified specialist. By the time she graduated, the girl had accumulated a lot creative material: While still a student, she became interested in photography, organizing animation events, exhibitions, etc.

Therefore, in no hurry to open a psychological practice, Olympia continued to “hang out” in underground circles, where she was noticed by the musicians of the group “ Little Big».

Music and creativity

Initially, 23-year-old Olympia was invited to film the “Harlem shake” video. The initiator was former soloist"Little Big" - . She introduced the girl to the group's producer Alina Pyazok, founder and lead singer.

“There was no talk of any invitation to the team, there were no clear plans to create a project... Everything happened on its own: the video took off, the guys decided to continue filming... Then the first performances began,” the artist said about her appearance in the group.

In 2014, the band’s debut album “With Russia From Love” was released. But true success overtakes the musicians after the video for the song “Give Me Your Money” with the participation of the Estonian artist Tommy Cash.

And if Olympia already had experience filming in a swimsuit, then in this video she appears topless. According to the artist, this was a serious step for her, and the girl was especially worried about how her mother, who is a rather conservative person, would take it. But everything worked out, the woman accepted new activity daughters.

Meanwhile, Lipa’s career in the team was gaining momentum. The artists were accepted and loved in Europe. And now the guys toured not only the cities of Russia, but throughout the Old World. At the very beginning touring activities Ivleva fulfilled her childhood dream - she visited Paris. “Little big” visited Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, France and a number of other countries with concerts. And the little soloist, who performs under the pseudonym Olympia Twerk, is called the “pearl of the team.”

Having traveled around the world, Olympia realized that she liked to travel, study the life and culture of other countries. Back in 2013, Lipa started her own vlog on YouTube and began posting video notes about voyages, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from concerts and film sets and other fascinating posts.

In 2016, the vocalist of the group “Little Big” starred in the provocative video “Big Dick”, which took 1st place at the Berlin Music Video Awards in the “Most Trashy” category. The video is a parody-banter of pop culture and is filled with indecent images and gestures, but has become a record holder for views - over 35 million.

In 2017, Anna Kast told reporters that Olympia does not sing in the group herself; a professional vocalist does it for her. Lipa did not comment on the statement, but the girl told the Gentle Editor that “her vocals are definitely present in the Little Big recordings.”

On April 1, 2018, on the eve of the release of the new album “Antipositive, Pt.”, Olympia announced her departure from the band. The date of the statement initially convinced fans that it was a joke. But it soon became clear that Lipa had indeed left the group. Summing up the results of her work, ex-colleagues came up with some kind of statistics:

“In 5 years with Olympia, we created 14 million-dollar videos, played over 300 concerts, and traveled to many cities in many countries around the world.”

The singer herself admitted that she made a very serious and difficult decision for herself.

“Little Big is a huge part of my life, it’s a part of me. I devoted 5 whole years to the project. But at one point I realized that I couldn’t give him anything more,” the ex-soloist commented on her departure.

Also among the reasons last girl named the desire to develop as a dramatic actress. This desire appeared in Olympia after her role in the film “Lily” - a project of Channel One. The singer appeared in the form main character- circus performer Lily, who falls in love with an ordinary rural guy, and their love undergoes a series of tests.

Personal life

Olympia does not advertise personal life, but doesn’t hide it either. She has been dating a guy named Alexey for 3 years.

The couple tested the strength of the relationship for a long time, the young people broke up three times, but realized that they could not live without each other. Alexey is not from creative environment, is engaged in drifting.

Olympia Ivleva now

Now, according to Ivleva, she is running two business projects: the first is related to the sale of peanut butter, the second is underwear.

The ex-singer also continues to be interested in photography (works can be viewed in "Instagram") and takes the first steps towards his dream - an acting career.

Discography

• 2014 - “With Russia From Love”
• 2015 - “Funeral Rave”
• 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 1"
• 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 2"

Today we will talk in detail about the Little Big project. The composition of the group will be given below. The team made its presence known for the first time on April 1, 2013, by posting its debut video Everyday I"m Drinking on the YouTube platform. Literally a few months later, the first line-up of the Little Big group was invited to perform at a concert with sensational people, after which they were immediately nicknamed Russian greetings.

This analogy only played into the hands of the team. Until recently no one famous group from St. Petersburg at one point became popular not only in native Russia, but also far beyond. The project was also dubbed “funeral rave” and “trash tent” by fans, thanks to the wild, incomparable energy both in the videos and at concerts.

The name Little Big is due to the difference in height between the team members. The fact is that initially the group had two vocalists no taller than 130 cm. To this day, Olympia Ivleva is an active member who, despite her unique height, has incredible, powerful energy.

Little Big: group composition

• Ilya “Ilyich” Prusikin (frontman of the group, vocals).
• Sergey “Gokk” Makarov (sound producer, DJ).
• Olympia Ivleva (vocals).
• aka Mr Clown (vocals).
• Sofia Tayurskaya (vocals).
• Anna Kast ( former member, the first composition of the group).

Rock and more

According to the vocalist of the group Ilya “Ilyich” Prusikin, the rave genre, like all electronic music, is quite popular in its own right in our time, so the creators of the group did not invest a penny in its promotion, but at the same time they became known throughout Europe. He says that the band members position themselves, first of all, as rock musicians. They consider their performance style new form this direction. At the same time, a passion for electronic music helped to combine these two genres into one organic style.

During its existence, the group released two albums: With Russia From Love (2014) and Funeral Race (2015). The discs turned out to be in demand, thanks to which the main line-up of the group traveled almost all of Europe with concerts. Thus began the creative takeoff of the Little Big project. The composition of the group has changed somewhat since its founding. So, for example, vocalist Anna Kast left the band. Her place is still occupied by Sofya Tayurskaya.

The band members claim that the meaning of the lyrics of their songs, as well as video clips, ridicule national stereotypes about Russians. By the way, the entire video is shot by Alina Pyazok, who is the founder of the group. Since Little Big have experience in creating videos and are the owners of their own production company, the team produces all the videos independently. It is quite difficult to definitely call the group musical. Rather, it is a kind of art project with a fairly diverse team. The frontman has already gained popularity earlier thanks to his show on the YouTube channel.

Similarity

The band members admit that they were influenced by completely different musicians, from famous giants of the rock scene, such as Cannibal Corpse, to the great classics. Despite the similarity of style and manners with the mega-popular South Africans Die Antwoord and constant comparison with them, Little Big themselves are distinguished by their individuality.

Issues

Every new track, like the clip, is a mixture of peculiar humor filled own view on Russian culture and folk songs, and a rigid social position. The musicians have repeatedly emphasized that their style is not connected with hatred of the Motherland, it is simply such a unique way of drawing society’s attention to its problems. But despite this social position, the band remains a vibrant mix of seemingly incompatible styles and incredible, infectious energy.

Now you know what the features and uniqueness of the project called Little Big are. We also described the composition of the group above, as well as the changes that occurred in it.

#SkibidiChallenge blew up social networks. The dance from LittleBig's viral video was repeated by thousands of Instagram users. And not only Russian ones: in the CIS countries, Europe and America, they also fell in love with the movements to the “skibidi pa-pa-pa.” The team " Evening Urgant"and the group "Bread".

To help you get to know Little Big better, we provide a selection interesting facts about them.

1 fact: Little Big is a rave band originally from St. Petersburg. The group's style is to make fun of various stereotypes about Russians in their tracks. Initially, LB consisted of Ilya Prusikin (Ilyich), Sergey Makarov (Gokk) and two vocalists Anna Kast and Olympia Ivleva. The name of the group was born due to the difference in height within the group (Anna and Olympia are no higher than 130 cm).

Fact 2: On April 1, 2013, the first Little Big video appeared online. This day is considered the date of birth of the group. The video for “EveryDay I’m Drinking” took off, and the guys were invited to open for Die Antwoord. LB, of course, had no songs - no one expected such quick success. So we had to quickly get together and write tracks. In one month, Little Big gave birth to six of them. They were performed at the Die Antwoord concert in July 2013.

Fact 3: The leader of the Little Big group is a psychologist by education. But Ilya Prusikin did not go to all classes at the institute. And after practical training, I decided not to get involved with psychology at all. He liked creativity more. Before LB, Ilyich had many projects, the most famous of which are related to the YouTube community “Thank you, Eva!”

Fact 4: Not a single Little Big video costs more than a million. Production is in the hands of the band's musicians and other members of KlikKlak ( creative association YouTube, which includes LB). All by yourself! In general, the band members are really very involved in creative process and are ready to do anything for the sake of the product. For example, in the video “Life in da trash” Ilya Prusikin ate real maggots. He did this as many as five times, because the take was not immediately successful.

Fact 5: Little Big didn't invest a penny in their promotion. They became popular due to their content. And not only in Russia. The group is very popular in Europe. Ilyich and other LB members have a goal of becoming world stars - and they are on the way to it. The musicians already have listeners from France, Germany, Holland, Canada and Australia.

Fact 6: Ilyich's wife is Ira Smelaya. She is better known as Tatarka. Ilya and Ira have a son, Dobrynya. You can learn about the life of this family by looking at Smelaya’s blog “Tatar Everyday Life”.

Alexandra Shepelyuk

A century after the October revolution, in the cradle of the Russian revolution appears new Ilyich. Arriving from the Trans-Baikal hinterland, hitherto unknown in the area, the young man Ilyusha decides to conquer the St. Petersburg public with his extraordinary behavior and comes up with a purely Slavic game. Having posted a funny short film on the Internet with obvious mockery of the domestic mentality, he achieves his first wild success.

The video fires like an epoch-making blank shell from a legendary cruiser, now in perpetual lay-up. April Fool's Prank over the jaded subscribers of a popular farce video attracts the attention of the local crowd. A former baseball player and graduate of the Institute of Culture is offered to urgently put together a team of buffoons.

Following the long tradition of the noisy sensation of fairground entertainment, an enterprising blogger and certified entertainer gathers a team of like-minded people who are ready to dance on stage to someone else’s tune, because the nascent company does not have its own songs. Having successfully worked as the opening act for Die Antwoord, the guys become notorious. A couple of short girls, standing out against the backdrop of freshly minted stars, contribute to the emergence of a name for an educated ensemble.

The wave of popularity causes an incredible surge of creative activity among the newly-minted performers of satirical couplets. They record a dozen simple texts accompanied by an exciting drum roll with an admixture of folk motifs. The Russian consumer of online entertainment products is instantly divided into two hostile camps. Some consider the upstarts on the stage to be scumbags mocking the sacred, others are inclined to believe that the newcomers deliberately use satire in melodic accompaniment in the traditional national ornament for a forced rapprochement with the masses.

The authors of the original compositions themselves publicly declare that such an approach to music is a reflection modern society. They openly ridicule existing behavioral stereotypes and the existence of a person from Russia. All tracks are accompanied by a colorful show with visuals and a hilarious recitative that brings numerous fans into ecstasy. Having caught the crushing surf of hype, the guys deafeningly make fun of their compatriots, presenting in a humorous manner the complex processes taking place in their native land.

Composition Little Big

• Founder, vocals - Ilya Prusikin, pseudonym - Ilyich;
• Vocalist – Olympia Ivleva;
• Vocalist – Anton Lissov, pseudonym – MrClown;
• Vocalist – Sofya Tayurskaya;
• Music producer, DJ – Sergey Makarov, pseudonym – Gokk;
• Anna Kast is a former participant from the initial set.

Members of the group from St. Petersburg promote themselves as representatives of art collaboration. Captivating songs are instantly scattered into aphoristic memes on the Internet. A youth gang playing and singing in rave style considers itself to be a rock movement. Most critics note its deliberate originality, asserting its view of nationality and cultural tradition. Grotesque and caustic revealing attacks turn the performances into a folklore picture that can amaze the listener with the unusual presentation of the text and turn the concert into a truly enchanting spectacle.

Discography

Studio album releases:

• "Funeral Rave"
• "With Russia From Love"
• "Anti positive"

Singles:

• "Dead Unicorn"
• "Give Me Your Money"
• "Rave On"
• "Kind Inside Hard Outside"

Many years of experience in running a personal blog and channel on YouTube allows the cultural worker, who once woke up famous, to promote the filmed tapes and earn substantial capital from views and win another audience of admirers of his talent. The project exists and thrives thanks to the team efforts of its partners. A faithful colleague in the film kitchen, Alina is engaged in the production of viral clips created by the genius of production and direction of the tireless leader.

Symbols of the fatherland, invariably present in almost every fragment of the mad storylines short musicals stun the imagination and have a fantastic flair for the reaction of users of the leading video hosting site. Millions of fans are rushing to view the next new product released for review on the network.

• "AK-47";
• "Faradenza"
• "Big Dick"
• "Life In Da Trash";
• "Every day I'm Drinking";
• "Dead Unicorn"
• "Hateful Love"
• LollyBomb;
• "Polyushko Pole";
• "Public Enemy"
• "Punks Not Dead"
• "Russian hooligans";
• "U Can Take";
• "Skibidi";
• "We Will Push A Button";
• "From Russia with love".

"AK-47"

"Faradenza"

"Big Dick"

"Life In Da Trash"

"Dead Unicorn"

"Hateful Love"

"Lolly Bomb"

"POLYUSHKO POLYE"

"Public Enemy"

"Punks Not Dead"

"Russian Hooligans"

"U Can Take"

"Skibidi"

"We Will Push A Button"

"WITH RUSSIA FROM LOVE"

Outrageous and extravagant rave performers are known not only in their homeland. Their tours in the Netherlands and France create a real sensation. Russian-speaking musicians with vodka and balalaikas are in unprecedented demand. In November 2107, the main character of the famous rave team has an heir. Being the true Ilya Muromets of all-Russian show business, the world-famous dad calls his son by ancient custom Dobrynya, rightly believing that the matured offspring will eventually join the ranks of the successors of the epic antiquity on stage.

The Little Big project will perform as the opening act for the hip-hop and rave group Die Antwoord in a week. This is the first concert of the group, which decided to make a “Russian answer to Die Antwoord” with balalaikas and vodka. Many blame Little Big for being unnatural and unresourceful, but in the meantime, their first video “Everyday I"m drinking” received almost two million views on YouTube. “Sobaka.ru” contacted its creators.

Alina Pyazok, video director, video producer. She has filmed videos for Triagrutrike, Stigmata, Animal Jazz, Alai Oli, Amatory, Gufu, Smokey Mo:

Did you focus on someone?
We were just doing our own trash show. A look at what's going on. We are new patriots with good video production, wild music and we are not going to remain silent. Listeners in comparisons are varied - they compare with Die Antwoord, Prodigy, Bonoparte, Andy Warhol and Bowie.

Little Big grew on its own, from the conversations of my musician friends. As a video director, I love working with musicians and finding the right visual expression for songs. Ilya Prusikin and Sergei Gokk wanted to put nervous electronic music somewhere, Anna Kast always wanted to rap. Olympia Ivleva, Evil Clown, makeup artists, props, all the heroes of the first video- These are your own people, friends, friends of friends. The video was filmed for 6 days, there were 11 locations, 18 scenes. Everything came together very easily, because everyone wanted to be involved in the common cause, to show what concerns us.

Sergey Gokk from the group Jane Air, our sound producer, joined the team. We are now writing all the music together, six tracks are already ready, there will be at least three more videos. We are going to release the first release by September.

How did the second video “Push the button” come about?

We made a video about the Korean nuclear threat, we wanted to respond as quickly as possible, so the song and video came together in 36 hours.

“Everyday I"m drinking" caused a mixed reaction in Russia. They say you are denigrating your homeland.

This is satire, and, as you know, people react to it differently. If you want to change a country, you have to show it this way. Nothing has any other effect on people.

How can you make a profit from such a project?

Such madness is really good for the soul. It takes a lot of madness to ask your friends to sit in an ice hole as if they were in a jacuzzi, bob their heads to the music and think about Russia.

We are tired of everything that is happening in Russia. We love our country, but that doesn't mean we don't care about poverty, the fact that no one cares about everything, or terrible alcoholism. Somehow we decided to create the Little Big team. This is our artistic message, our vision of the situation in the country, our nerve. Jingoism easily turns into hushing up problems. We want people to see them, no matter what they think of us. I want to tell the truth, because if we remain silent, maybe no one will know anything.

Ilya Prusikin, frontman of Little Big, musician (Ilyich, Tenkorr, Constructorr, Like a virgin, St. Bastards), video producer (“The Guffy Gaff Show”, “Police Days”, “In the Order of Things”):

Is it appropriate to say that Little Big is one of your new shows?

No, this is an independent art collective. But I'm not going to give up video projects. I’m doing everything that’s interesting: right now I’m busy with rehearsals and recordings with Little Big, but I have plans to film a new series.

You weren't planning a performance later, were you?

Yes, but we were invited to open for Die Antwoord, and we decided that it was very good company for the team's first public appearance. So we have put everything on hold and are busy preparing for the concert. On July 2, there will be four of us on stage - me, Olympia Ivleva, Anna Kast and Sergei Makarov (Gokk).

This project was not for the sake of views and not for the sake of ratings - this is really what concerns us. We wanted the video to take off so that people would watch and discuss it. Some thought it was a joke, others thought it was a manifestation of Russophobia, for others it was a viral video. Moreover, our viewers are not only in Russia, they are in France, America, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

Are there any offers already?

They write a lot about the team abroad; they wanted to film it in France documentary, although we're too busy with new material right now. By and large, all the movement will begin in the fall.

Probably, foreigners think that you are like in the video.

Amazing. Let them think so. Half the country is like this. Me and Gokk, we traveled all over the country with concerts of our groups, we saw real Russia and we want to reach her.

I've been making music since childhood, although Little Big- it's not only musical group. We are doing a satirical art collaboration, working simultaneously with music, visuals and a show to convey our message as much as possible. Every song reflects social phenomenon, connected with Russia and the world. In the first video, we wanted to show the stereotypes associated with our country, the Russian Woodland, and how they see us from the outside. After all, stereotypes arise because they- a form of truth about the world.