When the video for t.A.T.u.’s “All The Things She Said” was released in 2002, featuring the then teenage Russian pop duo embracing in the rain, it launched Lena Katina and Julia Volkova into the spotlight almost overnight.

t.A.T.u. became pop stars on an international level, and according to Katina, even without social media, or gossip blogs, the rigors of instant fame were a lot for two 15-year-olds to handle. “I wasn’t taking pictures with my family for a while,” she says, “because literally, the cameras would drive me crazy.”

Currently working on her own material, having released her first solo album, This Is Who I Am, in 2014, as well as a Spanish language album, Esta Soy Yo, earlier this year, Katina is now prepping a Russian language album.

Myspace caught up with her to get the full story on t.A.T.u.’s rise to fame, eventual breakup, and her current solo career.

With one song, "All The Things She Said," you and Julia went from being Russian teenagers, to international stars. At what point during that process did you realize the whole t.A.T.u. thing might be something bigger than you imagined?

I think that was when we started going abroad to tour. In particular, I think that’s when we went to New York to the MTV Video Music Awards for the first time.

The video, in two weeks it became No. 1 on MTV Russia. That was the first step, and I was surprised, to be honest, because I never believed we would be famous one day. It was some sort of very far away dream, but I kind of thought it would never come true. I was just doing my thing. I can’t say I was even hoping something would come out of it, I was just enjoying what I was doing — singing, recording, shooting the video — and then boom, we woke up famous the next day.

How much of that was overwhelming? Were you prepared for any of it?

Can you be prepared, when you are 15, to be a world No. 1 star? I don’t think so. I don’t think we were prepared. Even right now, I’m still working with a band that we worked on with t.A.T.u., and sometimes the musicians will be like, “Do you remember this, do you remember that?” I’m like, no. It was like in a dream. I couldn’t believe it was happening, and it was happening to me. What did I do to deserve that?

Did you actually have that question at 15?

I knew for sure that there are a lot of other girls who are a lot more talented than I am, with better voices, better experience, better looks, but it was me. A lot of people would give everything up to be in my place.

From the other place, I was absolutely happy. Like I said, I was living in a dream which I thought would never come true.

When you started out, you were working with Trevor Horn. Did you have any idea how big of a deal that was?

No, I didn’t realize that. Right now I absolutely do realize how huge it was, and what kind of experience we had working with all of these great producers. Trevor Horn wasn’t the only one. Sting played bass guitar on our second album, and we worked with Richard Carpenter (and Dave Stewart).

Do you have a favorite piece of memorabilia from those years that’s either on your wall, or in your closet, that sparks really great memories?

I do have a picture on my wall with Marilyn Manson and Eminem. That was an after-party for, as far as I remember, the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, where we performed “Not Gonna Get Us” with hundreds of girls in school uniforms coming up to the stage. It was awesome.

You had controversy attached to you with the lesbian angle of t.A.T.u. In retrospect, did anything about people's reactions to that surprise you?

Not really. It didn’t because the LGBT topic, it’s a hot topic in Russia still, and in some other countries. I think that the image that we actually came up with, that was the, I don’t know, genius idea, not only for us becoming famous, which I think that probably the image worked for, too, but we also had amazing songs, which is the most important thing.

Throughout, a lot of people were coming out of the closet. They were like, “Oh my God, I’m not alone in this.” So I’m looking at it as we helped a lot of people to realize that it’s not a sickness, it’s the way you are, it’s who you are, and if you are this way, then like Gaga’s song, you are born this way.

Do you have any stories of fans coming up to you saying your music was the reason they accepted themselves, or came out of the closet?

Thousands of letters; thousands of calls from fans on the (radio) shows. We even got a lot of emails saying that we saved his, or her life, because people were really ready to commit suicide, and we helped with our music — our music helped them to get through this. I’m telling you that I have goosebumps on my body. I think that’s a really big big big thing.

Your former musical partner, Julia, made some anti-gay comments that caused some eyebrows to be raised. You, on the other hand, have done a lot of work in the LGBT community. Have you been in touch with her, are you two still close at all?

We have not been in touch for a pretty long time. We got into a fight. We finished t.A.T.u., and I was doing my solo album, and we tried to work together for a little more after (the reunion to play at) the Olympics (in Sochi in 2014), because, I mean, you can’t say no to the Olympics. It didn’t really go anywhere because very soon it became clear that we cannot work together, so we got into a fight again, and we’re not in touch in any kind of way.

That’s sad.

It is sad. It is very sad, but that’s the way it is.

People change, and then you just grow apart because you have different points of view on things, a different way of working, and treating other people. It happened. It happened, and I’m actually happy that it happened.

Are you happy because it represents moving on to another phase of your life?

Yes. I am very happy because without us breaking up, I would probably never have started a solo career and never become a writer and start writing songs and grow up, because when you are in a band it’s a little different, you divide everything by two. All the energy — I’m not talking about the money right now — I’m talking about the psychological aspect of this.

When I started the solo career I realized I am responsible for myself, for nobody else, and everything depends on me. When you realize that I think it makes you stronger, it makes you smarter, wiser, it makes you research, it makes you go back and realize, and think, and make decisions, or try to make decisions, and look at things a little bit differently.

Tell us about your solo album, This Is Who I Am.

It's all me. It took me five years to finish this album, and it’s just everything — every thought in my soul, in my head, in my heart, different situations in life, that’s how my songs were created, under bad things happening, and good things happening, in life.

I was really depressed because t.A.T.u. was all I knew. I knew how to be in a band. I didn’t know how to be a solo artist. I was super scared. I felt like the ground was going out from under my feet. I was losing it, to be honest. I was so depressed. When I got the offer to do a solo project, it saved me.