@vanitypl8.lax ’s Anastasiya Bobrova grew up in Yakutsk, the coldest city on Earth, on the fourth floor of an apartment block surrounded by a thick layer of Siberian permafrost. Her paternal grandpa was a German P.O.W. sentenced to hard labor at a nearby gulag, while her maternal grandfather was a well-known poet. Placed in his care as a toddler, she spent her childhood in the cold until her mother returned when she was nine, with her new Ukrainian step-dad and a one-way ticket to suburban Utah.
At this point, the VANITY PL8 songwriter can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of her own upbringing, recalling an adolescence spent mud-trucking, riding motocross, and going to the rodeo. Her expression softens when she talks about those years, thinking about the “nostalgia of that fucking reckless, suburban, haphazard, sun-soaked, fun environment,” and how it was “complete Woodstock ‘99 vibes.” She deepens the connection even further by mentioning her teenage love of that festival’s headliners Limp Bizkit and Sugar Ray, whose catchy hooks and pop-punk melodies influenced the sound of “PT Loser,” the lead single from VANITY PL8’s debut Bikini Daycare EP.
Read
@sndrsng ’s feature with Anastasiya Bobrova and Brandon Pierce at the link in bio, or head to TheFADER.com.
📸 Jack Angell
#VANITY PL8
