Люди-Инвалиды (Lyudi-Invalidy)

Lyudi-Invalidy (in English: Disabled People) is the second Russian-language studio album by t.A.T.u., released on 21 October 2005.

The album’s production started in 2004 and its early stages were chronicled on the reality show t.A.T.u. v Podnebesnoy. Demo versions of some of the tracks were featured on the show. However, due to the group parting ways with their manager Ivan Shapovalov, a lot of the songs from the show ended up being cut while others were re-recorded.

Lyudi-Invalidy was preceded by the release of its title track as a single, but failed to receive attention worldwide and fared poorly on Russian charts. It ended up being the only single from the album released in Russia. However, the album does feature “All About Us”, which served as the album’s lead single on international markets.

At the time of the album’s release, it received a lot of controversy due to its title and overall theme. In particular, an extract from the album’s booklet was problematic:

Disabled people are born that way and will die that way. They don’t know what it means to be human. They are an imitation, based on an anthropoid template. They have legs, hands, and other parts of the body; they are physically indistinguishable from humans. But disabled people do not live—they merely function. Their functions are described by the laws of mechanics and by four traits: cruelty, stupidity, greed, meanness. All activity is effective, predictable, dim, and destructive. All bad, very bad, and horrible events are the result of the activities of disabled people. We live among them and rarely notice this big human fake.

The group received a lawsuit from the Commission For Human Rights for the Komi Republic after they claimed the album degraded people with disabilities.

Lyudi-Invalidy performed decently in Russia and ended up receiving a platinum certification from the NFPF for shipping over 50,000 copies.