A song about “lack of light” is causing controversy in Ukraine. How a well-known performer from a neighboring country ended up publicly apologizing for “a message of unity” – VIDEO
A piece of music performed by one of the most famous Ukrainian artists, Tina Karol, sparked a huge controversy on social networks, forcing the singer to come up with explanations and publicly apologize.
The piece performed by Tina Karol talks about the “lack of light” and heat, in the conditions of frequent and repeated Russian bombings of the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Although the stated intention was to convey a message of solidarity and unity in difficult circumstances, the public reaction was largely critical and ironic.
This contrasts with the many unity songs released after 2022, which have been widely accepted and supported by the public, and shows how sensitive the public space has become around themes of everyday life in wartime.
At the same time, Tina Karol is known for her strong support for the Ukrainian military and her firm pro-Ukrainian stance in Russia's war against her country.
The clip, originally published on the artist's social platforms, shows Tina Karol in a semi-dark room, holding a cup of tea and performing lyrics such as:
“We don't have light, but we have heat.
We don't have warmth, but we have kindness.
We don't have water, but we have us –
We are together, we are a family.
We have no light, but we have heat.
And we will overcome all evil,
Because we love each other
And that's all, that's all”
(no Text was translated by HotNews for this article).
“Who thought this text would be appropriate now?”
Some critics have interpreted the tone of the song as a mockery of the real suffering of the population, as the lack of electricity, heat and water dominates public discussion in Ukraine. The message was perceived by some of the public as disconnected from the harsh reality of power outages, lack of water and heating that many Ukrainians face. Among the comments that appeared were messages such as:
“We don't have electricity at all… but at least we have songs like this to laugh at (sic!)”, “How do you keep the baby warm when we're out in the cold for 6 hours a day and you're singing to us about kindness?” or “Who thought this text would be appropriate now? It's like a stupid meme.”
Others wrote in the comments on the singer's video on TikTok: “We have no light, because the deputies stole the money. They increased the excise tax, closed the border. There is no water, I can't flush the toilet, but as long as we are entertained by such “singers”, I realize that this is still not all.”
“I had to turn off the light in the room to film the clip.”
“We don't have light, we don't have heat, we don't even have anything to heat our food. We even sleep wearing jackets, and it's +5 degrees in the house…”
The artist's reaction: “I wanted to unite everyone”
The negative reactions surprised the artist. In a video message published on Instagram and Telegram, Tina Karol admitted that she did not anticipate the extent of the criticism and explained that her intention was exactly the opposite: to, in fact, convey a message of unity in these difficult times for many Ukrainians.
“I wanted to unite everyone with a fragment of this composition, but here I am united everyone against me. Some kind of meme came out. Nothing, please forgive me, although this is a painful meme for me,” she declared.
The artist emphasized that the song is not a new one, but a reinterpretation of an older track, written in 2023 by Danylo Horodetskyi, which she chose to sing to support a young creator. Karol also categorically rejected the accusations that the song was made at the behest of the authorities or as part of a propaganda message.
“It's not an order from the authorities, it's not a propaganda guide. I'm not following any kind of orders… I wanted to sing about the fact that we have nothing, but we have each other in these hard times,” Karol said.
The singer also mentioned that she also faces power outages, has a generator bought with her own funds and that the message of the song is about human warmth, hope and mutual support, not about minimizing real difficulties.
These days the inhabitants of Ukraine are facing a major energy crisis, due to Russian bombings. Temperatures outside reach -20 at night. More than 80% of Kiev is without electricity, and this means that only in the capital of Ukraine more than 2.4 million people are out in the cold, out of the total population of about 3 million.
