Jamala, Jerry Heil, Natalya Mogilevskaya, Zlata Ognevich, Olya Polyakova, Pianoboy, VovaZiLvova, Marina KRUTь, DANTES, Kozak Siromaha, Quest Pistols - these are just some of the artists with whom music producer and songwriter Roman Cherenov, better known as Morphom, has collaborated or continues to collaborate. Now he and his family live in Portugal and, despite everything, he is trying to be as useful as possible to Ukraine.
– Roman, we met you at the concert of rap artist VovaZiLvova and his wife Vsiudysvoia in Lisbon. I’ll be honest: I didn’t know anything about you before, but I liked your songs so much that I started looking for more information. It turned out that you are the author of many Ukrainian hits, and began your creative career by writing music for commercials and TV series. Tell us about yourself. – Working in music, which over time began to feed me and my family, is a combination of circumstances and a certain perseverance. The author of the first original melody for an advertisement for Bonjour sweets, Vladimir Kripak, is the person to whom I owe the fact that I ended up in the musical field. Working at the Baker Street Studio in Kyiv, I met wonderful people, began to develop and gained a foundation of experience that remains with me to this day..
The second person who, one might say, gave me a ticket to show business was the singer Jamala. We started collaborating in 2015: these are the songs “Bilshe”, I believe in you and others.
– Which Ukrainian artist became a discovery for you – Last year I worked with singer Marta Adamchuk for the first time. We made a song called " Marta is very collected and independent. I am impressed by such qualities in artists - it makes collaboration easier and improves results. Because when it comes to work, most people live in illusions.
I also started collaborating with blogger Bogdan Andrukh, whom I had previously avoided for some reason. At that time, I had enough orders, so we only corresponded with him on Instagram. Over time, it turned out that we work very well together. Bogdan is an educated musician and an extraordinary artist.
– My youngest daughter really likes the song “Lyubov, borscht, lawn” performed by Andrukh and writer Katya Blestka. Did you expect it to be such a success – Bogdan then “hyped” with his reels: the number of subscribers grew from 20 thousand to 100 thousand. He received a wave of popularity - accordingly, something was expected from him. This “expected something” was the song with Katya Blestka, who had actually never sung before. But we have gone through the process of understanding how to do this, because when the vocals of a person who has little experience are turned on, the question arises: “What is this?”? "
– Which artist do you have a close relationship with – I have no desire to “stay close” to someone. Of course, I really miss Max Ptashnik, the author of the hit “Don’t Batch Anybody,” which became popular on TikTok in 2022 and collected millions of plays on various music platforms. We used to spend a lot of time together, as much as possible, because he lived in Lvov, and I then still lived in Kyiv. Now we haven't seen each other since the beginning of the war.
VovaZiLvova came to visit us in Portugal, we even toured with him here. We were supposed to go together on his tour of Europe for 3.5 months, but I refused because I thought it was quite expensive for a family of four. In addition, you fall out of schedule, possible orders and turn into some kind of hippie. But the biggest risk is missing out on the relationship.. Because one person rarely copes with such challenges, but here you are traveling with two families, four children and five adults. I have had the experience of such long vacations with loved ones. Everything is fine until the moment when you cannot please yourself, because you need to please someone else. I'm not saying the tour was supposed to be a vacation, but we still could have ruined the relationship. In addition, we had just moved into our house, which we managed to purchase, because living in Europe and paying rent is a thankless thing.
In fact, I maintain working relationships with all artists or cultural figures, that is, there are no people whom I would ignore. Quite often this is communication even in the stand-up genre. For example, when I wrote the music for the series “Obrezheno Pridatni”, I had the feeling that director Arkady Nepitaluk and I were working “weakly”, because he proposed making avant-garde jazz, where the trumpet is the main instrument. This was a challenge for me because I don't play the trumpet.. The process was not without some teasing.. However, everything worked out - Arkady approved the music.
– You also collaborated with Mikhail Klimenko, frontman of the group ADAM, whose sudden death shocked many. How do you remember him – Adam was a man who did his own thing and could not answer calls and messages. He devoted himself 100% to creativity. When I lived in Kyiv, I went to the gym, across the street from which Adam had his own corner at Alexander Ponomarev’s studio “From morning to night”. So I went to see him from time to time..
I remember him as a person who does not waste time on trifles, but does his job. And, oddly enough, he was very modest. The artist must be authentic, not repeat a conventional trend, but be aware of how it differs. Adam and his wife Sasha made simple videos, did not try to pretend to be someone, but did what is becoming popular literally just now - to be not a polished picture, but who you really are.
– You supported the petition, which was registered by the famous producer Vadim Lisitsa, to award Mikhail Klimenko the posthumous title of People’s Artist of Ukraine? - Yes, I signed it.
– What do you know about the public conflict that broke out between the singer Kazhanna and the Jerry Heil label Let me remind you that Anna Makienko (Kazhanna) stated that she is in a “slave contract” with NOVA MUSIC and cannot break it, despite preliminary agreements. – An artist is a walking ambition, otherwise artists would not exist at all. Sooner or later, everyone wonders whether they need a producer. Jerry Heil at one time left Secret Service Entertainment Agency (producer and owner of the company - Mikhail Yasinsky. – Ed. ), and I believe that such changes are growth.
At the same time, there is another part of the artists who develop well together with the producer. To figure out who is right in such conflicts, you need to know the details of the agreements, and, as a rule, no one knows them except the participants themselves. I will say this as someone who has signed contracts many times: where there is smoke, there is usually fire.. – Have you collaborated with Russian artists If so, did any of them support you when the full-scale invasion began – Until February 24, 2022, I really “sinned” by collaborating with Russian artists and I repent of it. Of those you may know, this is Arseny Borodin (finalist of “Star Factory - 6”), who also made feats (feat is an abbreviation for the English featuring, which translates as “with participation,” that is, when several artists participate in the creation of a song. – Ed. ) for Victoria Daineko (finalist of “Star Factory - 5”, supports Russia’s war against Ukraine, participant in the “Peacemaker” base) and Vadim Oleynik.
When the full-scale invasion began, he cut off all contacts with them.. There was no support from them.
– How do you remember February 24th – We returned to Kyiv from Ivano-Frankivsk on the night of February 24 – we went to a songwriting session (songwriting session is a joint creative meeting, usually of musicians, songwriters, composers and producers, aimed at creating a new musical composition; from idea to finished lyrics, melody and arrangement, where participants share thoughts and ideas for writing a song. – Ed. We refueled the car, just entered the room, didn’t even have time to lie down when it all started. Without thinking, they grabbed the children, unpacked suitcases that were standing on the threshold, jumped into the car and drove to the border.
- And they let you through? – Mobilization had not yet been announced, that is, in fact, the border was already closed behind us. Therefore, those who, like us, were prepared, left without traffic jams. We crossed the border to be on the safe side. This was the reference point for all people at that time. But “a week or two” turned into two months, then suddenly a year had already passed, then the second one, since we lived in Poland. And it turned out that all the time I seemed to be standing at the door, waiting for it to be safe to enter.
During that period, I really fell in love with Poland, the Poles, we have friends there, but I remembered an old dream before the war - to live in different countries. We realized that if we don't make this decision now, it will be more difficult over time.. And if you have such an idea, it’s worth a try, because willpower is such a thing: it doesn’t accumulate, but diverges.
We traveled through those European countries that were interesting to us: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy. And here's where we haven't been yet - this is Portugal, which we liked the most. For six months we mentally prepared the children for the next move.. And during this time they formed an environment, friends.
– There was no desire to return to Ukraine during these almost four years? - This is an interesting question. I try not to think about it, because then I have to come up with arguments and justify myself. There are situations that I cannot influence, so there is no point in increasing stress. Now my priority is family. I focus on what I am responsible for, so I avoid unnecessary “picking” within myself regarding return or non-return.
We strive to be useful for Ukraine. How I can be useful is to organize concerts. We did one of the first two weeks after we arrived - just in the gallery of an old Portuguese house, in which there was nothing, only paintings hung. Or some artist comes here, I suggest doing a concert together. I also conduct collaborations with local musicians who are also not averse to showing themselves. Today all my concert and creative activities are charity. For example, the song “Light before Light” in collaboration with Marina Krut, Sofia Leshishak and Valeria Vovk is also the name of a collection from the charity foundation “TIKHO”, where we collected about 17 million hryvnia, and all future funds from listening to the song will also go to charity. Andrey Liman is a co-founder of the foundation, he is also a military man and a volunteer, a very energetic person. It was his idea. When he organizes a collection, he thinks through everything down to the details, that is, it’s not just “we urgently need to close the collection” - there is a whole strategy.
To be honest, I’m stupid that I don’t count how much money this brings in, but since the beginning of a full-scale war we haven’t given a single commercial concert. We send absolutely all the money collected to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. My wife also has a significant achievement - the local museum organized an exhibition in which they allocated a separate space for her paintings. Funds from their sales are used to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
– Your children also perform on stage with you. Are they willing to go out in public or do you sometimes have to persuade them – I perform with children because it’s more convenient - they are next to me and involved in the process. But, of course, it is important to create conditions for them so that they are interested. Because as soon as the child says no, that’s it, you’ve lost.. Therefore, the task here is not to persuade, but to interest and give the feeling that this is their own choice..
– I saw your video on YouTube, where you said that you earned 100 thousand dollars from your music. - Of course, I make money from my music, I live from it, but in such a way that 100 thousand dollars would come and go - there is no such thing. That is, I cannot say that I received this money in its pure form, because taxes are paid. In addition, we have a very vague history with labels and distribution.
When a feature first appeared in ChatGPT, with which you can explore the amount of money earned over a certain period, I took advantage of it. Although it is very difficult to achieve specific reports or figures. I remember how unexpectedly our song together with VovaZiLvova “Shukav you” took off. Knowshov to you" At that time, we didn’t even know how to get money for views, how to report. Now I'm already systematized. I have a wallet in one place - I see exactly how much I earned and for what period.
– You actively use artificial intelligence in your songs, while Vasily Lazarovich and other artists are worried that at this rate, music authors will simply be left without work in five years. “Those who say that could really end up without a job.”. I have no worries about this. I am actively researching this topic and I can say that in fact artificial intelligence is just another tool. When mobile phones appeared, we were able to listen to any song in a second, whereas before we were looking for a tape recorder with two cassettes in order to be able to rewrite it.
There is another side - the relative ease of access to instruments gives rise to a whole sphere of people who suddenly decided to be musicians. Those who have been working in this field for many years and understand well how everything works automatically become experts, and the demand for them is only growing. Artificial intelligence has produced so much garbage that songs have become short and meaningless. So we won't just be out of work - we'll be on the hunt for what's truly authentic. And in this sense, it turns out that we are on the right track. That is, in this way conventional garbage is eliminated, because the value that emotion and the ability to work with tools bring has not disappeared anywhere.
Artificial intelligence is just an algorithm. I use it in different ways, but globally nothing has changed. So far he doesn't do anything better than me. Now the big problem is to select from everything generated what the potential client really wants to hear, because I can send him 20 options in different genres of one song. A few years ago you could only dream about this, but today you think: do you really need to listen to 20 options and still not find your song At this moment, the value of the expertise of a person automatically increases, who will advise you not to listen to everything, but to choose the option that resonates with the song and the meanings that the artist wants to convey.
– During songwriting sessions, various celebrities came to your studio, most of whom communicated with you in Russian, while you answered in Ukrainian. Has it always been this way – I grew up without parents. My dad was a military man and died as a result of radiation exposure at a military base in Irkutsk. My mother also died, so I was raised by a Russian-speaking grandmother. It's not that I didn't speak Ukrainian, but it wasn't 100% my language. In my own family - with my wife and children - I always communicated in Ukrainian, but for some reason at work I switched to Russian. I finally switched to Ukrainian after 2014. I set myself a challenge - not to switch to Russian for two weeks, but this challenge is still ongoing (smiles). Now I’m communicating with someone, say, a high-ranking person, they turn to me: “Hello, Roman” - I say: “Good afternoon”. The interlocutor continues in Russian, and I answer again in Ukrainian. Later, people understand that I won’t switch, and they themselves switch to Ukrainian. That's it.
– From your words everything is so simple. – The more we create obstacles, the more we believe in them.. You shouldn’t suffer for the Russian language – you just need to let it go. Previously, we were not proud of the fact that we speak Ukrainian in business conversations, but now, on the contrary, we are ashamed to speak Russian. It turns out that today Russian has become a language of inferiority. Surzhik is not scary, but even cool. If we persecute people for surzhik, then, relatively speaking, they will hide like turtles in their shell. Therefore, in any case, it is better to speak Surzhik than the language of inferiority.