Anastasia Shevchenko under the pseudonym STASIK presented a new song and music video ‘Heroes Die’. In the video work she tried on the image of Haron, a character from Greek mythology who carried the souls of the dead to the kingdom of Hades
The music video is dedicated to Roman Ratushnyi and ‘to the memory of each of your loved ones who died in this war’. This is the singer’s first work in a year and a half. It was shot by a creative tandem — director Anna Buryachkova and cinematographer Olena Chekhovska (‘When We Were 15’).
‘I should have released this song a long time ago. In fact, even before the full-scale invasion. — STASIK tells DTF Magazine. — But only this winter I mustered up enough strength to take that leap, to finish the music processing and make the decision to come out publicly naked again and talk about the important things’.
‘Heroes don’t die has been a well-established phrase since the beginning of the russia-Ukraine war. It was meant to fuel our spirit and keep our fallen comrades alive in our hearts and memories, — STASIK says in a press release. — But we must also face the hard truth. In reality, heroes do die. This specific person, or another one, is suddenly gone, leaving a haunting void behind. Thus, the slogan has to remain just that, while we need to remember that heroes die, and they are dying for us. And so, it is our obligation to live our lives with dignity, standing up to our enemy as our heroes did for us’.
Director Anna Buryachkova was responsible for all visual decisions. STASIK calls her ‘a guide to the world of visual language and she chooses how to show words with pictures’. However, the image of Charon in the music video was invented by the singer: ‘I have this experience. I know what it means to hold a fallen warrior on his last journey’.
STASIK: «I worry I would never write anything, I am not a singer anymore»
Currently, STASIK works as a military medic (she is a veteran of the ATO and returned to the front in 2022) and therefore in the music video you can see her fellow servicemen and servicewomen. She speaks with special attention about the people in the frame: ‘My partner, with whom I went side by side during the war, took part in the shooting of the music video. The girl under whose guidance I do medical evacuation from time to time. A young guy whose group I accompanied as a medic. Another friend of mine with whom we fought together during the Kherson campaign. And three people who are symbols: an older woman who symbolizes all the inconspicuous women who don’t maintain Instagram and TikTok accounts, but who do great work in the war, from cooks to grenadiers and combat vehicle commanders. And a girl who lost a leg in the war and is a symbol of girls who paid a higher price than others during this war. And another guy who for me is a symbol of all the wounded’.
In our 2022 interview, STASIK already told us about this track and the possible reaction to it:
‘This is a song about war, about the part of war that people don’t want to hear about. It’s not my lyrics, it was written and published on Facebook by a poet I know, about a year ago. I immediately told her I wanted to sing it. She seemed to take out all my thoughts and just put them into it. I realized it was exactly what I should say out loud. That’s why I immediately asked for this song and, by the way, I was going to release it before the start of the war on February 24. And now I understand that if I release it, I’ll get a rather unpleasant and harsh reaction, mostly from people who really love Lullaby. But this song is true. And if I have any strength and any inspiration to make one song, it will be 100% this one’.
When we asked her what kind of reaction she expects today and if she is ready for it, she said: ‘I don’t expect any more reactions, but I am ready for it’.
Anastasia Shevchenko under the pseudonym STASIK has released seven videos on her YouTube channel and the same number of tracks on streaming services — that’s all she has published in five years, — and her live program lasts no more than 20 min. Shevchenko’s physical and mental health suffered due to her participation in the fighting and she has been restoring it all these years. The pain after the war (physical pain and clinical depression) is one of the things that shaped STASIK and her own style. In April 2022, she went to the front again as a combat medic.
