In the Spotlight
Our guest today is singer Rita Skochilo, a performer of popular music. Her fiery performances on stage and confident vocals give a charge of positive energy to the audience. The artist shared her experiences of life on stage, participation in a famous Ukrainian show, and what it’s like to be a pop singer in Kyrgyzstan.
- I wrote the song two years ago and worked on it for a long time. In fact, it is a very labor-intensive and tedious process... It’s rare for something to come together immediately. You write a chorus, then spend a long time thinking about the verses. If you don’t like it, you put it “under the rug.” Then you bring it out again. I came to the studio about 30 times to record and process it. Initially, the song was supposed to be in Russian, but after the arrangement, I came up with a slightly different melody and lyrics in English. It’s a dance track that you can light up to on stage. The single will definitely be included in the album. I can’t say when it will be released; we are actively working on it now. By the way, there will be songs not only in English and Russian but also in Kyrgyz.
According to the author, the song Ultraviolet is about the love of a guy and a girl who have broken up. However, fate brings them together again in a nightclub, in the light of ultraviolet…
- Being a singer is not just about vocals, but also choreography, appearance, costumes, etc. How do you manage? All your performances are accompanied by energetic dances. How do you manage to combine live singing and dance numbers?
- A singer should do their job, and their team should help them - with clothing, makeup, organizing meetings, etc. But due to a limited budget, I often have to do everything myself. I must admit that it is a lot of work. On stage, it’s very important not only to sing live but also to move beautifully. Then the people who came to the concert also “light up” and enjoy what they see.
- Was participating in the Ukrainian TV show X-Factor enjoyable for you?
- Thanks to this competition, I realized that I am capable of a lot. We were tested for endurance – we couldn’t really get enough sleep, and we didn’t always have time to eat. We had to learn new songs in a very short time. But the most challenging part was working in a team. For example, in our trio, there was a participant who constantly hit false notes and didn’t want to admit it. The organizers and producers were fine with it – the more the participants struggled, the more interesting the show became…
Thousands of people came to auditions in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odessa, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv to get here. Only 100 people become direct participants in the show. And only the most interesting and memorable performances make it to the air. I was lucky. An incident occurred on the project when the judges, music critic Sergey Sosedov and popular rapper Seryoga, argued about my performance. The latter turned against me, saying that my performance didn’t deserve attention. It turned out that I became a kind of apple of discord.
- What did participating in the contest give you professionally?
- Any victory, even the smallest one, is a boost to self-confidence. After all, no matter how you look at it, an artist is an ambitious and doubtful creation. But most importantly, success provides the opportunity to perform on worthy stages and become recognizable.
- At the festival "Osh - 3000," the whole country saw you for the first time. What did you feel?
- It’s hard to forget such a moment; I, a little Russian girl, sang the song "Kyrgyz Dzhigitteri" in front of a huge audience. Later, the media called me a Russian Kyrgyz. I’ll let you in on a little secret: before the concert, the festival organizers told me that I would have to sing to a backing track (at that time, television couldn’t record sound and video simultaneously). As soon as they told me this, I had a panic attack. My parents had always told me since childhood that I should always sing live. Seeing my reaction, the organizers assured me, “You will sing live!” But when I went on stage, I realized that they had deceived me. This was one of the biggest disappointments of my childhood. Looking back on it now, I’m just amazed at how I, despite such stress, didn’t stop and continued to sing as if nothing had happened in front of a crowd of thousands.
- How do you manage to run a household and engage in creativity?
- When your partner supports you, understands, and accepts that you can’t live without the stage, and doesn’t demand that you give it up for them, then everything is good in the family. I am very grateful to fate for having my loved one with me.
- Many artists say that life without the stage is impossible. What about you?
- There was a time in my life when I didn’t perform for about six months. I fell into such a depression!.. It was at that moment that I realized that I couldn’t live without the stage. I quit my job and began to prepare intensively for X-Factor. I remember how my dad casually asked, “Maybe you should finally get a job?” And I replied that after you and mom let me go on stage in early childhood, I can’t live without it now. And now my parents see that this is my life.
- What is the goal of your activity? Popularity, worldwide recognition?
- People generally advise planning your life. I realized that this doesn’t always work out. For me, it’s important, when I go on stage, to awaken beautiful feelings and positive emotions in the audience. That’s the most important thing! Of course, I want as many people as possible to feel the magic of music. That’s why popularity is needed. But just being famous for the sake of popularity is absurd.
- What would you advise to aspiring artists?
- Beginners don’t always understand why they go on stage. Most believe that being an artist is easy. But there’s another side that requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and patience. So I would advise approaching this platform with caution, without respect for the stage and the audience. Aspiring artists need to clearly understand that the stage has existed for centuries, thriving without them. Some think that as soon as they step in front of the audience, everyone will be crazy about them. Only when a person feels that they are performing not for themselves can we talk about them stepping onto the path of a true artist, one that people want to watch, spending their time and money.
