The girls of this group have already grown up considerably since the official founding of the group (autumn 2012). Their adult fans are increasingly asking: “When will the time of “Open Kids” finally end and the era of “Open Girls” begin, isn’t it time?” In May 2018, in an interview with the portal “karabas.live,” the creator and producer of the group, Yuri Petrov, thoughtfully answered: “It’s a difficult question... Mostly teenagers go to girls’ concerts, and raising the age limit means losing a large audience. We are at a crossroads, the time will tell.” And in December 2019, the girls themselves, in response to the same question on the YouTube channel “Without Makeup with Anna Butkevich,” confidently stated: “We’re definitely not planning on it! Yes, we have grown up, but in a sense we still remain children.” And it’s true: “Open Kids” against the backdrop of the general vulgarization of the stage, in the cigarette smoke and drug trance of today’s youth show business - they look like children, pure, unspoiled, sincerely cheerful. But you can’t call the group “presnyatina” - they charge you with energy and a great mood to the fullest!
https://www.instagram.com/open_kids/
Who, if not young girls, can build a strong bridge between two countries that were once native, but are now mired in unresolved contradictions? Who performs equally successfully on both Ukrainian and Russian stages, and they are not accused at home (strange, right?) of treason if they go on tour to a state involved in an irreconcilable conflict? In which group did the girls born in Kyiv and Chelyabinsk establish excellent relationships? The ambassadors of peace should not be fat officials who think first of all about their pockets, but girls like these - joyful, open, simple-minded, honest. Maybe that’s why “Open Kids” are so successful in Ukraine and Russia, and in all the former CIS republics, that they are the “face” of lost happiness, unity, kinship without borders and nationalities? After the release of their new official video “Exboyfriend” on the Internet, the group’s popularity took a new sharp leap upward, and fans of the artists are frantically turning the Internet around in search of details about their idols.
The history of the appearance of the group “Open Kids” on the Ukrainian stage, their first success
The birthplace of this successful Ukrainian collective is the Republic of Ukraine, the city of Kyiv, or more precisely, from where at least three generations of talented children have come out who have received an excellent artistic education. Vocals, drawing, dancing, acrobatics, professional acting skills - this is what girls and boys are taught at Open Art Studio, and anyone who applies literally “from the street” can become a student at the studio. The founder of the company, Yuri Petrov (producer of “Open Kids”) once said: “I have a son growing up, and the current youth culture as a father worries me. Propaganda of drugs, alcohol, and free behavior is strictly prohibited in our country, and children often leave us and return to “street” culture, but some remain.” Just among them are members of the girl band “Open kids”.
Yes, many teenagers who came to study at the Open Art Studio school said: “It’s boring here!” - and left the studio, returned to the street, where they could sing obscene rap, drink beer in the entrance, smoke cigarettes (or even something more dangerous). It seemed to them that smoking weed and hanging out on records was cool, but these “traitors” did not even suspect what a truly cool future Petrov was preparing for some of his devoted students. The first lineup of the band, which showed itself to a wide audience in October 2012: these were Victoria Vernik, Yulia Gamaliy, Anya Bobrovskaya, Angelina Romanovskaya and Lera Didkovskaya - five girls were chosen by Yuri Petrov to create a children's girl group. But in fact, the formation of the ensemble occurred much earlier than the release of the “bomb” video on the Internet.
Here’s how the girls themselves talked about that moment in an interview published on the official website of “Open Kids”: “All five of us (meaning the old cast) had already studied at Open Art Studio, studied choreography, acting and vocals, and were know each other. Yuri Petrov came up to us and invited everyone to a meeting at Murakami (a Kiev sushi bar) and said that he had to discuss something important. And when we got together, the first thing he asked us was: “Are you ready for serious work?” And he immediately explained that he wanted to create a girl group, call it “Open Kids”, and we would be its members. We were very excited, but the work has already started!” This happened around the summer of 2011: then there were long rehearsals, filming, discussion of future plans, and it lasted almost a year.
A little about the first line-up of the group, which immediately captivated the musical audience of Ukraine and instantly became widely known both in Russia and among the entire Russian-speaking teenage contingent.
Angelina Romanovskaya
Angelina Romanovskaya https://www.instagram.com/romanovska_22/
Born in Kiev in 2000, December 22. Zodiac sign – Capricorn. She grew up in a large family: she is the youngest, and the Romanovskys also have two older girls, Masha and Ilona. Mom and Dad's names are Bogdan and Galina. Enrolling in the Open Art Studio school and taking a vocal course there was the beginning of her creative career. The owner of the handsome cat Murchik. He loves to read, his favorite books are the Harry Potter series of novels.
Valeria Didkovskaya
Valeria Didkovskaya https://www.instagram.com/leronny__17__/
Born in Kiev in 2000 on April 17, her zodiac sign is Aries. Snezhana and Ruslan Didkovsky have another child in their family - Lera’s older brother Vlad. Their family has another “resident”, a four-legged Yorkshire terrier, Porsche. The girl dreamed of becoming an artist from early childhood, and her parents gave in to her fervent requests and sent her to the already mentioned studio. Lera, despite being very busy in the studio, studied well at school and managed to do her homework in the intervals between school classes and visits to the Open Art Studio. She loves the Twilight series, the films A Beautiful Mind, and Step Up.
Yulia Gamaliy
Julia Gamaliy https://www.instagram.com/juliaopenkids3._/
Her date of birth is 2003, August 30, zodiac sign is Virgo. A native of Ukraine, she grew up in Kyiv: her parents, in addition to the girl, also have an eldest son, Roman. In 2010, I entered the first grade of school and at the same time entered the choreography department at Open Art Studio. According to her, there was not even a thought of becoming a singer: she saw her future only on the dance stage, visited the studio with pleasure, and did not miss a single lesson. The girl loves animals; she always had a real menagerie at home: cats, fish, snails, rabbits, a hamster.
Anna Bobrovskaya
Anna Bobrovskaya https://www.instagram.com/annie.bobrovska/
Born in Kiev in 2002, November 30, zodiac sign - Sagittarius. As a child, her friends called her “Beaver” - by analogy with her last name and for her calm, friendly character. As a girl, she dreamed of dancing and singing professionally; she entered Yuri Petrov’s school in 2009. She is also the youngest in the family: Alexey and Alena Bobrovsky also have an eldest daughter, Nastya. Anya plays the guitar very well and can cook well. Her favorite book is the Hunger Games series, and the film of the same name is equally loved.
Victoria Vernik
She was born in the year 2000, on February 16, the girl’s zodiac sign is Aquarius. It is not clear who started the “canard” in the press that Lera is the daughter of the famous showman Igor Vernik: this is an absolute lie, her father is a citizen of Ukraine German Vernik, Vika and Igor are not even distant relatives. Vika (or Vikki, as her friends call her) is the eldest in the family - she has a younger sister, Valeria. As a child, I was interested in breeding aquarium fish, drawing, and writing poetry. Before Open Art Studio, at the insistence of her parents, she tried her hand (and quite successfully) in the modeling business.
Victoria Vernik https://www.instagram.com/vicky__vernik/
With this lineup, “Open Kids” released their first video clip on October 11, 2012, called “Show girls.” The Ukrainian pop group instantly became mega-popular on the Internet, although ill-wishers immediately appeared who grumbled: “Who will be interested in these chorus girls? Now something completely different is of interest - looseness, emancipation, a hint of licentiousness, and this eye-catching innocence will not be successful!” To which Yuri Petrov reasonably replied: “Remember the Tatu group, their demonstrative kisses and adult hugs? For people from the Soviet Union it was new and fresh, and that’s why it became interesting. Complete freedom has already become boring, and good girls on stage will undoubtedly become popular among their peers.”
Personal life of Lera Didkovskaya
The young star leads an active life on the Internet, which is what Valeria calls one of the most important components of success. In an interview, the girl says that no matter how busy she is, she always finds time to communicate with fans on VKontakte and Instagram and firmly follows the principles of “saying what you think” and “doing what you love.”
After graduating from school in 2020, Valeria became a student at the Kyiv University of Theater, Film and Television.
The personal life of the star is of particular interest to her fans, but Lera claims that she has not yet met a guy with whom she would agree to date. It is known that the girl lives in Kyiv with her parents, and devotes her free time to hobbies - playing percussion instruments, reading, going to the cinema and walking with her dog, a baby Yorkie named Porsche.
Lera Didkovskaya’s height is 167 cm
By the way, Porsche is an Instagram star; by the beginning of 2020, almost 15 thousand subscribers had subscribed to him! Porsche is a very fashionable guy, he loves to play, dress in bright suits, try on glasses and caps, and take pictures, however, it is not Lera who runs the funny dog’s page, but her dad Ruslan.
Lera Didkovskaya's pet
Their further work, change of composition
In April 2013, another video of the girl’s ensemble appeared on YouTube, it was called “Stop people!”, and many of their fans were already waiting for the release of this video - the group was immediately liked not only by teenagers, but also by adult viewers. The predictions of ill-wishers did not come true: the absence of deliberately careless clothing in the videos, zero hints of drugs, smoking, alcohol and open relationships were received very positively by the public. It is no secret that some earlier groups with a different direction, free and even “wrong”, had a resonance precisely in connection with the demonstration of bad manners and bad habits, but Yuri Petrov immediately took a different vector in his activities. His words: “Open Kids” appeared on the basis of the creative development of children, their proper upbringing, and it would be stupid and absurd to take their style in the other direction. That’s why we tried to preserve a large amount of innocence in the presentation, and we were right.”
In June 2014, a grand presentation of the girls’ new video clip entitled “For Dessert” took place at the City Beach Club in Kiev. A cheerful, cheerful video sequence, high-quality music, a talented performance of the song - all this immediately brought the video enormous popularity, people started talking about the group in Europe, their fame spread to America, it’s not worth mentioning the former CIS republics - it’s clear that the entire Russian-speaking music audience is there I rushed to watch the clip, which was almost immediately posted on the band’s social networks and YouTube. The girls instantly became popular on personal social networks, everyone became interested in looking at their life off stage, learning the details of their lives, their Instagram accounts literally “burst” from the influx of enthusiastic messages in direct messages.
The success of “Open Kids” was predictable for another reason: teenagers were really tired of shabby, hoarse singers who smoke in their videos, lie in bed, and wander through dark alleys. A large outflow of spectators from Russia at a certain time occurred towards South Korea - dancing and singing ensembles of a different, “light” style appeared there. And here - please, our relatives sing in Russian! “Why did the Koreans give in to us, if Ukrainian girls dance and sing so well, no worse, even better?” - the teenagers thought and quickly switched to the “Open Kids” clips. And in December 2014, the girls pleased their many fans with their participation in the art project “A World Without War”, starring in the video “A World Without War – Children of the Earth with the participation of “Open Kids”. The author of the song was the talented Ukrainian Ekaterina Komar, the author of the idea was Evgeniy Orlov, president of the Republic Kids club.
The video featured a huge number of participants, among them were simply children, non-professional actors, as well as winners and contestants of “The Voice”, “New Wave”, “Eurovision” and several other well-known projects. “This material was filmed so that, against the backdrop of general negative information in the press and on television, the viewer would receive at least a small but memorable portion of joy and positivity. Let everyone who watches the clip think: maybe he too can do something to make the world brighter and kinder?” – this is what was written in the announcement for the mini-film. It’s true that this was not a video clip, but a short film, with a good plot, sincere actors and professional performance of a wonderful song. The group began to be actively invited to perform, and the group’s management began to think seriously about solo concerts - the time had come for the girls to move from purely online performances to the live stage.
In November 2015, when “Open Kids” had already planned solo concerts in Kyiv, suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, unpleasant news came out: Victoria Vernik was going to leave the group. The official version was later voiced by Sergei Petrov, telling the following in an interview with the resource “karabas.live”: “Victoria’s mother did not act very nicely - she followed the principle, saying that she wanted to take her daughter on vacation, while we were planning our first concerts. A huge number of people were involved in the events - choreographers, lighting technicians, technicians, and many others. We couldn’t cancel the concerts because of her absence and put both all the workers and the spectators already buying tickets in an awkward position! I had to set a condition for Vika’s mother: her daughter is preparing for the concert, going to it, or leaving the group - and my mother, unfortunately, chose the second.”
So the four of them went to perform, because Vika Vernik, according to the stories of her singer friends, was literally at rehearsals yesterday, and then simply didn’t show up... There is another version of what happened, which was voiced by fans based on rumors. Allegedly, Vika could not cope with the double load, did not have time to rehearse, act in videos, study, and at school she began to receive C’s instead of B’s and A’s. This, of course, worried her mother, and she decided to give her daughter a chance to rest, to take a break. Alas, in show business, only those who literally work their butts off, devoting all their strength to the project in which they participate, survive! Vicky’s classmates also wrote online that she really began to study a little worse, the group distracted her greatly from her studies, and her parents were unhappy with this situation. In the situation with the concert, most likely, “the scythe hit the rocks,” and Victoria’s parents could not find a common language with the producer of the project.
Vika still managed to star in one more video before the unpleasant separation - “Don’t dance!” The video literally gained several million views within a day (currently the number of views has exceeded 80 million!), and on the wave of popularity, successful performances of the girls (already four of them) began on live stages. An interesting fact: even though the producers of the group and Victoria’s parents were at odds in the showdown when they were deciding whether the girl would stay or leave the group, the participants themselves did not quarrel at all! Yes, it was very unpleasant for them to find out that their girlfriend would no longer perform with them, some even cried with grief. They didn’t fight, they didn’t stop communicating: in an interview in the fall of 2019, the “old-timers” of the ensemble said frankly that they were on excellent terms with Vika and continued to be friends with her.
Their first big solo concert, by the way, took place in the prestigious Kiev club “Caribbean Club” in early December 2015. By that time, the video “Don’t Dance!” was presented on the “Europa Plus TV” channel in the “Breakthrough” category, and the award in the competition was not long in coming - the clip received rotation on television as a prize for winning. Meanwhile, passions were already in full swing on the Internet: the group announced a large casting for the vacant place in the team. “Are you hardworking, talented, musical, good at singing and moving? Then this competition is for you!” - such information appeared on the Internet, and thousands of girls from Ukraine and Russia rushed to fill out and send questionnaires. The casting conditions were strict: they announced that for any attempt at personal communication with the administration, and especially for bribery, the potential participant would be immediately disqualified, her name would be announced with disgrace in the media.
The “fresh wave” joined “Open Kids” in the person of Anna Muzafarova, who became a worthy addition to the band; with her arrival, the group really began to sparkle with new colors (not as a reproach to Vika Vernik - she, in fact, left herself). Here are some facts from her biography before joining the group.
Anna Muzafarova
Born in 2002, January 11, according to the horoscope - Capricorn. Place of birth: unlike the other participants, she was not born in Kiev, or even in Ukraine, but is a native of Chelyabinsk; later the family moved to Moscow. Before participating in the casting for a candidate for the group, she had a huge creative track record, including victories in several dozen prestigious competitions. Among them: victory in the “Baby Glamor” project (2009), First Prize at the International Festival “Crimealand” (2010), reaching the semi-finals in the “Children’s New Wave” in 2010 and 2011 (Moscow), title winner of the First Prize of the competition “Ural Gathers Friends” (2012), finalist of the Russian selection for Eurovision 2013.
Anna Muzafarova https://www.instagram.com/muzafarova_anna/
And this is not even half the list of her achievements! The girl also participated in the television project “Voice – Children”, although she did not reach the prizes there, but the venerable members of the jury paid attention to her and predicted a great future for her. She became the winner of the casting for participation in “Open Kids” with a large lead over all participants simultaneously in Ukraine and Russia - we can say that from the very beginning of the competition, many had no doubt that she would be the winner. Already with Anya Muzafanova, the team carried out a grand three-month tour of Russia at the end of 2016, giving the last sold-out concert at Moscow's Crocus City Hall on December 22. With this composition, the girls released their first video on the theme of love - “It seems.”
“Isn’t it time for the girls to shorten their shorts and put them in more revealing tops, because they have grown up significantly?” – they asked Yuri Petrov openly, hinting that the theme of purity and innocence is not very relevant in show business, and someday the “correct” style will become boring to fans. But Petrov firmly stood his ground: “It’s too early!” Even more to say - at rehearsals, according to him, sometimes he even “slowed down” his charges, telling them: “At this moment you are moving too openly, you should not demonstrate obvious, undisguised sexuality.” And he was not mistaken in his decisions: what haters had been predicting for a long time did not happen, the “Open Kids” videos were still popular, the girls were enthusiastically received at concerts.
In 2016, their triumphant path began only upward, exclusively to the very top of popular youth music.
- Receiving the “Real MisicBox Award” in Moscow, category – “Teenager Project of the Year”, November 2016;
- The same period – the release of the track and video “Coolest of all” together with “Quest Pistols Show”;
- End of November 2016: participation in the M1Music Awards nomination in the Project of the Year category;
- March 2017: “Kids' Choice Awards” - “Russian audience's favorite musical performer”;
- Summer-autumn of the same year: release of the videos “Hooligan”, “Inside”, “Generation Dance” (together with “NEBO 5”);
- 2018, the most significant year: the release of the hip-hop video “Jump” (together with the group “DETKI”), a concert tour in Moscow, the release of the clips “New Hit” and “Sticker”.
In connection with the scandalous departure of Vicki Wernick from the group, they have since tried to “peck” the group’s producers in the press, asking: “How do your girls feel in terms of their studies, does such a busy creative schedule affect their education?” Yuri Petrov invariably answered that they are trying to instill in the participants to correctly distribute their strength, to work not only in the group, but also outside it. “Anya Bobrovskaya is an excellent student at school, Valeria Didkovskaya is successfully studying at the institute, and the other girls are also doing well in terms of their studies,” he reported in an interview. Sergei never tired of repeating that he “keeps his finger on the pulse” in terms of communication with parents, and in no case will he allow the fathers and mothers of artists to be dissatisfied with the overload of children. More of his words on this topic: “True, no one promised that it would be easy! Sometimes we have to teach them lessons in transport, on airplanes.”
2019 news about “Open Kids”
February 2019: their first full-length album “Hulla Bubba” is released, which includes both already popular tracks and seven new releases, and immediately lyric videos for songs from the album called “In the Morning” and “Friend of Each Other” appear online . Successful, popular, they are on a wave of success, and suddenly at the beginning of spring there is again panic on the Internet: a new casting for the team has been announced, this time “the squad has lost a fighter” in the person of Anya Muzafarova. But she herself came to the team to replace the one who almost let down a large group of people before an important performance, how could that be? The official reason is “for family reasons,” but not very pleasant rumors spread in the press: supposedly Anna abruptly moved to another project, where, by the way, the daughter of Grigory Leps is performing. That's not the point, it's just a hint for those who are interested in the name of the group.
https://www.instagram.com/open_kids/
The casting for a new participant was not just widely announced - a grandiose reality show “I want to join Open Kids” took place. Passing the casting is a separate story, a large independent article can be devoted to this; the result of the creative competition was the victory of Liza Kostyakina, who is now a full member of the team. You also need to tell about her in at least a few words: how did Lisa live before coming to the casting, how did she show herself?
Elizaveta Kostyakina
She was born in Kyiv in 2003, on August 31, according to her horoscope - Virgo. She studied at the Kiev specialized secondary institution “Scandinavian Gymnasium”, and was especially successful in mastering the humanities and English. In school English language competitions, already in junior grades, she took prizes. As a child, I wanted to become a singer, I came to Open Art Studio in 2019, and plays the piano and drums beautifully. Favorite books are from English literature; she loves “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.
Elizaveta Kostyakina https://www.instagram.com/kostyakina_li/
At the beginning of December 2019, a new video of the group appeared online - it became “Exboyfriend”. The girls are no longer children, they have grown up, wear adult dresses, use a lot of cosmetics - this is a description of the plot of the video. And of course, the group’s trend is the theme of youthful love, boys, dating, it’s time to touch on this theme in creativity! “Open Kids” gave a surprise to their fans before the New Year - they appeared on the Inter channel and performed in the New Year’s program. On their Instagram they wrote a message to fans: “2019 was a very busy year for us, but we will continue to surprise and delight you in the future! New songs, videos, big concerts are waiting for you - we promise that there will be a lot of video works, wait for it!” The start of a big tour called “I want to go to Open Kids” has already been announced for February: the girls will visit twenty-two major cities in Russia, starting from Moscow and ending with Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk.
Childhood and youth
Didkovskaya Valeria Ruslanovna was born on April 17, 2000, zodiac sign is Aries. She spent her childhood in Kyiv, where the future singer lived with her family: mother Snezhana, father Ruslan and older brother Vlad.
Lera Didkovskaya at school
Lera dreamed of becoming an artist since childhood. Her parents supported the girl’s desire, so since 2010 she attended the Ukrainian art school “Open Art Studio”. Didkovskaya combined creativity and study: in the morning in class, and then in the studio. The girl managed to do her homework in the free time that remained after all classes.
The studio is a large-scale project where each child reveals his or her potential. The range of possibilities is extremely diverse: professionals teach children vocals, choreography, and playing musical instruments. In addition, theater skills and drawing are successfully taught there. Valeria played the drums, distinguished herself in the field of choreography and, of course, vocals. Favorite dance styles: jazz-funk, vogue and hip-hop.
About the personal life of the group members
The girls have millions of fans all over the world, and every day hundreds of guys write enthusiastic comments to each of the participants on their social media feeds. And only the girls themselves know what’s going on in their direct messages; there are probably a huge number of declarations of love and even marriage proposals. They are all well-chosen – beautiful and smart, but now for each of the performers in “Open Kids” the main thing is a musical career, and they are also too young to worry about not getting married and not having time to have children. On Instagram, of course, each of the girls has photos with fans and friends, but it is impossible to obtain information about their regular boyfriends. It is only known that all the members of the band are unmarried and have no children.
Biography of Lera Didkovskaya
Lera Didkovskaya is one of the five bright and talented members of the Open Kids girl band, who managed to captivate the audience with her voice, charm and excellent movement. Since 2012, fans of the group have watched their favorite girl grow up and discover new facets of creativity. In 2020, Lera also proved herself as an actress, starring in the playful comedy-detective film “11 Children from Morshyn.”
Singer and actress Lera Didkovskaya
Interesting Facts
- Why do Open Kids sing in Russian? - they often ask, and in some ways this question is correct, because the group is Ukrainian! Yuri Petrov responded to this: “We really want to find a song in Ukrainian, but we can’t yet! The whole point is that a small number of lyricists work in our style, and everything that is offered to us now is exclusively Russian-language.”
- The video “Generation Dances” (feat “NEBO 5”), despite almost twenty million views, Yuri Petrov himself considers... not very successful! His words about the clip: “It turned out to be a cool video, powerful dancing, but this is more understandable to an adult audience than to children. We overdid the track a little, made it too complicated.”
- Lisa Kostyakina is the same versatile personality as the rest of the band members. But few people know that while not yet a member of Open Kids, she visited the UK and studied at the prestigious Queen Anne's School. Moreover, the girl won the trip honestly in a competition: at the insistence of her English teacher, she made a video and sent it to the organizers of the competition.
- On Elizabeth’s Instagram you can find a photo where she is captured among the students of the “Igor Krutoy Academy” - the girl studied there in 2014 and 2015. While studying at the Academy, Lisa met Zhanna Friske - she is immensely proud of meeting the talented Russian star. Also among her childhood acquaintances are Alla Pugacheva, Dima Bilan, Vladimir Vinokur and many other pop stars.
- About Vika Vernik: she now lives and studies in America, professionally practices breakdancing and hip-hop. In 2018, her Instagram page suddenly disappeared from the Internet: according to rumors, Vikin’s account was hacked and blocked at the same time. So far, the girl’s old Instagram, where there is a lot of interesting material, cannot be restored, which her fans are very worried about.
- Anna Muzafarova, who joined the group in January 2016, managed to perform with her future colleagues in the band before participating in the project. She starred in the video clip “A World Without War – Children of the Earth with the participation of “Open Kids” in 2014. Her first and last name can still be found in the list of members of the video clip crew.
- The girls always perform at minus, and so far the group’s management has no plans to invite live musicians. “Live performance is for an adult audience; it will be difficult for teenagers to perceive. Let’s change the format and think about the prospect of inviting live musicians,” explains Yuri Petrov.
- Dmitry Monatik says about the girls from “Open Kids”: “They are my children.” And the girls say about him: “We love Dima very much! When we were just starting out (feat “Important” and another track), he made us believe in ourselves. For us, Dmitry is both an unattainable idol and a super-close person” (voiced on the YouTube channel “Without Makeup with Anna Butkevich”).
- To the question: “How do you feel about criticism and parodies?” – the girls answer: “We always listen to constructive comments, we try to work on ourselves. And we perceive parodies with interest - sometimes you need to look at yourself through the eyes of other people!”
