\n<\/p>\n
Before Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, Monetochka was on her way to becoming a superstar in Russia.<\/p>\n
She had released two hit albums of lyrical pop, secured ad deals with brands including Nike and Spotify, and was set to appear and sing a new song in theopening scene of Netflix\u2019s first original Russian drama, a lush adaptation of Leo Tolstoy\u2019s \u201cAnna Karenina.\u201d<\/p>\n
But President Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s military action derailed everything.<\/p>\n
Netflix shelved the series. The big ad deals, which once constituted more than half of Monetochka\u2019s income, disappeared. And, after making a raft of antiwar statements and fleeing Russia, she was branded a foreign agent in January.<\/p>\n
Yet the 25-year-old singer-songwriter \u2014 who now lives in Lithuania and is scheduled to perform at the Melrose Ballroom in New York on Sunday as part of a U.S. and European tour<\/a> \u2014 said exile had removed the burden of worrying about what she says, and was worth the cost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou can scream, yell, rant, write any songs or poems you want \u2014 and this, of course, means a lot to me,\u201d said Monetochka, or \u201cLittle Coin,\u201d whose real name is Liza Gyrdymova. \u201cFor me, this is such an important feeling, as an artist and a lyricist: freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She is just one of the many Russian music stars rebuilding their careers outside their homeland after taking a moral stand against the invasion of Ukraine. Now forced to operate at a distance from most of their fan bases and, in many cases, labeled traitors by their government, they are adopting touring schedules that hew to the new geography of the Russian diaspora as they try to keep their careers moving forward.<\/p>\n Michael Idov, a Latvian-American writer and director who has worked with top Russian singers and has directed a music video for Monetochka (pronounced moh-NYET-och-ka), said that those musicians faced several dilemmas abroad, even though in most cases Russians can still stream their music on YouTube and Yandex Music, a Russian streaming platform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe basic question is: Can you write new hits in this situation, or are you automatically a nostalgia act, even if the nostalgia is for the year 2021?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There was also the question of how to create a sustainable future. \u201cAfter you have played every new Russian enclave five times, what do you do after that?\u201d Mr. Idov added. The musicians could break into new markets through collaboration with non-Russian artists, Mr. Idov noted, but few had tried that approach, or put out much new music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n So far, the millions of Russian speakers outside Russia have been sustaining the performers. Last Saturday, at a Monetochka concert in Zurich, the hall was packed with nearly 700 fans, including middle-aged couples bopping along and screaming young women taking selfies \u2014 some of them with their hair done up in the singer\u2019s trademark double buns. Everyone was speaking Russian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Onstage, Monetochka acknowledged that things had changed. \u201cFor all these songs and these views and beliefs, folks, they gifted me the rank of foreign agent,\u201d she said. The crowd erupted in cheers, and the singer launched into a song criticizing Russian internet censorship.<\/p>\n Her tour, which kicked off in Barcelona last month, has faced logistical challenges. This week, Monetochka had to postpone a concert in London and cancel one in Miami because she didn\u2019t get visas in time. And figuring out the right size and type of venues has involved some guesswork.<\/p>\n To widen their appeal, some exiled artists, including Face, a Russian rapper, have considered switching to English. Yet only a couple of Russian acts, such as the girl group t.A.T.u.<\/a>, have ever landed a hit on the American charts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Monetochka, who rocketed to fame in part because of the poetry of her subversive lyrics, said she couldn\u2019t imagine achieving a similar depth of expression in a language other than Russian. She plans to release a new album in the spring, which she said would reflect her rage and alarm about the war, but also the hopeful feelings she had felt since becoming a mother last year. She said she felt she needed to leave listeners with something positive, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Other exiled Russian stars have soured on living abroad. Morgenshtern, a popular Russian rapper who moved to Dubai last year and was also labeled a foreign agent, recently told a Russian interviewer<\/a> that he missed home and wanted to return to Russia but was too scared for his safety, including the possibility of being sent to the front as retribution. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, later said no one would give Morgenshtern \u201cguarantees that everything will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n