Zemfira turns 50 in Paris exile, but keeps war songs off her 2025 setlists

Russian singer-songwriter Zemfira turned 50 on August 26, marking the milestone in Paris, where she has lived since leaving Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That same year she released "Myaso" ("Meat"), widely regarded as one of the most direct and unflinching statements about the war to emerge from Russian-language pop music. She has since been designated a "foreign agent" by Russian authorities.

This year, at Meduza's request, music critic Lev Gankin reviewed all seven of Zemfira's releases since the invasion began. These include the EP "Zemfira According to Luka," made with her nephew Artur Ramazanov-Ostapenko, the soundtrack piece "Cactus," the politically charged "PODNHA" ("Homeland"), the Paris-inflected "Colette," the heavier "Dramatique," and an updated version of her older track "Jim Beam," originally released in 2005.

War themes, absent from the stage

"PODNHA" notably incorporates the Ukrainian sopilka, a traditional woodwind instrument, while "Myaso" includes a direct reference to "midnight in Mariupol." Despite writing these war-related songs, Zemfira reportedly performed newer, less overtly political tracks like "Colette" and "Dramatique" at her 2025 concerts, while leaving out "PODNHA" and "Myaso."

Zemfira declined Meduza's interview request this summer through her representatives. Her long-promised new album, which she said in April 2024 would not be ready that year, still has not been released. According to the reviewer, Zemfira's work continues to resist easy interpretation — she has not ignored the war, but she has also not let it define the entirety of her recent output.