MAX BARSKIH

Biography and creative work

Max Barskih (Mykola Mykolaiovych Bortnyk)

Year of the beginning of career: 2008

Occupation: singer, songwriter

Genres: dubstep, dance music, electro house

Albums: 6

Country: Ukraine

Biography

Max Barskih – is a well-known Ukrainian singer. A performer who knows how to express himself, attract and hold the attention of the public. The image created on stage attracts with youth, energy, shocking and creativity. Max writes the songs he performs himself. In addition, nature has endowed the singer with magnetism and an attractive appearance that drives many fans crazy. 

The beginning of a creative career

Behind the vivid stage image of Max Barskih is Mykola Bortnyk, a native of Kherson. He was born on 8 March 1990 in the Ukrainian SSR. In his early years, the boy studied at the Kherson Tauride Lyceum of Arts, Department of Fine Arts, and graduated with a diploma in art. However, he later moved to the capital, opting for pop and entered the Kyiv Municipal Academy of Circus and Variety Arts, majoring in pop vocals.

His musical talent can be traced back to his childhood. The boy was fond of the songs of American musicians, listened to the songs of Britney Spears, Madonna, N Sync, Backstreet Boys. Under the influence of his idols, at the age of 12, Mykola wrote a song in English, which delighted his older sister Ksenia. She advised him to perform the song at a home party. That was the first time Mykola performed as an author and performer.

Springboard to success

In 2008, Max passed the rating selection for the show "Star Factory-2" under the direction of N. Mohylevska. On stage, he proved himself to be a real artist, performing his own songs "Аномалия" and "Незнакомка", which became hits on radio and television. As part of this show, Max met Svetlana Loboda, to whom he developed strong feelings. Later, Max left the project and started working on his solo career.

Creativity

The basis of Max Barskih's work is a constant search for himself and new genres through which he expresses his love for music and his audience. The artist has returned to his life at the “Factory” more than once, participated in the “Super Final” special project and performed his new songs, which instantly blew up the music charts and were warmly appreciated by both Ukrainian and Russian music critics. Max is remembered as an energetic guy who feels like a fish in water on stage, and therefore allows himself the most complex dance moves, which sometimes impresses not only in his live performances, but also in his video works, of which he has accumulated more than three dozen in his collection.

The artist collaborated with Alan Badoev, a well-known Ukrainian director and music video maker, and together they created several of his videos, which hit the Top 30 music tracks according to M1. A special one was the video for the song "Серце б'ється", filmed together with Svitlana Loboda using the most popular technologies and animation at the time, which allowed it to stay in the hearts of fans for a long time and become one of Max's favourite songs.

In 2012, the singer's career took a new turn: he decided to try his hand at the international music scene and applied to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. After passing the selection and reaching the final, the singer, unfortunately, took only second place, losing to Gaitana, who later represented Ukraine, taking fifteenth place.

Barskih gained particular popularity with the song and video "Студент", which instantly became one of the favourites of the youth of the time and rapidly increased the level of attendance at his concerts. 

After losing the Eurovision Song Contest, Max searches for himself in creativity and the result of this search is a new album "Z.Dance", where he uses the cult image of a zombie, which was extremely popular at the time, thus showing his infected state through music and dance.

In 2013, a new track "За Фрейдом" appeared, which was included in the album of the same name.

In addition, a monologue documentary with the same title was created. Pepsi used the song "I Wanna Run" in its commercial. On Valentine's Day, the “Люкс ФМ” radio station presented the album, opening each hour of broadcasting with a song from the album's selection.

The album "За Фрейдом" showed the inner maturation and a revolution in the singer's worldview. Each song is played in a video sequence. For the first time in Barskih's career, the format of the collection is marked as a video album.

According to music critics, Barskih's creative breakthrough was his performance of the songs "Колискова" and "Небо" in Ukrainian that year.

In 2015, a series of songs by Barskih in English appeared on YouTube, released under the pseudonym MICKOLAI, marking a new stage in the artist's career, who wanted to take a step further and enter the international platform, while being one of the most popular performers in the CIS countries.

In 2016, the album " Туманы" was released, and in support of the work, the artist went on a world tour and visited 15 countries. The album features 12 songs, including the track "Туманы", which has become one of the most popular in the artist's work. In addition to the song of the same name, the album also includes: “Неверная”, “Подруга-ночь”, “Хочу танцевать”, “Hlop, Hlop, Hlop”, “Февраль” and others. The song "Февраль" from this album is very important and frank for the artist, in which he talks about his relationship with his father, which was not very positive. The video for the track even features the singer's father.

On 29 November 2018, the premiere of the new show programme "Сім" took place in Kyiv. The concert was in the spirit of the 1980s, the singer appeared on stage in a radically new look - a bright blonde. At the concert, he sang 5 new songs from the album "7" for the first time. With this show programme, the artist visited Ukrainian cities and performed abroad.

In 2020, the artist embarked on his second world tour. At that time, Nezemnaya's concert programme was seen not only in Max's home country, but also in the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Baltic States, Denmark and others.

Also, in 2020, the artist released a new musical work - the album "1990". It includes 10 songs, including “Армагедон”, “Самолет”, “Океаны”, “Лей, не жалей” “Все проходит”, “Наивна” and others.

With the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Max Barskih's reaction to the war was not long in coming. The artist publicly announced that he was terminating all contracts with Russian companies and banning the use of his music in Russia in any form, concluding his statement with the words:

"I don't want my music to be played in a country that started a war in Ukraine."

In the first days of the invasion, the artist also released the track "Буде весна" ("There Will Be Spring"), through which he conveyed all his experiences related to the war. The song went viral and took over the internet.

Now Max Barskih continues to write songs in Ukrainian and translates his already well-known Russian-language tracks into his native language. The songs "Тумани" and "Береги" can be heard in Ukrainian, and the artist recently recorded a joint track with Ukrainian singer DOROFEEVA called "Ритми".

Albums:

• 2009 – 1: Max Barskih

• 2012 – Z.Dance

• 2014 – По Фрейду

• 2016 – Туманы

• 2019 – 7

• 2020 - 1990

Awards and nominations:

• 2010 – winner in the nomination "Best Ukrainian Artist", MTV

• 2011 – winner in the nomination "Opener of the Open Air", Europe Plus

• 2011 – winner in the nomination "Singer of the Year", Crystal Microphone

• 2011 – winner in the nomination "Best Song of the Year", "Video of the Year", "Best Male Performance", OE Video Music Avards

• 2011 – Golden Gramophone Award

• 2012 – winner in the nomination "Breakthrough of the Year", Muz-TV

• 2013 – winner in the nomination "Song of the Year" (“Небо”)

• 2014 – winner in the nomination "Song of the Year" (“Отпусти”)

• 2015 – "Singer of the Year" according to M1  

• 2016 – "Major League" award for the song “Туманы”

• 2017 - winner in the nomination "Singer of the Year", Fashion People Awards

• 2017 - winner in the nomination "Song of the Year" (“Туманы”)

• 2017 - winner in the nomination "Singer of the Year" and "Hit of the Year", M1 

• 2017 – "Major League" award (for the song “Моя любов”)

• 2017 – winner in the nomination "Creative of the Year", BelMuzTV

• 2017 – winner in the nomination "Best Video" for the song "Моя любов", Love Radio Awards 

• 2017 – Golden Gramophone Award

• 2017 – winner in the nomination "Best Singer", RU.TV

• 2017 – winner in the nomination "Best Song” and “Best Album”, Muz-TV

• 2018 – winner in the nomination winner in the nomination "Best Performer" and "Best Song According to the Version", Top Hit Music Awards 

• 2018 – winner in the nomination "Best Video Clip", RU.TV 

• 2018 – nomination "Most Beautiful Man of the Year", Viva!

• 2018 – nomination "Best Singer", Speka Music Awards 

• 2018 – nomination "Favourite singer", High Five

• 2018 – nomination for the Golden Gramophone

• 2019 – winner in the nomination "Video of the Year (male vocal) Youtube Ukraine" ("Берега"), Top Hit Music Awards

• 2019 – winner in the nomination "Record-breaking song" ("Лей, не жалей"), Top Hit Music Awards

• 2021 – winner in the nomination "Video of the Year (mixed vocals) Youtube Ukraine" ("Bestseller"), Top Hit Music Awards.