‘Studio under occupation’ for Ukrainian band’s track with Sheeran

THE LEAD singer of Ukrainian band Antytila has described the difficulties the band faced while writing the lyrics for a collaboration with Ed Sheeran.

Sheeran, 31, has collaborated with Antytila to create a remix of his track 2step, which will raise money for Ukraine.

Speaking to BBC News, Antytila’s lead singer Taras Topolia said: “It was not so easy to record the voice because our studio was under occupation while we were creating the lyrics for the song.

“So our studio was under occupation but we found a way to record the voice.”

A new video, which Topolia, 34, described as “heartbreaking”, has been released to accompany the remix.

“The video is also very heartbreaking,” he said. “You should watch it, I’m asking you, please watch the video because the video conveys the message of the song.”

The remix has been released to raise money for Music Saves UA, a non-profit fundraising project providing humanitarian aid for people in Ukraine.

Over the next 12 months Sheeran and Antytila’s worldwide record royalties from YouTube streams of the video, and Warner Music’s proceeds from such streams, will be donated to Music Saves UA.

Topolia, who is working as a medic in the war effort, explained the meaning behind the remix, saying: “It is a simple but very dramatic story. It is not just only my story, it is the story of millions of Ukrainian people, whose peaceful life was interrupted by war. So what I tried to do is buy them creative tools, to describe this drama, this war drama in our country.”