Mykola Mykolaiovych Bortnyk (, born 8 March 1990), better known by his stage name Max Barskih () and alter-ego Mickolai, is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter. He was raised in
Kherson
Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...
, Ukraine, and moved to
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
after his graduation. He has released six studio albums, one compilation album and one
extended-play
An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 15 to 30 minutes. An EP is usually less cohesive ...
.
Career
Max Barskih rose to fame in Ukraine and
post-Soviet countries
The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...
in 2008 as a participant of the Ukrainian talent show "
Fabryka Zirok 2" (Star Factory 2).
, Max Barskih won his first big prize with being awarded "Best Ukrainian Act" at the
MTV Europe Music Awards
The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...
.
Max Barskih also had his acting debut in 2010, when he starred in
Lara Fabian's musical feature film
Mademoiselle Zhivago
''Mademoiselle Zhivago'' is an album by pop singer Lara Fabian. The whole set of songs composed by Fabian with Igor Krutoy is in English, French, Italian, Spanish and also in Russian.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end char ...
(that was published in 2013).
In 2012, Barskih entered the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
Auditions for Ukraine with the English version of his song "Dance",
but narrowly lost to
Gaitana who represented Ukraine in
Baku
Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
with her song "Be My Guest".
Max Barskih has won numerous awards, including "Singer of the Year" Awards at the Baltic Music Awards 2011,
the "Crystal Microphone" Awards 2011,
the
M1 Music Awards 2017,
the
GQ Men of the Year Awards
''GQ'' (short for ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and previously known as ''Apparel Arts'') is an international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though ...
2018,
the New Radio Awards 2019,
the Love Radio Awards 2019
and at the
Top Hit Music Awards
Top Hit Music Awards is an annual music award ceremony established by ''TopHit'' in 2013. Artists, authors and producers from Russia, Ukraine, other countries of Eastern Europe and countries around the world are awarded for outstanding achievement ...
2020.
and
Vogue Ukraine
''Vogue Ukraine'' (or ''Vogue Україна'' in Ukrainian) is the Ukraine, Ukrainian edition of the American fashion and Lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle monthly magazine ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue''. The magazine has been published since March 20 ...
called Barskih "the internationally most successful Russian language singer".
Throughout his career, Barskih has worked closely with
Alan Badoev
Alan Kazbekovich Badoev (; born January 1981) is a Ukrainian movie director, music video director, screenwriter, TV producer, TV presenter, and music producer of Ossetian origin. He first gained international recognition in 2006 with his awarde ...
, who is his producer and has also directed most of his music videos.
Barskih's videos have gained popularity in the CIS nations. The director likes to use a variety of visual effects for many of his videos, such as in the music videos for "Теряю тебя" ("Lost in Love") which was released in 3D format in the CIS nations.
Barskih composes the music
and writes the lyrics of his songs himself (and was e.g. nominated at the 2019
Russian National Music Awards for "Lyricist of the Year"),
and partly also does the producing.
Most of his songs are in Russian,
but he has also sung in Ukrainian (e.g
"Небо"ref name=":17"> an
"Двоє" and in English (e.g
"Z.Dance"''(partly in English)''
an
"Silence"''(entirely in English)).''
During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
Barskih joined the
Armed Forces of Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...
.
In summer 2023, he started a world tour in support of Ukraine from Lisbon.
Other ventures
Songwriting
Barskih writes his songs himself and occasionally also works as a songwriter for other artists.
Acting
Barskih has starred as an actor in two musical feature films.
Discography
Studio albums
*''1:MAX BARSKIH'' (2009)
*''Z.Dance'' (2012)
*''По Фрейду'' (''By Freud'', 2014)
*''Туманы'' (''Mists'', 2016)
*''7'' (2019)
*''
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
'' (2020)
Compilation albums
*''Words'' (2015)
EPs
*''Mickolai – EP'' (2015)
Singles
* 2009: S.L. (Suka Lyubov')
ove is a bitch* 2009: Пусто (Pusto)
mpty* 2009: DVD
(with Natalia Mogilevskaya)
* 2010: Агония (Agoniya)
gony* 2010: Сердце бьётся (Serdtse Byotsya)
eart is Beating(with Svetlana Loboda)
* 2010: Студент (Student)
* 2011: Lost in Love , Теряю тебя (Terayu Tebya)
osing you* 2011: Белый ворон (Beliy Voron)
hite Raven* 2011: Atoms , Глаза-убийцы (Glaza-ubiytsi)
yes of a Killer* 2011: Downtown
* 2011: Dance
* 2012: F**K OFF
* 2012: Higher
* 2012: Alive , Пылай (Pylay)
laze* 2012: I Wanna Run , Я болею тобой (Ya boleyu toboy)
'm a fan of you* 2013: По Фрейду (By Freud)
* 2013: Какой была твоя любовь? (What was your love?)
* 2013: Hero_in
* 2013: Небо (Sky)
* 2014: Отпусти (Let Me Go)
* 2014: Всё серьёзно (Everything's Serious)
* 2015: Хочу танцевать (I Want To Dance)
* 2015: Подруга – Ночь (Night is my friend)
* 2016: Займёмся Любовью (Let's Make Love)
* 2016: Последний летний день (Last Day of Summer)
* 2016: Туманы (Mists)
* 2016: Неверная (Unfaithful)
* 2017: Моя любовь (My love)
* 2017: Февраль (February)
* 2018: Берега (Shores)
* 2019: Неслучайно (For a Reason)
* 2019: Лей, не жалей (Pour, Have No Regrets)
* 2020: Небо льёт дождем (Sky is Raining)
* 2020: ПО СЕКРЕТY (In Secret)
* 2020: Silence
*2021: Bestseller
(feat. Zivert
Yulia Dmitrievna Zivert (, born as Yulia Dmitrievna Sytnik (); 28 November 1990), known professionally as Zivert, is a Russian singer, songwriter and model.
Her career started in 2017 after she released first singles "Chak" and "Anestesia". ...
)
*2021: Tequila Sunrise
*2022 Don’t Fuck With Ukraine
[ ]
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barskih, Max
1990 births
Living people
21st-century Ukrainian male singers
English-language singers from Ukraine
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Musicians from Kherson
Russian-language singers of Ukraine
Ukrainian pop singers
Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award
Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Military personnel from Kherson