Music and Fashion Coexist

For Ukrainian born pop duo Bloom Twins, music and fashion are intertwined–one cannot exist without the other in both member’s lives.

“We started singing before we could speak,” Sonia Kuprienko, one half of Bloom Twins, said. “We were born in a musical family. So that is something that we consider a natural habitat. When fashion came it was as a quest for finding ourselves and sharing our identity with everybody.”

Through the zoom screen for our interview, it was apparent that the self-described “dark pop” sound of Bloom Twins, composed of twin sisters Anna and Sonia Kuprienko, influences the duo’s fashion. Both wore their hair in short black styles, each accessorized with chunky silver jewelry and black clothing, leaning more into the “dark” aspect of the genre.

Bloom Twins had a complex beginning. The two twins started their career in the public eye as models, but music was always in the background–both are classically trained musicians by encouragement from their musically inclined parents. Anna and Sonia met their music manager through their modeling manager after the latter posted a photo of the two on Facebook. The future music manager suggested that Anna and Sonia should move to London to test out their music careers after they finished school. Twelve years later, the two are still there, combining music and style as their full time careers.

“She’s Not Me”

Even with similar alternative styles, Anna Kuprienko of Bloom Twins said that she could not be more different from her twin sister Sonia. “It’s so weird because we’re identical twins with the same DNA,” Anna said. “How was it possible that I’ve never met one person in my life that is so different to me?”

The two combine their distinct styles to create a unique genre of music. Bloom Twins merges the alternative music tastes of Anna and the pop inspiration of Sonia to create their dark pop sound. “I tend to create more alternative instrumentals that are pretty dark, but you know, with good energy. She is more melodic–it’s more sophisticated, more pop.” Anna added about their opposite styles.

These differences extend into the sides each of them gravitate toward in the process of creating music. Sonia leans into the more lyric and melody oriented part of the process while Anna focuses more on the production side.

Anna said that she became interested in music production by the encouragement of her manager because of her interest in computers. The first song the twins wrote together was “She’s Not Me,” a track asking listeners to stop comparing the two sisters just because they look alike.

The song is a noir, electronic inspired track that still feels like it has roots in the pop punk world with the duo’s vocals. Anna said that Bloom Twin’s original sound was inspired by the electronic music she was listening to at the time. The duo continued with this electronic sound with most of their tracks, even venturing into the dance music world with tracks like “High on Beat” with Jan Blomqvist. But recently, Bloom Twins has shifted even more into the pop punk world with their collaborative EP with X Ambassadors’ Sam Nelson.

The team’s first EP together, Pretty in Pink, was released on Nov. 17, 2023 and contains the pop punk songs “Drunk and Loud,” “Beats Not Bombs,” and “Pretty in Pink.”

Sonia said that the three began writing “Beats Not Bombs” together after the Bloom Twins reached out to Sam Nelson to collaborate.

According to Sonia, Bloom Twins allowed themselves to experiment with a wide variety of sounds and genres because they refused to put themselves in a box from the start. Sonia said that they wrote the upbeat alternative rock song “Beats Not Bombs” in under two hours. In the middle of the writing process, Sonia said she suggested that she and her sister sing a part of the song like they’re drunk and loud. Sam Nelson decided that would be a great title for another song, so the three switched gears to write “Drunk and Loud.”

Sonia described “Drunk and Loud” as one of those songs that you blast in your headphones as you ride the London underground. The beat of the song keeps you moving and the lyrics cause a reaction in the people around you.

“Pretty in Pink” is about a girl who is not afraid to tell it as it is. All the songs have distinct instrumental parts in the music, marking a departure from the band’s predominantly electronic
discography.

“I believe that we allowed ourselves to not understand or classify how we’ve evolved because we allowed ourselves to get away with pretty much anything by calling our vision anything that it can be,” Sonia said.

Sonia went on to say that “it’s important to not forget about the dance scene” when talking about the evolution of the group’s sound.

Besides Sam Nelson, Bloom Twins has collaborated on projects with various DJs, such as
“DayDream” with Benny Benassi and the aforementioned “High on Beat” with Jan Blomqvist.
The twins said these collaborations mainly came about during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. “We wanted to dance, but we couldn’t and I believe that this music is the result of that oppression,” Sonia said.

The duo got into contact with the DJs through Instagram DMs as well. It’s interesting to see how much social media impacts modern music careers–Bloom Twins’ most streamed song is “High on Beat,” a song that came to fruition over direct messaging. “Now that I’m saying this, I actually think it’s very strange that people not only took the time of their day to listen to our song because I don’t think that we were the only ones that were

Sending them DMs. I also really don’t think we chose the songs that they liked, but they still rode with us,” Anna said.

Honoring Their Roots

One of the topics that Anna and Sonia consistently returned to throughout the interview was their home country of Ukraine. Sonia said that one of the main influences for the duo’s sound is the conflict in Ukraine.

“It definitely affected what we said, how we wrote, what we chose to write about, and what we chose to sing and when we chose to sing,” Sonia said. “It not only affected us as human beings, but it affected anything that we wanted to touch.”

Sonia and Anna have been advocating and speaking up for Ukraine through their art since 2014 with the single “Get Up Stand Up #WeAreUkraine,” which is a cover of the Bob Marley song. The cover was released at the start of the Ukrainian conflict with Russia. Bloom Twins released a music video to go along with the cover that contained actual footage of what’s going on in Ukraine. The twins were given the opportunity to perform their song on BBC NewsNight to help raise awareness.

When the war broke out in 2022, the twins took to social media to call out artists who used Ukraine to film music videos, but were not speaking out about the conflict. Through Daily Mail,
Bloom Twins called out major artists like Jorja Smith and Coldplay for abandoning Ukraine and only caring about the country when it benefits them.

Their activism led them to be recruited as organizers for Night for Ukraine, a benefit concert in September 2022. The concert was performed at the Roadhouse in north London and the
proceeds from the event were donated to provide aid to people fleeing Ukraine after the Russian invasion.

The twins said they will keep using their talents and platform to advocate and raise awareness about the war in Ukraine. They also want to inspire people in Ukraine to have hope and to
continue to pursue their passions and talents despite the efforts of their oppressors.

“I want to tell all the Ukrainians to speak your talent, spread your talent in other countries if you can. Put your mark on the frickin world,” Anna said.

Never Stop Blooming

In terms of what’s next for Bloom Twins, the duo will be releasing a second 3 track EP in collaboration with Sam Nelson. In addition to these tracks, the Bloom Twins said they will be
releasing a new single consistently every few weeks or so.

The duo will also be touring with X Ambassadors for upcoming festival appearances. They are also working on a clothing brand that will be sold as merchandise at the duo’s future shows.

The brand is called Gussi, which was inspired by how geese began attacking Russian soldiers after they invaded Ukraine. Proceeds from the clothing sale will be going to charities that help Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens.

The twins said, akin to their band name, that they will keep developing their brand and exploring new realism, both in the music world and in other areas of the arts.

“Blooming roses basically means that you never stopped developing. You’re always growing into this new thing,” Anna said.

We’re excited to see where Bloom Twins blossom next.