Ukrainian popular music after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian popular music has been actively responding to the reality of war and exploring the topic of trauma. Many Ukrainian popular music artists have faced the same traumatic experiences as their audiences, which led to a close relationship between such artists and their audiences, as artists’ messages are perceived as sincere and valid. This article examines the lyrics and music videos of Ukrainian popular songs that were created after Russia’s full-scale invasion and deal with such topics as witnessing war, loss, separation, displacement, and mental health issues (including as a result of combat experiences). Guided by academic literature on trauma and cultural narratology, it examines popular songs that have a significant number of views (200,000 or more) on YouTube. The article argues that Ukrainian popular music reflects the trajectory of the full-scale invasion through constructing narratives of trauma at different stages of the post-2022 reality of war (from initial to delayed responses), whilst also creating an imagined community of people who take part in shared meaning-making. Having considered the developments in Ukrainian war-time popular music over the first three years of the invasion, this article shows that popular music becomes an important and easily accessible site of memory. The article highlights the importance of discussing language’s ability to convey trauma and artists’ meaning-making approaches when utilizing lyrics and visuals to narrate trauma in their music.