You're reading: Ukrainian ‘Bentley Queen’ releases collaboration with Snoop Dogg 

Tina Karol, a Ukrainian singer best known internationally for representing Ukraine at the Eurovision in 2006, has released a feature with an American award-winning label Bentley Records.

The Ukrainian star has teamed up with the R&B singer Luca Dayz, L.O.E. music group, and of course, the icon of the US hip-hop industry – Snoop Dogg. Their song “Blow Your Mind” is now available on major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Youtube.

The artists, however, were unable to shoot a video clip in light of the pandemic and instead released an official lyric-video on Aug. 28.

Known for her deep vocals and soulful voice, the Ivano-Frankivsk-born pop singer offers a surprising, yet lively addition to the mid-tempo beat of the 3-minute song. Luca Dayz, also the record executive of Bentley Records, has crowned Karol the “Bentley Queen” of the bunch, praising her performance on the new song.

“Love playing by my rules, don’t tell me what to do,” Karol sings in one verse, possibly alluding to her defiant stance on sticking to her respective genre.

Just four days before the single’s release, Karol discussed the upcoming collaboration with Snoop Dogg in a morning show interview with 1+1. 

“I will stay true to myself, I am not going to rap,” she told 1+1, humorously dismissing the notion of messing with Snoop Dogg’s area of expertise. Participation in “Blow Your Mind” was a spur-of-the-moment decision, Karol added.

“I was sitting at home and then the phone rang,” she said at the morning show, “Next thing I am being told is that there is a possible collaboration with Snoop Dogg.”

The Ukrainian pop star quickly selected bits from a song by a Ukrainian writer whom she works with, and recorded her part in just one hour given to her by the label. 

This single would not be the first song in English by the award-winning musician – some of her previous hits include “Blindfold” and “Lost in the Rain.”

Karol has consistently voiced her desire to bring Ukrainian music to the international market and make Ukrainian artists more competitive abroad – a big part of why she decided to sign with Bentley Records last year

Back in 2017, Karol said that her dream was to “destroy the iron curtain” under which the Ukrainian music industry has lived for so long, and to hopefully “show this generation that we live in a world without borders”. That very same year Karol was awarded the title of “People’s Artist of Ukraine” by the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

She most recently performed the Ukrainian national anthem during Ukraine’s 29th independence day celebration on Sofiivska square.