9 bright participants of VK Fest 2024: how did the fate of the “old guys” turn out and what surprises the youth?

Last year, the festival made it into the Russian Book of Records with staggering figures and numbers – 200 thousand spectators and 500 artists. VK Fest became the event with the largest number of stars performing!

This year the festival venues were five cities: Sirius (Sochi) – June 15, St. Petersburg – June 29 and 30, Moscow – July 13 and 14, as well as Ufa and Krasnoyarsk, where the events were held on June 1 and June 8, respectively.

Apparently, in 2024 the festival has every chance to break its own record. After all, the list of star participants and guests is impressive: Dima Bilan, Basta, Klava Koka, Timati, Yulia Parshuta, the group “Zveri”, Nike Borzov, MACAN, 10AGE, LOVV66, “thirteen carats” and R’n’B-performer By India, NILETTO, The Limba, Cream Soda, Mary Gu, MAYOT, HammAli & Navai, “Three Days of Rain” group, INSTASAMKA, Mari Kreimbreri, Eljay, Mot, Dima Maslennikov, Valya Karnaval, Vlad A4, Yulia Gavrilina, MILANA STAR, Nikita Sudar, Natasha Hasankhanova, Anya Pokrov, Milana Khametova, Kamil KiKiDo and AminKa, “Improvisers” – Anton Shastun and Arseniy Popov, The Hype House Rus, CU E FA, Viki Show, Katya Adushkina, VEIGEL, Nikita Nagorny and Egor Ship, Lizogub, David Turov, Nekrasova, Sergey OMG, Lyuba Beach, Simka and SOFI SHINE.

Dima Bilan

It’s hard to believe, but the “night hooligan” will be 43 years old in December. The singer has a lot of awards and titles. In 2018, Bilan received the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Six years the singer gave to the project “Voice”, where he practiced with adult mentees. For four whole seasons Dima was a mentor of the musical project “Voice. Children”. Two of his students became finalists – Danil Pluzhnikov won in the third season, Elizaveta Kachurak – in the fourth. And in 2023 Bilan won the show “Mask” on NTV, where he performed in the costume of Mammoth. In the same year, Dima became a mentor in the show “The Voice. No longer children”, which was attended by artists who went on stage in 1 of the past 10 seasons of “Voice. Kids.”

By the way, in 2016 Dima Bilan debuted in the movie, playing the first big role in the film “Hero”. The singer was very worried before the premiere, afraid of criticism and judgment.

“You are used to seeing me in another capacity – on stage or as a judge on the show “Voice”. Now you will act as judges… For me, ‘Hero’ is a very personal story. The story of my country, the story of courage and valor, the story of a man who can and should be imitated by today’s young people,” – said Bilan to his fans. Dima’s acting work was liked by both critics and fans.

Dima Bilan

Basta

You will be surprised, but once young Vasily Vakulenko sang in the church choir and studied at a music school for a conductor. Everything was changed by a gift from his beloved grandmother – a synthesizer. At the age of 17 Vasily took a peculiar pseudonym – Basta Khryu and joined the collective, which later became famous as “Casta”.

Now the 44-year-old artist is not only the owner of many awards. He has his own label and production center, he is a restaurateur, owns various businesses. In 2021, Basta was included in the list of the 50 most successful stars of Russia of Forbes magazine. The rapper was in eighth place with an income of $ 5.3 million.

“I am a rap merchant. Or even a rap merchant. I’ll tell you a secret: we have no strategy. We have anarchy. People come with their ideas: let’s open this, let’s launch that. I say to all interesting ideas: let’s,” Basta admitted in an interview with Forbes.

In October 2019, the artist bought the SKA soccer club from his native Rostov-on-Don and paid his multimillion-dollar debts. In January this year, he decided to move the team to the soccer Medialiga.

Also, Basta was recognized four times as the best mentor of the show “The Voice”.

Basta

Klava Koka

“Girl, what do you sing for and for whom? Cute and lyrical sketches, very tender but meaningless. Sing for your friends and parents, but don’t go on the big stage. We say no, you don’t fit” – these are the words 19-year-old Klavdia Vysokova heard from the star-studded jury in 2015 at the contest “X-factor. Main Stage – 2”.

Klava did not pass the contest then, but she did not despair. She was sure that she would become a star. A few months later, the girl won the show “Young Blood” and received a contract with Timati’s production center Black Star. And already six years later she got into the Forbes rating.

Now Clava is 27 years old, she continues to release hits and build up an already huge army of fans. The singer is also trying her hand at TV – Koka became the host of the cooking show “Hello, sweet” on the channel “Saturday”.

Klava Koka

Valya Karnaval

Valentina Karnaukhova, 22, has had a stunning career – from a girl from a poor family to one of the richest bloggers in Russia.

Valya’s childhood was very difficult. She grew up in the small village of Novobataisk in the Rostov region. The family was so poor that everyone in the house heated with a regular wood stove. There was simply no money to install gas equipment. Despite the ridicule of her classmates, Valya remained a resilient and determined girl. She practiced dancing and sports and dreamed of becoming famous someday.

At the age of 13 there was a grief in the family – Valya’s father died. A year later the girl’s mother got married. According to Vali, her stepfather became her second dad and supported her in everything. Soon Karnaval moved to Rostov, where she entered college and began studying hotel management. At the age of 15, Valya began to take her first steps in blogging. And even more not for the sake of fame, but in order to earn some money. To Valya’s surprise, success came almost lightning fast. One day 10 thousand people subscribed to her blog! Valya began to record videos more actively, and soon the number of subscribers passed 100 thousand.

In 2018, Carnival moved to the capital, started accounts on YouTube-channel and in TikTok. Two years later, the subscribers became already 9 million. Then the girl decided to sing – her first song “Psychushka” gathered millions of likes.

In 2020, Valya got into Forbes, taking fifth place in the list of the highest-paid tiktokers. The blogger tried her hand at movies, playing a small role in the TV series “Vacation”, and also voiced a character in the cartoon “Rock Dog 2”. Valya also wrote an autobiographical book “Zdarova, bandits” and became a finalist of the reality show “Stars in Africa” on TNT.

Valya Karnaval

Vlad A4 paper

As a child, Vlad really disliked his last name – yes, it’s real! The guy didn’t even suspect that it was the successful combination with the A4 format that would make it famous. Vlad is from Belarus and grew up in a simple family. His mom is a teacher and his dad is an engineer.

In three years Vlad achieved unrealistic heights, became the owner of a diamond button on YouTube and a multimillion army of subscribers. By the way, Bumaga could have become a great hockey player. Until the age of 16, he was professionally engaged in this sport and was even a member of the youth reserve of Minsk “Dynamo”. But the plans were ruined by a serious injury. His love for the club has not faded with time – now Vlad holds autograph sessions and participates in various activities of the club, attracting the young audience.

Vlad succeeded in another field – blogging. He released several songs and recorded a mini-album. For seven years, the blogger has been happy in a relationship with Yulia Godunova, she is also a famous video blogger. In May this year, 28-year-old Vlad became a father – Yulia gave birth to a daughter Olivia.

Vlad A4 paper

MILANA STAR

The success of Milana Mairko, known under the pseudonym MILANA STAR, can be envied by everyone. She first appeared on stage at the age of four together with her father, the star of the TV series “Univer” Vitaly Gogunsky in the show “One in One”. The girl did not falter at all and felt more confident in public than other participants.

At the age of seven, Milana released her first single and music video, which gathered 300 million views on YouTube. Now the 14-year-old singer and blogger has more than 20 songs, her own show and a branded clothing line.

MILANA STAR

MACAN

The rapper gained popularity back in 2019 thanks to the track “Fun Gas”. And once Andrei Kosolapov (real name of the star) was a hooligan, practiced sambo and could grind the sides of offenders. His parents dreamed that their son would graduate from university, but Andrei was fond of rap. The guy calls Snoop Dogg and Eminem his idols. Now the 22-year-old rapper is a two-time winner of the title “Artist of the Year” according to streaming “VK Music” (the sum of listens to his tracks more than 1 billion!).

MACAN

Amirchik

He is called the main competitor of the famous South Korean boyband BTS. In a couple of years the young singer and ticktocker became very popular. Amirkhan Batabaev’s childhood was spent in a small village Uchkhoz in Kyrgyzstan. The mother of the future star worked as a salesman, and his father was a plumber. None of his relatives ever suspected that Amirkhan would become famous. Amirchik and his brothers learned music by themselves, playing the guitar and not knowing the notes.

The path to fame began with recording covers – the guy just posted them in TikTok, not expecting that they would cause a raving success. But the likes and views began to grow rapidly. In 2021, the singer’s first independent single “Flying away” was released, which became popular not only in Russia, but also in Asian countries. The song and video “This Love” consolidated the success.

To date, the 20-year-old singer has already had time to tour in Asia, gave the first big solo concert in Moscow. In total, Amirchik performed 300 concerts last year!

Amirchik

Milana Khametova

In the spring of last year, Milana was included in Forbes’ longlist in the “New Media” category. The 13-year-old girl-blogger became the youngest participant of the rating. By the way, the girl earned her first fee at the age of five by becoming the face of a children’s clothing line.

In parallel, Milana participated in beauty contests. Thus, she became “Mini Miss Siberia 2016” in the Kids category, a year later she won the crown of “Little Miss Russia” in the Little category. Now Milana is 14 years old, she has already managed to record a duet with Dava, star in Khabib’s music video and release a dozen songs.

Milana Khametova