The new song ‘I AM NOT OK’ by the KAZKA band was created in the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The song is the band’s reaction to the war and it shows how Ukrainians feel right now.

The song ‘I AM NOT OK’ is the reflection of the feelings of every Ukrainian who has been in danger every day since the beginning of the Russian invasion and who continues to fight for freedom, independence, and a peaceful sky over Ukraine. Music has always been a part of the Ukrainian national code, and now it has become our defense and weapon.

The members of the band who worked on the song very quickly found the strength and inspiration to express all the shock because of the war events with the help of music. At the very beginning of its creation, the song ‘I AM NOT OK’ brought together people who were in different cities and even different countries.

Sergiy Ranov (RUNSTAR), known for the songs ‘Plakala’ (‘Cry’) and ‘Svyata’ (‘Saint’), worked on the lyrics and arrangements for the new song. Sergiy Lokshin and Volodymyr Mazhora also worked on the lyrics. Volodymyr Mazhora was responsible for the English part of the song — the chorus. 

While the song was created, the vocalist of the band KAZKA Oleksandra Zaritska – better known as Sasha – was constantly on the road: when the war started, Sasha left Kyiv – she moved to the West of Ukraine where she worked as a volunteer and helped with different initiatives. Then Sasha moved to Krakow where she recorded the song, and then to Prague for music video shooting. From Prague, Sasha flew to the United States. Long before the full-scale war in Ukraine the band was planning a tour in the United States which unfortunately could not start on time. For the first time in the band’s history, Sasha is presenting KAZKA and Ukraine all by herself.

The song ‘I AM NOT OK’ was recorded at the Sound Mind Studio in Krakow. The recording of the track was done remotely, half of the team worked from Kyiv controlling the process via Face Time. The music video was shot in Prague the day before Sasha’s flight to the US. Director Serhiy Tkachenko and cinematographer Filip Knoll worked on the video.

‘I AM NOT OK’ will now become a symbol of pain and fear that every Ukrainian has experienced since the beginning of the invasion. But it will also be the symbol of faith in our liberty and victory, which are yet to come.

KAZKA’s tour #IAMUKRAINE should have started in the United States in March, however, the war ruined all the plans. Nevertheless, the vocalist of the band, Oleksandra Zaritska, decided to go to the US by herself. As part of her stay there, Oleksandra uses her voice to cover the events in Ukraine for the world media telling truth about the brutal war Russia is waging against Ukraine, its independence, its freedom, and its sovereignty. Also, she takes part in charity events to collect money for the Ukrainian Army and volunteers. Thus, Zaritska represented Ukraine in the SXSW festival, sang the national anthem of Ukraine during the raising of the Ukrainian flag in downtown New York and she will participate in Charity Gala Event “We Stand With Ukraine” in New York — all proceeds from the tickets sales will be donated to Charity Organizations: Razom for Ukraine, UNWLA and Florida for Ukraine. More charity concerts are coming in April.