Gen Z has discovered Iryna Bilyk’s album OMA 26 years on, and the singer is thinking of taking it back on stage

Iryna Bilyk is considering a new concert project devoted to the songs of her 2000 album OMA. The record is being rediscovered by Gen Z listeners, and the singer says she may put together a dedicated show with these songs in 2027.

Iryna Bilyk spoke about it in an exclusive comment to MUZVAR.

According to MUZVAR, Vybachai and Viter have found new life on TikTok, where a new generation of listeners is discovering them. In April the label TILKYTAK Records released OMA on vinyl for the first time: a Red Velvet double LP limited to 399 numbered copies, the first 99 of them signed.

“I wanted people to see the real me”

“I recorded OMA in 1999. It contains songs I wrote specially for this album, which never appeared on any of my other records. I really wanted people to see the real me,” the singer said. What was expected of her, she says, was simple: make hit pop songs. She wanted to record deep, philosophical songs instead, “even if it takes thousands of years for Ukrainians to finally hear and feel this music”.

Bilyk also put serious money into the record: “For the arrangement of each song I paid Yevhen Stupka two thousand dollars. That was twice the market rate at the time.” She has no regrets about it. She invented the word OMA herself and still cannot explain why she gave the album that name. Of the album’s songs, she is very fond of Ni.

An album for Gen Z

“I’m extremely pleased that today it’s Gen Z who have discovered this album. Sometimes I even think: maybe I wrote it back then for them?” says Bilyk. At the time she hardly toured Ukraine with the programme, presenting it at the Palace Ukraina in 2000. Now the singer is thinking about a new concert project with these songs in 2027, one she could take to cities in Ukraine, Europe and around the world. There is no official tour announcement yet: Bilyk is asking fans to write and tell her whether they would come to such a concert.

On our air Iryna Bilyk has been played 49 times in the last 30 days, most often Khochu and Ne strymui pohliad in remix versions.

This August Iryna Bilyk sang Tykha voda on the album Legends. Yurii Rybchynskyi, where the poet’s songs were shared out among three generations of the Ukrainian scene.