Zemfira wrote one of Russian pop’s most devastating songs about the war. She turned 50 this week in Paris, where her 2025 setlists had room for the newer songs, never ‘It’s midnight in Mariupol.’

Zemfira turned 50 on August 26. The current chapter of her work is best dated from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: in 2022, she released the uncompromising song “Myaso” (“Meat”) and left Moscow for Paris. Zemfira has recorded several more songs about the war since then, and she’s even earned Russia’s “foreign agent” designation. At Meduza’s request, music critic Lev Gankin reviews all seven of Zemfira’s post–February 2022 releases and considers what they reveal about a s...