A pop star who became one of the defining faces of 2000s music looked dramatically different while taking the stage for a recent performance.

The Russian singer, now 41, rose to international fame in 2002 at the age of 17, after appearing in a provocative music video with her bandmate as part of an underage lesbian couple.

In the controversial video, the two performers wore school uniforms and kissed in the rain as other students looked on. Years later, they acknowledged that the lesbian storyline had been created as a marketing strategy.

The mother of two has remained a headline-maker over the years, including a 2014 television appearance in which she made homophobic remarks about gay men.

With her pillow-lipped pout and chiseled cheekbones, the heavily tattooed singer looked totally different to her teen years as she took to the stage in Mexico – leaving fans baffled.   

Do you know who she is?

The singer is Yulia Volkova of t.A.T.u. The brunette star, who uses the name Julia on Instagram, reunited with bandmate Lena Katina, 42, for a performance of their signature song, All The Things She Said.

Although fans were thrilled to see the duo together again, many viewers focused on Volkova’s noticeably altered features. Her fuller lips, pronounced cheekbones, narrower-looking nose and pointed chin sparked plenty of online discussion.

Some fans reacted bluntly, writing comments such as, ‘Mucho botox’ and ‘That live singing is as fake as their faces.’

t.A.T.u. remain best known for their 2002 international hit All The Things She Said, whose steamy music video drew widespread controversy by depicting Yulia and Lena as an underage lesbian couple.

Volkova became a mother for the first time in 2004, when she was 19, welcoming a daughter named Viktoria. In 2007, she had a son, Samir, with her former husband, Parviz Yasinov.

She converted to Islam briefly in 2010, later returning to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the faith in which she was raised, in 2017.

Volkova, who has identified as bisexual, drew criticism in 2014 after making homophobic comments during a television interview.

Asked whether she would reject her own son if he were gay, Volkova said: ‘Yes, I would condemn him because I believe that a real man must be a real man…a man has no right to be a f**.’

She added that, despite those views, she did not have an issue with lesbians.

‘Two girls together—not the same thing as two men together. It seems to me that lesbians look aesthetically much nicer.’

In April 2021, she launched a political career as a candidate for Russia’s conservative party, United Russia, but was crushed in the legislative election.

Meanwhile, her bandmate Lena has taken a far less controversial path over the years.

The redhead, who appears to have aged naturally with little to no cosmetic surgery, has largely focused on her solo music career since leaving t.A.T.u.

She’s released three studio albums so far and topped the US Billboard club chart with her 2011 single Never Forget.

Lena welcomed a son named Aleksandr in 2015 with her then-husband, Sasha Kuzmanović. The couple got divorced in 2019.

Unlike Yulia, Lena has shown support for the LGBT community, stating in 2014: ‘I think everybody should be free to love who they love and be with whom they want to spend their life with.’

t.A.T.u. were formed in 1999 in Moscow by Russian music producer Ivan Shapovalov.

They skyrocketed to international fame in 2002 with the English-language release of their single All The Things She Said, which topped the charts in Australia and the UK.

The song’s music video was banned and censored in some countries, although the controversy only served to promote the song further.

At the time, the pair played into a lesbian gimmick where they pretended to be in love with each other and in a relationship.

However, they later admitted that their lesbian persona was a fake marketing gimmick cooked up by Shapovalov for shock value.

Some of their other attention-grabbing publicity stunts included performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003 wearing T-shirts that had ‘f**k the war’ written in Russian, and attempting to run for Russian president in 2004.

Lena and Yulia have been in multiple feuds with each other over the years, but have since made up and now tour together again.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for comment and has yet to hear back. 

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) on Monday rejected suggestions that her fiancé influenced her surprise decision to withdraw her support for Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Senate midterm race, calling the speculation “sexism.”

Stevens, who lost the Michigan Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed in August, insisted that her decision to break with her party and endorse Republican Mike Rogers in the closely watched contest “was not made for me by anyone else.”

“My decision to withdraw my endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed and support Mike Rogers has angered many Democrats. I understand why. But it was not impulsive, and it was not made for me by anyone else. It was a decision of conscience,” the congresswoman wrote in a lengthy post on X.

“Some critics have also dragged my fiancé into this, suggesting he or others must have made my decision for me,” Stevens continued. “Think about what that says. A woman can serve in Congress, run statewide, and fight for her convictions, and still be told that when she makes a choice people dislike, someone else must be pulling the strings.

“That is sexism dressed up as political analysis.”

Jason Turkish, a Jewish Democrat, disability rights advocate and Stevens’ fiancé, endorsed Rogers last week, arguing that El-Sayed’s rhetoric is placing Jews at risk.

At that point, Stevens was still supporting El-Sayed and had sought to appear with the Democratic Senate candidate at a campaign event.

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Stevens said, however, that El-Sayed’s campaign later told her she was “no longer welcome” on the trail after she asked him to denounce an antisemitic campaign advertisement and comments from left-wing streamer Hasan Piker and Tucker Carlson.

“My fiancé has his own views. I have mine. I made this decision, and I am proud of it,” she wrote. “Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion.”

Stevens said that after determining El-Sayed was “not fit to serve,” she chose to support Rogers in the hope that he would govern in the tradition of John McCain — as a senator prepared to put the country ahead of party loyalty and challenge his own side when conscience demanded it.

Stevens said the Democratic reaction to her endorsement took her by surprise.

“Instead of asking why a lifelong Democrat reached this point, some leaders rushed to condemn me, question my motives, and push me out,” she wrote. “That response reveals something deeply troubling about what is missing in today’s Democratic Party.

“We cannot preach inclusion while punishing dissent. We cannot promise to heal a divided country if we cannot tolerate disagreement among ourselves. And we cannot build a lasting majority by making Americans feel their concerns are unwelcome.”

Stevens indicated that she plans to remain a Democrat and “help lead” an effort to create “a stronger, more welcoming, more courageous Democratic Party.”

When her son’s medical expenses began mounting, a Maine mother turned her passion for baking into a home business—building a small bakery stand in her front yard to help cover the cost of his treatment.

Kalee Weatherwax has shared the journey with more than 12,000 online followers, posting videos of her pink bake stand and previewing the homemade treats available each weekend.

Weatherwax has been caring for her son since he was an infant, when she first noticed an unusual bruise on his leg.

Her son Alec, now 7, was diagnosed with Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma, or KHE, an extremely rare and aggressive tumor.

KHE develops from an abnormal growth of blood vessels and can spread through the veins.

If untreated, the cancerous veins can constrict muscles. Weatherwax told Inside Edition last month that, when Alec was first diagnosed, the veins were extending toward his heart.

Alec has taken oral chemotherapy twice a day since infancy to manage his condition. The medication has weakened his immune system, and he frequently misses school, Weatherwax said.

Because the treatment is so uncommon, it costs $2,000 per box, creating a significant financial burden for the family.

After Alec’s diagnosis, Weatherwax faced a difficult choice: return to work after maternity leave to help pay for his medication or remain at home to provide the care he needed.

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Baking offered a possible solution. Weatherwax already loved making treats, and friends often asked whether they could purchase her goods, inspiring her to create a makeshift bakery at home.

“Time has been a thief, and we haven’t gotten all of those normal experiences that a lot of other people have, and I’m grateful for every experience I get with my child, no matter what,” Weatherwax told the Kennebec Journal.

“But to me, I’m just like: how could I steal that time back? And that’s kind of why I wanted to start a home business.”

For years, Weatherwax and her three sons have sold baked goods from the pink stand in their front yard, welcoming members of the community on weekends.

She regularly posts videos of the baking process and announces the weekend menu so local customers know what to expect.

Recent offerings included sourdough bread, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, banana chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip cookies and apple crumb coffee cake.

The stand was closed for Halloween last weekend, but Weatherwax still set out free self-serve coffee and juice for community members to enjoy while trick-or-treating.

‘Thank you all so much for an amazing season and we’ll be back to baking next week with a few holiday additions,’ Weatherwax wrote on Facebook. 

The Maine mom said the stand has not only helped them afford their son’s treatment, but it has given Alec a chance to engage in the community as an immunocompromised child. 

Weatherwax told the Kennebec Journal that the chemotherapy has helped manage Alec’s symptoms, and they hope an ultrasound scheduled for next month will show positive results so he can reduce his treatment dose.  

Two-time Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon was left reeling after discovering that he had flown on the same Learjet—and with the same two pilots—just weeks before the aircraft crashed in Florida on Sunday.

Mixon, 30, said he was “absolutely devastated” by the crash, which claimed nine lives, in an emotional tribute posted on X Tuesday.

“I flew on that exact aircraft last month with those same two pilots,” the former Cincinnati Bengal wrote. “They were incredible professionals and genuinely wonderful people.”

Mixon specifically remembered 20-year-old co-pilot Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, saying her story had deeply affected him.

“Hearing the young woman’s story and learning about the bright future she had ahead of her makes it even more heartbreaking that her life was cut so short,” he wrote.

Mixon offered prayers to the families of all those aboard, describing the crash as a “tragic reminder of how fragile life is.”

“Love on your loved ones while you can, because you never know what tomorrow may bring,” he wrote at the end of his tribute.

Filgueiras was co-piloting the Learjet 60 with 55-year-old pilot Jeff Gregory during a flight from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas.

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The young aviator, who grew up in Palm Beach County, made local headlines in October 2023 after earning her private pilot’s license at 17, while still in high school and before she had obtained a driver’s license.

Filgueiras had been flying commercially for nine months and accumulated 1,300 hours in the air before her death, her grieving family told The Post.

The pilots had requested an ascent to about 37,000 feet to rise above severe weather. They reported icing and turbulence before the jet entered a steep nosedive, descending at more than 20,000 feet per minute.

The aircraft eventually crashed into a mobile home park in Palm Beach County, bringing down power lines and carving a massive crater into the ground.

Air traffic control audio captured Filgueiras screaming as she contacted a controller moments before the crash. Gregory could be heard reciting the Lord’s Prayer during the final seconds.

Just 10 minutes before the crash, Filgueiras had also texted her boyfriend, Justin, to say the aircraft had encountered turbulence and was dealing with icing.

The victims included multimillionaire technology executive Adam Robinson, 44; his wife, Helen Sharp; and their two young children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2, Robinson’s brother confirmed Monday.

Family friends Rachael Reed and Charmi Fehr, along with the family’s nanny, Anita Maria Apellido Cetina, also died in the crash.

Federal investigators have not yet determined why the jet plummeted. Authorities said Monday that it was flying through temperatures of minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

The aircraft began breaking apart before impact, scattering debris across a half-mile radius, the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference.

Investigators haven’t determined whether the plane had a cockpit voice recorder — or whether the device survived the crash.