Musician strikes a chord with followers

Singer Andrey Klichuk performs. Performance photos by Toms Krastins-Rullis and Alejandro Martinez

By Tom Victoria

Andrey Klichuk impacts people through his music and social media content. He uplifts his followers, particularly those in the gay community.

Andrey, 29, of Latvia said music resonates with him unlike anything else.

“Sometimes, I don’t know what I feel,” he said. “When I can’t express my emotions or feelings, I listen to my own music. I’m like that’s it. That’s the one thing that is exactly what’s happening in my mind or this is what I feel right now. I mostly create music for myself. I thought about sharing it with others since it is a way to express myself.”

Andrey creates music under the name Celloveck, which is based on the musical instrument and the Russian word for human “chelovek.” The singer released his debut album “Nothingness.”

“My own music is something between ambient music and dream pop,” he said. “A lot of my music comes from a very dark or sad place, but I don’t think it’s necessarily bad because something like sadness is a very strong emotion and definitely there is a lot of room for inspiration. However, when I perform, I usually tend to go for pop music.”

Andrey released the album “Nothingness.” Album cover by Toms Krastins-Rullis

Andrey, who does covers as well as his own pieces, was set to perform in a gay-friendly bar when he was interviewed. His playlist included Kylie Minogue and ABBA.

“I’m also going to perform Radiohead and Conchita Wurst,” he said. “I go for a versatile type of music, something to shake your ass off, but also something to listen, just enjoying this lyrical feel to the music.”

Andrey competed in his country’s version of the televised music competition “The X Factor,” appearing on two episodes.  

“The competition was tough,” he said. “It was my first experience being filmed.”

Andrey spent 15 hours on set the first day, then another seven on the second.

He plans to change the tone of his music.

“Show a different chapter of my life,” Andrey said. “The music I’m releasing right now is more focused on grief, sadness and depression I actually had, so it’s really tough. However, that part of my life is in the past and my life has changed a lot since I started to write music. I want to create some cool music, but maybe a bit more positive. I’m working on a few projects right now. We’ll see how that goes. With the album released, I’d want a music video released for one of the songs. I would definitely want to have more concerts.”

Andrey did a photo shoot for the company H&M. Photo by Alejandro Martinez

He explained there are advantages and disadvantages to singing live.

“There is something very great about performing live,” Andrey said. “You get to see people’s reactions You get to interact with them. It definitely gives you some adrenaline and happiness, also a little bit of stress. You feel very alone. I also feel that a lot of music could be better if it’s edited or sound effects added that you cannot create on live concerts.”

He uses the nom de plume Celloveck due to his love of the musical instrument.

“That was my musical inspiration,” Andrey said about the cello. “I was always dreaming to learn how to play.”

He eventually was given the opportunity to play the cello in school.

“That was like a mini-dream come true,” Andrey said.

He always was interested in singing, participating in a school talent show in his early teens.

“I would sing in my bedroom listening to songs,” Andrey said. “And then someone heard me singing and said ‘You’re so good. You should work on that and continue doing that.’ So I performed on that talent show. My music teacher said ‘Listen. You should sing in our choir.’”

The teacher assigned him solo pieces.

“It started from there,” Andrey said.

Andrey competed in Latvia’s version of “The X Factor.”

The inevitable voice change of puberty was a pivotal development.

“Once my voice was more stable, I did more singing,” Andrey said. “I was participating in a lot of singing competitions with a choir, then I also joined another choir and I was singing there.”

He also started performing at weddings and restaurants.

Andrey said the butterflies never go away.

“I’m still nervous every single time,” he said. “When you’re nervous, it shows you care about the performance. The thing people tell me is when I perform, you can never tell when I’m stressed, so it’s all happening backstage. But when I’m onstage, it’s poof. It’s all gone. It’s showtime.”

Andrey is musically inspired by various groups.

“I still listen to them,” he said. “I would say my three main artists that have been an inspirational to me since I was 16 until nowadays — I’m grateful they still release music — Evanescence, Nightwish and Apocalyptica, a Finnish band. The lead vocal of the Evanescence band (Amy Lee) is my all-time favorite.”

All of Andrey’s released songs are written in English, but there is an unreleased one in his native tongue.

“I actually have a song in my drafts that I wanted to include in my debut album and dedicate that to my brother who passed away,” he said. “I just thought it didn’t belong there because there’s a lot of ambient music in English and all of a sudden, I sing in Russian would feel weird. But it’s still in my drafts. Perhaps one day, I’m going to publish it. Although I enjoyed the process of creating the song more than I actually like the song, I had the opportunity to grieve a lot while making that song. Perhaps that should stay with me and not be published, but you never know.”

Andrey was 15 when his brother, who was nine years older, died.

“Since I grew up without my father, he was a father figure sort of,” he said. “Losing him wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. That will forever stay a sad moment of my life, but time heals.”

Andrey’s homeland is one of the eastern European nations formerly part of the Soviet Union. His family spoke Russian at home.

“Back in those days, there was a big mix of different ethnicities of people from different countries and my dad was born in Ukraine,” Andrey said. “He moved to Latvia and met my mother. This was a common language between them and this is the language we used in our family. The parents of my mother came from Belarus although she was born in Latvia.”

He also speaks Latvian.

“I do not associate myself with the culture of Russia,” Andrey said. “On a daily basis, I tend to use English. This is my philosophy: I just want to be a decent human being, just be judged as a human and not a person speaking Russian or a gay guy. I’m a human first of all.”

He said Latvians support their neighbors in the conflict with Russia.

“We stand with Ukraine,” Andrey said.

Latvia radio stations play mainly English songs and no Russian television channels are broadcast in the country anymore.

Andrey has a full-time office job.

“This is something I do from time to time,” he said about singing.

Andrey devotes much of his YouTube content to empowering people in the gay community.

“That was my number one motivation to do that once I had enough strength to accept myself,” he said about being a content creator. “That all happened because there were certain people that lifted me up, that cared enough, that influenced me. I was surrounded by Russian speaking people back in a much smaller town. I felt very lonely. I felt misunderstood. I felt confused. Nowadays, it’s much better for gay people now. But this place is still very homophobic.”

Andrey was committed to helping others adjust to changing their orientation.

“I almost felt like this is my gay duty to hep my queer people around me to show that it does get better, that you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you,” he said. “Unfortunately, I got to meet a lot of unhappy people. They still can’t accept themselves even though you think how is being gay now an issue. Here, it still is. A lot of people are still confused even about themselves and so I want to be that example. I want to be that person who shows there’s nothing wrong with being gay. You can still live your life. A lot of good things are going to happen for you.”

Andrey was a guest on a Latvian talk show to speak about dating life.

Andrey also shares important and entertaining moments in his life, including travel and dating.

“I had some interesting experiences or some adventures,” he said. “All that happened because I accept myself and like myself. I want to help others to achieve that.”

Andrey was 15 when he began to understand he was not straight.

“I started to realize I might like guys,” he said. “I had my first big crush on my straight friend. I started to realize my feelings toward him, but it took me a long time to understand and accept it.”

Although Andrey told his friends early on about his orientation, he only came out to his parents a few years ago.

“A gang of my close friends already knew for quite some time, but I wanted to focus on letting everyone know about it,” he said.

Andrey has spoken at events and a talk show as well as dealing individually with people regarding orientation.

“The more I meet people, the more positive feedback I get,” he said. “I had some personal messages from people that sharing my coming out experience has helped them to overcome some fear and even do so-called coming out as well. That makes me really happy.”

One encounter stands out for Andrey.

“One of my biggest accomplishments was a family in my hometown that reached out to me because they saw my video,” he said. “Their son passed away years ago.”

The mother had many questions trying to understand her late gay son.

“She didn’t know how to support him and what to do with that information,” Andrey said. “She wasn’t mad. She didn’t know what she needed to do. It’s not very clear if it (the son’s death) was an accident or if he did it himself. To her, it was very important to talk to someone who had the same experience, knowing we came from the same hometown. She knew nothing about it. She said now I understand why this or that happened. I was so extremely happy that I helped someone with that. I would never realize that would happen and that someone needs that help.”

Andrey posted fitness progress photos to show his transformation.

He knows what it’s like to deal with a lack of understanding. Andrey’s mother raised two kids by herself while his dad lived apart from the family.

“I didn’t have the best relationship with the two of them,” he said. “When it came to me coming out and sharing that with them, my mother was probably neutral about it. She was incredulous. The first thing she said was ‘Are you crazy?’ then ‘Are you messing with me?’ I said I wanted you to know that so we were closer. She avoids the topic, not being aggressive or negative.”

Although Andrey’s relationship with his mother didn’t change for the worse, his relationship with his father soured.

“My father really overreacted and made drama out of it,” he said. “He said ‘You disrespect me. What if my colleagues found about it because you’re so loud about it?’ He also mentioned I only did it for attention. When I shared everything, there were words that really hurt me. And he said ‘I don’t feel you’re being sincere with me, being honest.’ At that moment, I realized I don’t need his acceptance. I don’t need his support. I get that from other people.”

Andrey stressed his friends don’t judge him.

“They accept me as I am,” he said.

Andrey does not communicate with his father.

“He does not deserve me,” he said. “That sounds harsh, but I don’t feel he deserves my attention because he does not respect me. He doesn’t listen to me. He does not hear me. The way he affects me is very toxic. We’ll never understand each other. I made a decision to stop having him in my life and you know what? I feel so much better.”

Andrey is open about his orientation so there is no misunderstanding.

“I want people to know I’m not straight,” he said. “I’m gay and if that’s an issue for them, they can stay away from me.”

Despite having an online presence, Andrey has not been subject to hate.

“I never had anyone confront me in a negative way,” he said. “I was expecting that. Most of the people don’t really care or they will actually support you. All of these people who will hate you for no reason shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want to do and doing what you like to. Period.”

Andrey poses between railroad tracks. Photo by Alejandro Martinez

Andrey works out to stay fit.

“I started to do it as a casual thing,” he said. “Now, it’s become almost like a second job. Nowadays, I’m spending a lot of time there.”

Andrey goes to the gym three times a week for two to three hours a session.

Along with aesthetics, he’s noticed a significant increase in strength. Andrey used to struggle lifting the large water bottle for an office cooler.

“But now, it’s very easy,” he said.

Andrey also enjoys parties.

“I like techno music,” he said.

Andrey keeps himself motivated.

“I try to remember what is usually my end goal and how much work I put in already,” he said.

Andrey dispensed advice to aspiring singers.

“Keep singing, keep trying,” he said. “This is a skill that requires practice.”

Andrey also offered advice to youth about coming out.

“Find someone you trust,” he said. “Get their support. Make sure you have a safe space you can always go to. Remember that you are valid and your happiness is important.”

Andrey advised parents of children coming out to be understanding.

“Do your research,” he said. “Seek advice if needed. Don’t make it about yourself. Be there for your kid.”

Andrey’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/celloveck/

Andrey’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/AndreyKlichuk

Andrey’s TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@celloveck