All that I know about the song: Cosmos/Kosmos
This is a small trend that I intend to do with some t.A.T.u. songs, I will start with one of my favorite songs Cosmos (Outer Space) and it's russian counterpart.
Contrary to the common known, this song's development started before t.A.T.u. broke up with Ivan Shapovalov in 2004 and went to produce in LA the second album, that would be Dangerous and Moving.
Creation of the song:
In the very early of 2004 in Podnebesnaya, both Yulia and Lena were already pressing Ivan to present them the songs of the second album, as Yulia claims that he basically had only three songs for the album in that time (probably being Nichya, Ya Budu and Ti Soglasna) and Lena was doubtful if the second album was going to be as good as the first one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFAxlOiPggg
Under that pression, Ivan produced/wrote a bunch of demos that would later be worked into songs like Obezyanka Nol, Lyudi Invalidy, Vse Normalo (this one is unreleased unfortunately), Chto Ne Hvateat and a lesser known early version of Kosmos called "V Kosmose Skvoznyaki"
Just like the others songs above, V Kosmose Skvoznyaki had a very different music when compared to it's final version Cosmos/Kosmos.
There are two demos of this song, the first is Ivan singing a verse and the chorus and the second version is Yulia is singing only the verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsxHOXlwTU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rWXOxXGzVc&t=165s At 2:35, you can see Yulia doing some vocals for that song. Somewhat similar on what nATo did on Chorjavon (more below)
Unfortunately no full version of the demo can be found, it is unknown if there is vocals of Lena for that early version. As I in particular found it very difficult to be the case, but since there is a small clip of Yulia singing it, maybe there is.
Due to a very different music/tempo from the final version, some fans think that the songs were not related, but:
"V Kosmose Skvoznyaki" lyrics had the same chorus of the Kosmos and the verse that Ivan sing was the second half of the second verse of Kosmos.
NATO's Chorjavon
Ivan's main controversial project right after t.A.T.u., nATo used the EXACTLY the same melody/music for the lead single Chorjavon, but more specifically the first version of the Chorjavon.
Still in 2004, the album 'Podnesbenaya' released many of songs that consisted of Ivan's musical projects, like a demo of Belochka, incluinding nATo's Chorjavon (first version)
Since Ivan composed the original melody with "V Kosmose Skvoznyaki"'s lyrics on mind, rather than the nATo's song/cover. You can notice that when nATo sings the second verse, the synths sings with the: "my snova vstretimsya v kosmose
my skoro vstretimsya v kosmose"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc_eT27vrSc
As Ivan was no longer with t.A.T.u. and focused mainly with his new controversial project, he re-recorded and made some small changes to the melody of the Chorjavon's song. This version would be into nATo's 2005 album and it is the more popular/known version of Chorjavon.
Notice that on this new version, the synths on the second verse no longer sing with the Kosmose's chorus anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiwSEkFHv20
Dangerous and Moving's recording.
After t.A.T.u. parted ways with Ivan, they negotiated some of the songs that were recorded under Ivan to later re-record and made new music from them. The case with Nichya, Lyudi Invalidy, Obezyanka Nol, Chto Ne hvataet, Ty Soglasna and Kosmos.
Sergio Galoyan took the first demo sessions with Lena on the late of 2004, he re-produced the song with different music and more lyrics (it has two full verses, instead of half of one). It also had a bridge:
"Outer space is where I want to hold you,
Outer space is where I'll be,
Will you meet me? Will I wait forever?
If I reach you, wait for me, wait for me!
Out in space is where we find our passion,
Out in space we'll be ourselves,
Out in space we lose our inhibitions,
Come away with me,
Run away, run away!"
This bridge is also on the Cosmos (english version)'s demo, but is neither on none of the final versions, as the english one has totally different lyrics and the russian one has no bridge at all.
The demo also had more reverb effect on Lena's voice during the chorus, and the instrumental breaks on the last 20 seconds instead of repeating the chorus.
This may be the case of what Galoyan claimed of much of his music being changed without his known/consent by Interscope or maybe it was a creative decision by him who was the new producer for the album.
For some reason Martin Kierszenbaum is credited as both producer and writer of the Outer Space (Cosmos) but not on the Kosmos (Russian version). Even though it shares the same music; so it is probably that Martin wrote the brigde and/or the english version, as it is not a direct translation from the russian version.
At that point Yulia's voice was already damaged, Galoyan said on 2021 that they had to re-record a various takes of the "my snova vstretimsya v kosmose" as Yulia's voice was breaking.
I have three possible theories why Kosmos doesnt has a bridge:
"Valery Polienko, who is credited as the lyric writer of Kosmos, also wrote back in 2003 Ne Ver Ne Boysya, which has a unreleased english version that had lyrics when the instrumental breaks before the last chorus. Lena sang that part it on their Eurovision contest." (Don't trust the voices)
"Bridges are not common on Eastern Europe, incluinding Russia, many of artists's songs on the Eastern Europe does not feature bridge songs, different from USA which is a much common feature. Martin Kierszenbaum who is american and only credited on the english version, probably wrote the bridge because without it the song would be 'unfinished'."
"The Russian counterpart of the album was probably rushed, although a direct translation of any of the bridges would be possible, it could not sound as good/fit. Is pretty obvious that Interscope focused mainly on the international/english version on the album:
As Nichya doesnt feature Lena singing the last verse as she does on We Shout/Nichya's first version, Lena does not sing on Lyudi Invalidy's chorus as she does in Dangerous and Moving. Obezyanka Nol does not have backing vocals, so in that case would plausible that they didn't had the time to wrote a new bridge for Kosmos and probably just used the same lyrics that Polienko wrote for the "V Kosmose Skvoznyaki" as he is the ONLY credited writer on the lyrics of Kosmos.
So it would not be strange that Martin and Galoyan re-imagined the theme/lyrics for the english version than spending more time about a old song that was probably already 100% made lyrically."
Additional Information
A remix of Outer Space (Cosmos) is one of the tracks of t.A.T.u.'s The Best (Compilation).
Although Cosmos was perfomed on the concert St. Petersburg on April 28, 2006, it is not present on Truth (DVD) along with Polchasa, Dangerous and Moving and Chto Ne Hvataet. As some fans tried to do a full version of the concert on HQ, that was the only song that still left off, as you can only find a low quality audio/mono channel of it on Youtube.
Kosmos was first perfomed live on 2013, 8 years after it's release.
Hope you guys enjoyed it!