Mila Nitich re-recorded "I Repent" in Ukrainian — a translation as an act of cultural resilience
The song that has accompanied the artist since she was 18 received a Ukrainian version — a risky translation revealed a universal meaning in the work and became a signal of cultural self‑defense during the war.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
March 5, 2026 · 2 min read
A New Voice for an Old Song
Ukrainian performer MILA NITICH has released a Ukrainian version of the song “I Repent,” which entered her life when she was 18 and has accompanied the artist for more than a decade and a half. According to UNN and the singer’s press service, the translation was a conscious choice for her — a risk that opened a new, more universal meaning in the song.
Why this matters now
Translating the song into Ukrainian is not only an artistic decision. In times of war, language and culture serve as an inner support. The translated version makes the lyrics accessible to a wider audience and transforms a personal story into a shared experience — about pain, acceptance, and forgiveness. It is that microscopic but resilient action that strengthens national identity.
How the translation came about
MILA says she hesitated for a long time: she feared the responsibility of preserving the song’s emotional depth. The decision was born during a studio meeting with poet Hidayat Seidov — they were working together on the music, and it was then that the Ukrainian lyrics emerged. The sound was finished by Serhiy Mohylevskyi and his team, who, according to the singer, helped preserve the intimacy of the composition.
“This song came into my life far too early — at 18. I fought for it and defended it, because I felt it was mine... At first I put one very personal story into it. But today I understand: it’s not about a specific person. It’s about each of us.”
— MILA NITICH, singer
Audience reaction and the professional community
According to the press release, listeners’ reactions confirmed the artist’s intuition: people report listening to “I Repent” several times a day and do not hold back their emotions. Music critics and colleagues note that successful Ukrainian adaptations often amplify a composition’s emotional impact — especially when the text is preserved sensitively and without simplification.
“When I read the finished text — I just cried. Because I felt: the song gained a completely different meaning.”
— MILA NITICH, singer
What’s next
“I Repent,” as performed by MILA, is today presented not as a relationship story but as a confession about a path, forgiveness, and inner rebirth. It is an example of how an individual artistic work can grow into a social experience — and become an element of the country’s cultural resilience. Whether this version will become a new emotional beacon for listeners will depend on its further resonance and how deeply the song settles into the popular consciousness.
“Today I regret nothing. I understood that everything happened not for nothing... At every moment of my life it was necessary for me to arrive today as the person I am.”
— MILA NITICH, singer
Context for the reader: on the cultural front, each such gesture — a translation, a concert, an album — works to preserve language and identity. It is a subtle but important component of resistance. Question to the reader: which other songs, in your opinion, should be rendered into Ukrainian so we can speak to generations in the language that holds them?
