DREVO

Maksym Derevianchuk (DREVO): Biography

Maksym Derevianchuk, known by his stage name DREVO, is a Ukrainian singer-songwriter and musician from the city of Varash, Rivne region. He was born on December 31, 2001. He gained popularity due to his independent approach to creativity, unique voice timbre and active promotion on social media. His musical style combines rock, pop rock and folk elements to create an authentic and unique sound.

Early life and education

Maksym grew up in Varash, a satellite town of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. Since childhood, he has shown creative abilities: he sang in kindergarten and school, participated in various events and celebrations, and even went on stage. Despite his musical inclinations, he did not receive professional music education, as he focused on football.

“It’s not that I was better at music, it just didn’t work out with football. So I switched to music. And time has shown that it was probably the right choice,” the artist recalls.

His parents repeatedly offered him professional vocal lessons, but after a few visits, Maksym left these lessons and continued to play football.

He is studying at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, majoring in Automation and Computer-Integrated Technologies, where he entered on a state-funded basis thanks to good grades at school and even went on to get a master’s degree. However, he studied without much enthusiasm, realizing that sometimes you have to do things you don’t really like.

Starting a music career

The turning point came when Drevo bought a guitar on his own during his second year at university. At first, he learned different songs through YouTube and played covers, but soon realized the importance of creating his own material.

The pseudonym DREVO comes from his last name – his friends always called him “tree” and the artistic form sounded more attractive.

His creative breakthrough came after he started writing his own songs. “That was a very productive period for me. I must have been euphoric, I was writing songs very often,” says the musician.

He recorded and shot the video for the first tracks at home, which was a characteristic feature of his early career. The first tracks were mostly lyrical, as the author himself notes, but modern works are already being created in a different genre – a successful combination of modern rock and folk elements.

Evolution of the creative style

At the beginning of his career, the audience noted the special timbre of DREVO’s voice, calling it bardic. People tried to compare him to some musicians, but the artist himself denied such theories and did not consider himself a bard. He attributed the emergence of various rumors to the lack of detailed information about himself.

At the same time, Derevianchuk recognizes a certain influence of other bands’ music. Among his favorite artists are Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rammstein, Michael Jackson, and XXXTentacion. He describes himself as a music lover who listens to a variety of music from rock to pop to rap. He creates mostly guitar music, so he usually listens to well-known rock bands.

Breakthrough and popularity

The song “By Airplane”

The song “By Airplane” was the most successful, gaining over a million views on YouTube and going viral on TikTok. The story of the track’s creation is quite interesting: Maksym and his friends were building a studio in Varash, carrying sand in the hot weather, dreaming of a summer trip abroad. It was then that the phrase “by airplane, this very summer” came to mind, and the song was built around it.

Other popular songs

• “Visiting the Temple” is one of the first popular tracks, a romantic story dedicated to the singer’s girlfriend
• “ Swallow” – a song about family relationships, written on the basis of life observations
• “Running on the edge” is a track about doubts at the beginning of his career
• “Life is depraved ” – one of the artist’s famous compositions
• “Emerald Sky” – a single that topped the Apple Music and YouTube Music charts in 2025

Almost all the songs were created in the musician’s small hometown of Varash.

Participation in the National Selection for Eurovision

Maksym has twice participated in the National Selection for Eurovision:

First attempt (2023).

Submitted an application with the song “Life in Reverse”, which was included in the longlist. Although he didn’t make it to the finals, he was noticed by the contest’s music producer Dmitry Shurov (Pianoboy), who later invited him to perform at his concert and even played drums during Maxim’s performance. This became a crucial event in the career of the aspiring performer.

Second attempt (2024)

He made it to the final with his song “Endless Chain”, which combined rock sound and nostalgia from 8-bit games, reminiscent of the days of pixel graphics, and took 9th place. He describes this experience as invaluable, despite the stress: “I became stronger, I became easier to treat everything and gained invaluable experience.”

Collaboration with Oleksandr Usyk

In the fall of 2023, Oleksandr Usyk wrote to Maksym with a proposal to create a song based on his poem. The result was the song “Be patient Cossack,” which was released on the eve of the world boxing champion’s important fight with Tyson Fury in May 2024.

Creative approach and philosophy of “Drevo”

Maksym is a full author of all his songs – he writes both music and lyrics, despite the fact that he has no professional musical education. His work is based on his personal experience: “I always write what I have experienced, what I feel at the moment.” His creativity is most influenced by his surroundings and external factors, such as what he does and what kind of music he listens to.

The artist actively uses social media to promote himself, especially TikTok and Instagram, where he posts videos of live performances and reactions of his loved ones to his songs. He believes that it’s not just online activity that matters, but also the quality of the music. He doesn’t consider talent shows to be a good tool for popularizing his songs, but sees potential in TikTok and Instagram.

Interestingly, the musician also posts the reactions of his family members, friends, and girlfriend to his singing. He is categorically against songs in Russian, preferring to create new material in Ukrainian.

Personal life.

Maksym has been dating his girlfriend, Yanka, for about three years, and she supports his work. His parents were initially skeptical of their son’s music career, but later became his biggest supporters.

Despite his music career, he remains an ardent football fan and participates in the medial of FC Rentgen. The singer has a positive attitude towards criticism and believes that the greater the success, the more active the haters are.

Current status and achievements

The band debuted with their first solo concert in Kyiv in October 2024. DREVO also announced a tour of Ukrainian cities, which was supposed to cover Dnipro, Chernivtsi, and Lviv in the winter and spring of 2025, but due to the mobilization of half of the music team, the concerts had to be postponed.

As of 2025, Maksym has a professional team with whom he works in the studio and creates music videos, as well as a music producer and manager. The singer’s hits continue to gain a huge number of streams on popular streaming platforms, and the number of video views consistently exceeds one million.

The modern Ukrainian scene is full of new names, but DREVO is not worried about competition. The singer is sure that everyone’s music is special, so the listener chooses what he or she likes.

A look into the future

The artist continues to develop, emphasizing the importance of independence: “you have to rely on yourself. No label, no one will give you anything or do anything for you.” Maksym believes that he has yet to release an album, but it seems that it won’t be long before he does.

His success is an example of how, in today’s environment, it is possible to achieve popularity through talent, perseverance, and the smart use of digital platforms. DREVO is only at the beginning of a long journey. With each new release, he opens up new horizons for Ukrainian music, expanding his circle of fans and introducing new creative ideas that will undoubtedly become an important part of modern Ukrainian culture.