[6] By the 1980s, he had become an acclaimed singer across the USSR, releasing the Poet Vakhtang Kikabidze EP in 1979 and his first Russian-language album, While the heart sings ("Пока сердце поёт") in 1981, followed by The Wish later that year.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Buba had remained a popular musician in the Russian-speaking world,[7] regularly holding concerts in Russia (until 2008), Belarus, Ukraine,[8] and Azerbaijan.

As a screenwriter and director, Kikabidze produced two feature films: Be Well, Dearest One (Bud' zdorov dorogoj), which received the top award at the International Comedy Festival in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and Men and All Others (Muzhchiny i vse ostal'nye).

As a public figure in Georgia, he regularly endorsed the United National Movement and voiced campaign ads for the party during the 2008 parliamentary election.

During the conflict, he rejected the Order of Friendship bestowed upon him in July 2008 by President Dmitry Medvedev and canceled the concert dedicated to his 70th birthday which was to be held at the Kremlin as a protest against Russia's actions.

[26] Though Saakashvili called him a "talented politician", Kikabidze himself said his candidacy did not mean he was "entering politics" and added an UNM-led government could "use him" to rebuild ties with Russia.

"[28] Winning a seat in Parliament, he was one of 49 MPs that refused to recognize the election results after allegations of mass voter fraud surfaced and declared a boycott.

He remained nonetheless active in politics and was present at the UNM headquarters when law enforcement stormed it in February 2021 to arrest party chairman Nika Melia.

[31] In a speech during the Petra Summit between the leaders of Association Trio, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy congratulated Kikabidze on his 83rd birthday and invited him to Kyiv.

[33] In November, he met with Zelenskyy to lobby for his intervention[34] and made a public appeal to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Russia-tied businessman and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

He had been a People's Artist of Georgia since 1980, entitling him to a lifetime pension from the state and has been acknowledged by a number of various music contests and film festivals in the former USSR.

[35] He also held the USSR State Prize, the Order of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, as well as of Nikolai Wondermonger and Knight Cross of St. Konstantin the Great.