Julia Marcell is more than just a phenomenon that successfully made the transition from the internet to the big leagues of alternative music, she was also the most awarded young artist of 2011.
Her second album June was a huge sensation: it was nominated for seven Fryderyk awards (most important Polish music prize). The record eventually won a single statue for best alternative album. In the meantime, Marcell also received the Passport prize granted by the weekly Polityka. This distinction may be considered even more valuable, as it is given to young artists in just a few broad cultural categories which aren’t divided into any additional sub-categories. As if this wasn’t enough, Marcell also received the Grzegorz Ciechowski Artistic Award of the City of Toruń.
Marcell, born Julia Górniewicz, is 30 years old. Today she lives in Berlin, but she often visits Olsztyn, where her parents live. For Marcell, Germany’s capital is a safe haven on the road to international success. Unlike most Polish artists, she developed her career abroad. She chose Berlin because that was where she recorded her first album, and it is also the home of her manager. She now releases her records both in the West (Haldern Pop) and in Poland (Mystic Production). However, she most often performs concerts in Germany.
While she skilfully refers to the aesthetics of such artists as Björk, Kate Bush, Regina Spektor, Lykke Li and Joanna Newsom, she is praised not only for her artistry. She is also known for having an eye for the right people to work with. She writes the lyrics for her songs, which she also composes herself. Polityka awarded her for “proving that one can make a career in pop music independently and according to one’s own rules. For a fully authorial and modern approach to creating music”.
At the beginning of her career, when she still resided in Olsztyn, she posted her own songs on her own self-made website. Marcell’s first record was made with money she collected through the site Sellaband.com. Internet users donated a total of 50 thousand dollars after listening to her demo, an unprecedented success for a Polish artist. The fund-raising site contacted her with a manager and chose an appropriate producer for her. Both of these men were from Berlin, so she travelled to Germany. Once she arrived there, she stayed longer than she planned. Her debut album It Might Like You was initially released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (in the summer of 2009) and later also appeared in Poland (in autumn).