Singer, composer and songwriter, she has released six studio albums and won nine Fryderyk Awards. She was associated with a retro style for a long time, which she has moved away from in favour of modern pop.
She was born on 7 January 1981 in Chełm. She has been involved with music since childhood, and although singing always came first for her, she chose the double bass at her first-level music school.
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Instruments appeared along the way, as a natural desire to interact with music and seek opportunities to develop myself – that’s why I went to music school. I chose the double bass because I associated it with good things. […] Then I switched to the bass guitar, which gave me a lot – an understanding of sounds, music theory and so on…
Before starting her solo career, she was the vocalist in the Chełm-based band 4 Pory RoQ, with which she performed at music concerts, including various festivals. She studied psychology at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology, and it was then that she saw a casting announcement for a new entertainment program, Idol, produced by the Polsat television station. In 2002, she took part in its first season, reached the final ten and eventually got eighth place.
Participation in the program brought her great popularity, which started her solo career, and she also received invitations to the projects of other musicians. In 2002, she recorded the choruses to eight songs from Krzysztof Krawczyk’s album …Bo marzę i śnię, (…Because I Dream and Sleep), which was produced by Andrzej Smolik. In 2003, the album Project SI 031 was released, a compilation by the label Sissy Records, containing 16 songs recorded by 40 musicians over the course of 20 months. In addition to well-known artists (Kasia Nosowska, Andrzej Smolik), new voices appeared on the album – including Dąbrowska. That same year, the artist released her first solo single ‘I see’ which, however, passed without much notice.
Her debut studio album, Samotność po zmierzchu (Loneliness After Dusk), was released in 2004 and produced by Bogdan Kondracki. The artist gracefully and in a balanced manner blended pop music with soul and jazz, although she also reached for elements of electronic music and rock. With her first release, she introduced themes that also ran through her subsequent albums – namely, love, loneliness and sadness. The release of the album was preceded by the single ‘Tego chciałam’ (This I What I Wanted), nominated for the Fryderyk Award in the song of the year category. Other singles from the album were ‘Inna’ (The Other) and ‘Charlie, Charlie’ – to date one of Dąbrowska’s most popular songs, being a cover of a song by the band A Camp. The album Samotność po zmierzchu received a Fryderyk in the pop album of the year category, while Dąbrowska herself received Fryderyks in the vocalist of the year and new face of discography categories. The album also received awards from the Eska Music Awards, the Byk Sukcesu and the As Empiku Awards. It was a very successful debut – the album received good reviews and golden album status, awarded to albums that sold in excess of 35,000 copies.
In 2006, Dąbrowska released her second studio album, Kilka historii na ten sam temat (A Few Stories on the Same Subject). It was promoted by the single ‘Trudno mi się przyznać’ (It’s Hard for Me to Admit). The album earned golden album status in ten days. It eventually sold more than 50,000 copies, which earned platinum status for it. The album, considered more coherent in sound than the debut, was a clear allusion to Polish pop music of the 1960s and 1970s, due to which Dąbrowska gained the status of a retro artist. The artist received four Fryderyks: vocalist of the year, pop album of the year, song of the year for ‘Trudno mi się przyznać’ and music video of the year for the same song (the video was made by Kama Czudowska and Miguel Nieto). Among the songs on the album is a cover of Ennio Morricone’s ‘L’Ultimo’ (The Last One) and a joint composition with German artist Masha Qrella – ‘Niech zniknie cały świat’ (May the Whole World Disappear).
Asked in an interview with Paweł Gzyl, Dąbrowska explained where the retro style in her work came from:
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There was such an aura in the air at the time with these 1960s, which not only appeared in my work but took over the world in general. It flowed from everywhere: from records, from the radio, from television, from the Internet. Therefore, it was natural with me. No one imposed it on me. I was already interested in it: from songs to dresses to interior design. […] This retro style was therefore a coincidence, although I understand that it could have been perceived as having been invented by someone because I changed a lot from the first to the second album.
With her third album, Dąbrowska continued this style – not only musically but also in terms of image. Released in 2008, the album W spodniach czy w sukience (In Pants or a Dress) was promoted by the songs ‘Nigdy więcej nie tańcz ze mną’ (Don’t Dance with Me Ever Again) and the title track, ‘W spodniach czy w sukience’. The album went platinum, and a total of more than 50,000 copies were sold. The material was considered more diverse than on previous albums, and the artist herself admitted that this was the result of inspiration reaching her from different directions and being attracted to the many shades of retro style.
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I thought that the title of one of my favourite songs from this album, ‘W spodniach czy w sukience’, should also be the title of the entire album, as it perfectly reflects all my dilemmas in recording and producing this album. These were constant choices and difficult decisions. […] This album is generally about the difficult art of decision-making.
On the album, Dąbrowska worked with, among others, Leszek Możdżer, who recorded piano parts, and Karolina Kozak and Agnieszka Szypura, co-authors of the lyrics. The album also included a composition by Daniel Bloom, the instrumental piece ‘Bardzo lubię opowiadania o miłości’ (I Like Love Stories a Lot).
Two years later, the fourth studio album, Ania Movie was released – completely different from the artist’s previous releases. Dąbrowska said:
‘Ania Movie’ was supposed to be an album to gain time, which would allow me to catch my breath so that I could find joy in making music again. So we got a completely free hand from the label.
What made the album different from the artist’s previous releases was primarily the choice of songs: the album featured original arrangements of movie hits and the artist’s favourite songs, such as ‘Sound of Silence’, ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Dąbrowska collaborated for the album with Kuba Galiński, Bogdan Kondracki and Adam Sztaba, among others. Contrary to expectations, the album was a commercial success and received platinum status.
In 2012, with the album Bawię się świetnie (I’m Having a Great Time), Dąbrowska began to move away from the image of a retro girl towards more modern alternative pop, but it was still full of melancholy and sadness. For the album she collaborated with Olek Świerkot and Kuba Galiński. Dąbrowska referred to the album as ‘the summary of the life of a thirty-year-old’ – the lyrics of the songs were extremely intimate, such as the song ‘Kiedyś mi powiesz kim chcesz być (One Day You’ll Tell Me Who You Want to Be), written for the artist’s son, which is a tender letter from a mother to her child. The ten songs on the album tell ten stories – about growing up, parenthood and the inevitability that certain stages in life come to an end. Like the artist’s previous releases, this was also primarily an album about love, but from a different, not so romantic but more mature perspective.
Dąbrowska’s sixth studio album, Dla naiwnych marzycieli (For Naïve Dreamers), was released four years later. When recording the material for the album, the artist collaborated with Czarny HIFI (Aleksandr Kowalski), associated primarily with hip-hop. The result of their work was a new sound in Dąbrowska’s work – still pop, but definitely modern and with elements of electronica. The single ‘Nieprawda’ (Untrue), which opened the album, introduced elements of reggae music to Dąbrowska’s music, also appearing in other tracks on the album. The album was full of light, cheerful sounds, while sensitivity and attentiveness stood out in the lyrical layer. Dla naiwnych marzycieli achieved double platinum status, with sales of more than 60,000 copies. It also received a Fryderyk in the best pop album category.
In 2017, the album The Best Of was released, a compilation of Dąbrowska’s songs from past musical releases. That same year, the artist released the single ‘Porady na zdrady (Dreszcze)’ (Tips for Cheating [Shivers]), recorded as part of the promotion of the romantic comedy Porady na zdrady directed by Ryszard Zatorski. She recorded two more songs as film promotions: ‘Serce nie sługa’ (The Heart Is No Servant) in 2018 for the romantic comedy of the same name (directed by Filip Zylber) and ‘1800 gramów (Gdy wiem, że jesteś)’ (1,800 Grams [When I Know You Are]) in 2019 in collaboration with GrubSon for the film 1800 gramów (directed by Marcin Głowacki). In 2022, she recorded the song ‘Baczyński (Pisz do mnie listy)’ (Baczyński [Write Letters to Me]) together with Sanah, which appeared on the latter’s album Uczta (Feast). In the same year, Dąbrowska released the single ‘Inny ktoś’ (Another Someone) to herald her new album.
Dąbrowska has also written music and lyrics for other artists. She has written for Brodka (‘Znam cię na pamięć’ [I Know You by Heart], ‘Miał być ślub’ [There Was Supposed to Be a Wedding]), Edyta Górniak (‘Teraz – tu’ [Now – Here]) and Łukasz Zagrobelny (‘Gdy jesteś tu’ [When You Are Here]), among others, and composed music, for example, for songs by Beata Kozidrak (‘Ruchome wydmy’ [Moving Dunes], ‘Zamki z piasku’ [Sandcastles]), Andrzej Piaseczny (the album O mnie, o tobie, o nas [About Me, About You, About Us]) and Justyna Steczkowska (‘To tylko złudzenie [to nie miłość]’ [It’s Just an Illusion (It’s Not Love)]).
Written in Polish by Aleksandra Jagielska, 12 October 2023
