Damian Westfal, Interia: How is it with your American Dream? You have been trying your hand at it overseas for a few years now. This dream has already been, it is still there, or maybe everything is still ahead of you.?
Magdalena Tul: – It was always in my head, I don’t even know where it came from. I swear – I love Poland, I love Polish songs, but I’ve always dreamed of singing in English, of singing R&B, soul music, that’s why I think America is the right place, because these genres are more popular there. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to sing for an international audience, but along the way, certain things happened and I settled on projects sometimes for a little longer, sometimes for a shorter time. At some point, I realized that time was running out and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make any more moves in this direction, because basically, when I realized it, it turned out that I was already a mother and things got complicated. At a certain age and life situation, it’s not so easy to set off with a backpack into the world, or work in a bar somewhere, like it was at the beginning of my adventure in Warsaw. However, it all depends on the will and everything can be done.
– I started to think about how I could do it, having family in Poland. I simply didn’t close my path and some paths slowly started to open up. But these are stories for another interview (laughter). I may not have done much yet, but when I think about where I was a few years ago, the fact that I had an artist visa, which is very difficult to obtain, because you have to show various experiences, and everything really came in handy for me in this application. Now it’s amazing that I can work with people who are veterans of American show business.
– The manager I am currently working with was a producer and tour manager for such personalities as Elton John Whether The Rolling Stones. He collaborated on the project from the management side “We Are the World”to reconcile all these stars in one agreement. And we are slowly developing this path of mine. I think that everything is still ahead of me. This path in Poland took me quite a long time to achieve certain things that I wanted to achieve, and I did not manage to achieve all of them, but maybe it is because my blinkers were always directed towards America. I have my stubbornness and I hope that now in the States it will not take me another 30 years to achieve other things (laughter).
People don’t realize how important it is to support your own country so that an artist can grow in another country. I had many such conversations, with different people from America, and they always recommended that I do something in my country first, then in Europe, and then come to the States. It’s not that easy, because success is often a collection of coincidences. Luckily, I managed to get producers interested in me without my numbers, without views. The Polish audience can do wonders and help a lot.
You say about your latest single “Make Me Believe” that it’s your boldest project to date. Does courage come with age?
– I think so. I mean the choreography, the work with the body, because the music itself – which I am very proud of, because I made it largely with my son, who is almost seventeen, he mixed the song – was done my way. I took matters into my own hands. I decided that this was the year I would take control. I am rather a conservative person. I am not impressed by provocative music videos and nudity. The attractiveness of a given artist always drops for me when they overdo it, when it becomes vulgar. In my opinion, there is a limit and to a certain extent, if dance is still an art, then it is beautiful and I decided that for this song, for what I felt in the context of the song as a woman, it would be adequate to the situation and would complement each other nicely. We did a lot of work and I am proud that my body endured so much on the set of the music video. In this context, it really is my bravest face. With my music, I would like to bring good things, good energy, and build people up rather than shock them.
Did R&B giveoh madam whatwhat pop didn’t give?
– It definitely helped me a lot in my musical development, because even when I don’t sing R&B completely, I listened to this music for many years, soaked in it, and even when I sing pop, I think you can feel a slightly different vibe. It requires a slightly deeper approach to listening. The program “Name that melody?” also taught me a different approach to songs, because I had to sing different genres, sometimes even very extreme ones in one episode. Well, maybe… I definitely wouldn’t have gone in the direction of disco polo.
Was there ever such a proposal in the program?
– Yes, I’ve already refused a few songs, and not only from the disco polo genre. Once I refused, for example, “Bałkanica” by Piersia. I’m not saying it’s a bad song, but it’s definitely not a song I would find myself in. I just don’t. I always try to have my moral and artistic backbone in such situations.
But there is a recording of a lady on the Polo TV station circulating on the Internet.
– It’s a very interesting adventure (laughter). I once got, completely by accident, an invitation from a producer friend to a Christmas concert. I agreed, but I didn’t ask exactly what it was about. The day before leaving, when the production called me, I realized that the names of the other artists from the concert meant nothing to me. It turned out that I was going to a disco polo Christmas concert (laughter). There, in the dressing room, I met Zenek, who wasn’t that well-known yet, but was already a guru in this genre of music. I stood on stage, performed the carol “Mizerna cicha”, which was arranged by me and has nothing to do with disco polo, so I don’t know why the producer thought of inviting me (laughter). I had the opportunity to feel like a raisin there, because I found myself in a trailer full of disco polo artists who looked at me like I was an alien from outer space.
You returned after 6 years to “What melody is that?” What is the first impression?enia?
– It was really nice to get invited again and get back to old friends. The first premiere episode after the holidays was with me. I had the opportunity to sing two ABBA songs. However, it’s not the kind of collaboration some people imagine. I’m not going back there permanently. There were different ideas, but I’m more of a guest there now. The permanent band remains the same as in the previous edition, and I’m just a guest, a person who sometimes gets invited to special episodes. It’s hard for me to even say how many times I’ll be there. This is a year of yes for me, where such proposals make me happy.
What other songs would you like to sing on the show’s stage?
– I would love to sing songs by stars such as Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey or Aretha Franklin, that is, show my artistic side – something my voice feels best in.
Where did this break from the program come from?
– Some people may make up various stories about my departure in 2018 and I don’t want to get into politics here, because this topic is always a divisive one for me. I believe that politics harms art and I certainly wouldn’t want viewers to perceive my decisions as political, because they never were. In 2018, I didn’t leave the program for political reasons, because I had already sung in it “for some”, “for others”, and probably “for thirds” as well. At that time, I left because of an internal split in the program and it was not related to changes on the political scene at all, because it wasn’t even the time of those changes. I don’t know what reasons Robert Janowski had at the time, but I remember that I had the opportunity to decide whether I was leaving or staying.
What did you think then?and?
– That I don’t want to be in the middle of some conflict. That’s what convinced me the most to leave, because I don’t like such situations. I’m a peaceful person, I don’t like to take sides in a dispute. I decided then that this was a good time to take care of myself, although I won’t deny that it was difficult, if only for financial reasons, because then Covid came, so there were moments when I wondered – what would happen if I stayed. But today I think it was a good thing. Now I have my own musical place and I could focus more on myself, and the fact that I’m back now is nice because of the renewed contact with the audience in front of the TV screens.
How do you assess your participation in Eurovision after all these years?
– There are definitely more pros than cons. It was a huge experience. After so many years, the first thought that comes to my mind is pride. I carried this huge undertaking on my shoulders practically by myself, I was the driving mechanism, the one paying, doing everything in the context of management. I was like a one-person company. There was a lot of stress, but I really appreciate that time and I have a lot of respect for myself for handling it, for not backing down or giving up. I lacked some help, because at that time I was at a stage when I knew something wouldn’t work, I was afraid to ask for help, because I didn’t want to cause a problem. I had the feeling that since I got the chance to represent our country after so many years, I wouldn’t cause a problem now. That was a very wrong way of thinking, because I had a big company next to me. Maybe it wasn’t so well planned then, now it works completely differently. Back then, Eurovision was treated very poorly. A lot has changed and it’s much better now.
And if the offer to stand on this stage came back, she would agreeor?
– I had such ideas later that I wanted to go back there and get mine, then I got over it. My producer told me “let it go, no more contests, now you’re making music, not racing”. He was right, because contests are not healthy for the psyche, but they are definitely useful for promotion. I think now that if I had the opportunity to appear on this stage again, I would do it with pleasure, but in a different way, because the song “Jestem” was not written for Eurovision. It was simply my song written for the radio, light and pleasant, and I would like to present something more to the world.
What are the next steps on the Polish-American path?
– Now definitely the “Signature Of Soul” concerts, which we start in November. After some time of playing concerts in the States, I would like to come to Europe and of course to Poland, but I think it will take a while for people to get used to these songs. There are also plans to record more songs. I hope that next year I will be able to go into the studio with the musicians for a month and record an album. There is also a plan for Christmas. I am also very happy that I had the honor of performing the American anthem before an important sports event.
I can’t reveal everything right away, but I want to share my little milestone. Namely, we submitted the song “Make Me Believe” to the Grammy Awards, and that’s a great achievement for me, because to do that you have to meet many conditions, including being a member of the Academy, and it’s not that easy. Obviously, I don’t count on much, because I’m also a realist, and the song isn’t popular enough to draw attention to itself, but the important thing is that we took that first step and “planted our flag on the moon” (laughter). The rest is in the hands of the Almighty.
You once dreamed of sailing into the international market. What can I wish you today??
– I could talk about various dreams, but I think that the best wish would be to play to a full house, to sell out stadiums. I love big halls, big audiences, that atmosphere. Intimate places are also nice, but with a bigger audience I feel a unique energy, with which I can have fun. I guess it’s every artist’s dream, for the audience to like their songs, listen to them, share them, come to concerts. What more could I want? In such a situation, awards are not important at all. Oh! And I would also like as many landings as take-offs (laughter). I’m still a bit afraid of flying – although on the other hand I like it a lot, because flying is in my blood after my parents – but if I don’t overcome it, I will never achieve my goals. You have to take that into account.