“If previous selections didn’t give Poland a win, it is okay to try this option” – Tulia on ‘Szansa Na Sukces’ and their upcoming album

They’re the Polish folk group that turned up the heat at Eurovision 2019 with their entry “Fire of Love”. Now, Tulia are gearing up for the release of their new album in April.

We caught up with the girls from Szczecin and found out what we should expect from the new album. We also get their views on the return of Szansa Na Sukces – Poland’s national selection to decide who represents the country at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam this year.

Hold back the river, Tulia’s fire keeps on burning!

Hello ladies! We can’t wait for the launch of your new album in February. What should we expect? Does it have a similar sound to your previous work?

Of course! We work as always using our natural voice technique, but now we have more time to focus on songs than at our debut. We are sure that you’ll notice a new sound. You can check out our single “Rzeka” (“The River”) to hear a sneak peek of the new sound. Our producer is working at combining ethnic instruments with modern electronic sounds. We need more ambience and electronic beats to create more space for voices that may be a more nostalgic experience than before.

We always felt that our music is a connection of traditions and modernity, but our European-scale, international experience showed us that this is not that obvious for the audience. Now we need to be more set.

How exciting! Can you give us a sneak peak into the name of the album?

We need to keep the title of it in secret to give you a nice surprise 💙 But we chose the title a few months ago and it is a beautiful match with the mood of our new songs. We feel that the title is an one-word new album theme.

Does your love of folk come from your folk dancing background?

We met in folk song and dance ensemble where practically we were performing separately: Patrycja was a soloist singer, Dominika was a dancer and Tulia used to play traditional drum baraban. But in the past, all three of us were dancing, solo singing and playing instruments in other groups. For example, Dominika was a member of folkloric group in Pyrzyce. That is a lucky thing, because our town Szczecin doesn’t have its typical folklore traditions, and a few kilometres further you can learn traditional dances and songs, and wear a traditional costume which is quite fascinating. Since we are interested in this, we of course use it in our music.

We love your new single “Rzeka”, can you elaborate what it is about?

“Rzeka” means “The River”. There’s a Polish saying of “Don’t come in to the same river twice”, which means don’t give a relation a second chance if you just ended it – this was an inspiration. The lyrics express a dislike of returning to past feelings, and the infirmity that remembering a past experience can give someone. They want to “reverse the current of the river so that it runs up, not down”, to start a new life and enchant it to be positive now, even without this relation. But the river is filled with water, it has its start and end. Water is life, and so the life is starting and ending – always. That’s what we wanted to show while creating the video.

You can see three generations of beautiful water fairies. One generation that is reconciled with their lives, and want to start something new (new life? life after life?). Second one is us, young women that are providing sisterly support to each other. And the last one, our little brave baby girls, that are showing that “the new beginnings” are always beautiful and precious. This song is very important for us.

Tulia – “Rzeka”

What do you think of Szansa Na Sukces? Do you think it will help Poland win their first Eurovision title?

Szansa Na Sukces is a new format for the Polish broadcaster. If previous selections didn’t give Poland a win, it is okay to try this option. We are worried for elected artists without any stage experience, but hopefully experienced participants of different talent shows will come up. We hope that this option of selection will bring our country that big success as in Junior Eurovision.

Finally, what is next for Tulia?

 After a long 2019 full of emotions and different intense events, we are expecting 2020 to be peaceful for us. We are waiting for new album and concerts – we want them to multiply, because this is what we love!

What do you think of Tulia’s new Electro-Folk track “Rzeka”? Does it float your boat? Let us know in the comments below.

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