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Nosowska, the chameleon queen of Polish music

Published by

Anja Wedberg

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Katarzyna Nosowska in concert 2022

Image by Wojciech Pędzich, Wikimedia Commons license 🙏

Katarzyna Nosowska is no doubt one of the most important Polish singers and songwriters. As the frontwoman of the rock band Hey and as a solo artist, she’s living proof that it’s possible to reach mainstream success and critical acclaim in equal measure.

Constantly renewing herself, she’s been incredibly productive on and off the stage since the 1990s. And she hasn’t just been productive, but also consistently brilliant. Every release oozes quality and curiosity. As a result, she’s scooped up an impressive 34 Fryderyk music awards (Poland’s Grammy) to date 🏆

Quick links – jump straight to:

Hey: Grunge and alternative rock

Hey formed in Szczecin in 1992 as one of Poland’s first grunge bands, inspired by bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They quickly became hugely popular and Polish media even referred to their success as “Heyomania”.

The founders were Nosowska and Piotr Banach, who left the band in 1999. Paweł Krawczyk, who replaced Piotr, became Nosowska’s long-term partner and later husband.

As the singer and text writer, Nosowska made a deep mark on the band’s sound. Her lyrics and timid but charismatic stage persona resonated with a broad audience. You won’t see her put on a dance show, but she pours a lot of raw emotion into her singing. Her distinct voice often shifts from sweet and innocent to raspy and rebellious (I mean Courtney Love-style roars – check out the song Dreams for an example).

Hey on stage in 2013. Image by Adam Kliczek, Wikimedia Commons license 🙏

The early records (Fire, Ho!, Heledore, and ?) had a mix of songs in English and Polish. The album called ? was even released as an extra, all-English version, indicating that they aimed for an international breakthrough. As from around 1999, the albums are only in Polish, so I guess they gave up the idea of going global.

In any case, they kept evolving from the early grunge sound, maturing as an alternative rock band. They moved from strength to strength with albums like Hey, [sic!], Miłość! Uwaga! Ratunku! Pomocy!, and Błysk. Another highlight was their MTV Unplugged session in 2007.

The song “Moja i twoja nadzieja” deserves a special mention. In 1997, Poland was badly hit by flooding. The destruction was enormous and around 60 people lost their lives. Hey re-recorded this song (which was originally on their debut album Fire) together with a bunch of other musicians – including Czesław Niemen, Edyta Bartosiewicz, and Maryla Rodowicz – and donated the proceeds to charity. It became a national anthem that brought people together in a time of crisis.

In 2017, they took a break and stayed quiet until 2025, when they released a new single called “Bezruch”.

Going solo: Electronic explorations

Nosowska’s solo work started while Hey was still peaking. Interestingly enough, she dived into a completely different genre and started experimenting with electronic sounds.

Teaming up with Andrzej Smolik for the production, her first solo album puk.puk (1996) leaned towards trip-hop and drum’n’bass. It was awarded the Fryderyk Award for best alternative music album. She continued her electronic side-projects and released Milena in 1998 and Sushi in 2000.

You can read more about Smolik here:

More solo stuff: Genre-blending and sung poetry

During the 2000s, she kept her solo journey going alongside Hey, exploring new ground.

The 2007 UniSexBlues is a detour to guitar pop, rock, folk, funk, electronica and whatnot. It could have been messy, but she pulled it off and the album shot to the top of the official Polish music chart. A few songs are in English.

Like many ambitious Polish artists, she also released so-called
poezja śpiewana (sung poetry). This is a well-known genre in Central and Eastern Europe, where musicians interpret poems. The album Osiecka in 2008 is a collection of songs based on poems and song lyrics written by Agnieszka Osiecka.

The albums 8 and Basta followed in 2011 and 2018, respectively. On these brilliant albums, she kept exploring various genres and brought in instruments like saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and strings. Because, why not? :)

Her 2023 solo album DEGRENGOLADA is interesting for several reasons. Her son Miki Krajewski appears on two tracks, introducing an element of rap. There was also an unusual side initiative: Alongside the album, Nosowska promoted three perfumes named after the singles “Przytomna,” “Runo,” and “Piękna degrengolada.” A commercial gimmick, perhaps, but also a way to broaden the experience beyond audio.

Kasia i Błażej: Acoustic collaboration

In 2024, Nosowska teamed up with Błażej Król and released the (mostly) acoustic pop album Kasia i Błażej. It debuted at no. 2 on Poland’s official music chart in both the streaming and physical album sales categories.

It’s a reflective collection of songs and yet another demonstration of Nosowska’s amazing ability to shift in and out of different genres.

Other collaborations

Besides Smolik, O.S.T.R., Błażej Król, and her son Miki, Nosowska has collaborated with pretty much *every* main Polish artist over the years. It might even be easier to mention which ones she *hasn’t* worked with 🤪

Here are a few of my favourites:

Miuosh on “Tramwaje i gwiazdy” (trams and stars)
Sanah on “Ofelia (M. Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska)”
Yugoton on “To była sobota”
Lady Pank on “Minus 10 w Rio” 
Voo Voo on “Zadymka”
Łona on “Boję się”
Czesław Śpiewa on “Caesia & Ruben”
Zamillska on “Jeśli wiesz co chcę powiedzieć”

Artistic Director for Męskie Granie

Once a year, Poland’s top musicians get together for an immensely popular event. It’s called “Męskie Granie” (which means “men’s playing” or “men playing music”) and has been going since 2010.

The event name came from an album Wojciech Waglewski (singer of the band Voo Voo) made together with his sons Fisz and Emade (who make music together under various names).

There were some reactions about the name sounding like an exclusive club for male musicians. And it looks like the lineup for the first two years (2010 and 2011) was indeed a guy-only event.

This changed in 2012, when Nosowska served as the event’s artistic director. The following year, she shared the responsibility with the rapper O.S.T.R., and they created the tour single “Jutro jest dziś” together.

Social media influencer and published author

Besides being immensely productive as a singer, she has somehow still found the time and motivation for writing. She started publishing her thoughts on Instagram and in 2018, she released her first book. It’s called A ja żem jej powiedziała… and picked up a Bestseller Empiku award. Powrót z Bambuko and Nie mylić z miłością followed in 2020 and 2023, respectively.

The books can be described as essay collections with thoughtful and sometimes ironic observations about life and love.

Podcast host and guest

Since 2024, she’s been hosting the podcast Bliskoznaczni with her son Miki Krajewski. They invite various guests to chat about life, relations and the things that matter. Episodes are available on YouTube and you can turn on English captions for language support (automatic, so not the best quality but it’s better than nothing).

You’ll also find her as a podcast guest. I recommend Sekielski o nałogach (“Sekielski on addictions”) from 2020, where she talked candidly about being in a relationship with somebody who’s addicted to alcohol. Check it out on YouTube (captions available).

Nosowska for learners of Polish

For learners of Polish, there’s tons to explore in the songs penned by Nosowska. Not that it will always be easy – far from it. Her lyrics are sometimes fragmented and cryptic or use metaphors, humour and irony in a way that can be hard to grasp when we’re trying to learn the language.

For now, let’s take a peek into one of her early lyrics, from Hey’s debut album Fire. In “Teksański”, she shares the struggle of trying to write even when you’ve got nothing to say.

Some lines are manageable for intermediate or at least upper-intermediate students:

PolishEnglish
Herbata stygnie, zapada mrokThe tea is getting cold, darkness is falling
A pod piórem ciągle nicAnd still nothing under the pen
Obowiązek obowiązkiem jestA duty is a duty
Piosenka musi posiadać tekstA song must have lyrics

Others are accessible also for (almost)-beginners:

PolishEnglish
Nie znaczą nicThey don’t mean anything
Jeśli szukasz sensuIf you’re looking for meaning
Zawiedziesz sięYou’ll be disappointed
Pomoże CiIt will help you

… but then we have the creative imagery, where even just understanding the literal meaning is a challenge:

PolishEnglish
Nabij diabła, chmurę śmierci weź“Nabij” is the imperative of “nabić”, which has several meanings in English – for example to load [a gun], stuff, or hit.

“Load the devil, take the cloud of death”? I’ve no idea what to make of that, do you? :)

Interpreting song lyrics can be tricky even in our native language. But of course we don’t have to understand everything to enjoy it. I think it’s even a positive thing that we can keep developing our Polish bit by bit – the more we listen and learn, the more we’ll understand.

In any case, isn’t it interesting that the shy girl who shared how she struggled to come up with lyrics became so insanely productive!

Where do you start listening?

At the time of writing this, Hey have released 11 full-length albums, and Nosowska’s solo output has reached 8 plus the 2024 album with Błażej Król.

With such a massive back catalog, where do you even start? I made a playlist called “Hey and Nosowska” with a bit of everything:

Playlist on YouTube

Check it out below or open it on YouTube:

Playlist on Spotify

Try the playlist below or open it on Spotify:

Sources

Learn more about Nosowska! Here are my main sources for this article:

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