(CelebrityAccess) — Singer and songwriter Natalia Safran has seen her songs in multiple forms: on the charts, on the big screen, and now, with her newest remix, in all the hottest clubs. No matter what shape each song takes, the Polish-born star knows one thing: it'll always be an authentic creation.
Along with brother, Mikolaj Mick Jaroszyk, Natalia writes, records, produces and promotes each and every one of her tracks. Now, with self-produced songs featured in films such as I Hate Valentine's Day and New in Town, and music slated to appear in four current films, this music mogul isn't slowing down!
Here, she shares glimpses of her creative life, as well as poignant details from her friendship with Paul Walker, and the song that became his tribute.
Tell me a little about your background and how you got started.
I was born and raised in Poland, loved music and listened to it passionately. As a kid I sang in every choir that would have me, then studied opera as a teenager. It wasn't until my little brother, Mikolaj, got involved that I started to think seriously about music as a life mission and a profession. I sang in some bands, did some demos and then one day we started writing together, just for fun. It was so natural, so amazing. From then on we started performing whatever we wrote together, and there was no turning back!
For years before that I modeled, sort of by default. I wanted to travel, and for a little girl in Poland wasn't such a given. Modeling gave me a way to see the world and meet exciting people. But fashion was never my passion or my calling; it was just a way to get around!
So what is a typical day for you like?
There is no such thing as a typical day for me! (Laughs.) It depends on what we're working on at the moment. If we're working on an album, Mick and I pretty much lock ourselves up and work through the night. We write everything together from conception: we brainstorm together, we arrange together, produce together, do vocals, lay all the tracks. It's all self-made and self-generated for us, which is incredibly rewarding!
Then there's promoting, too, so we travel between Europe and the United States a lot. I also dabble in film production. So no, there's no such thing as a set schedule for us!
Walk me through the genesis of a song. What's your inspiration?
I draw from all over. I never know where it's going to hit me. Nick sometimes will get up in the middle of the night to get the melody down! I'm not quite so bad, but I will stop sometimes mid conversation to record a melody that's rattling around in my brain. It might come from a beautiful view, two people interacting in the street, or a line from an old movie – you never know! Then we just say OK, let's sit down and work this over – usually really late at night. We are most creative when it's quiet and dark around.
So do you start out ready to write for a movie, or do you create first, then approach the movie?
It's worked both ways. I'm writing a song from scratch for a movie right now, so I need to know the story to put my mind to how I want it to sound. But then there are other times when songs are taken straight off our album. Any time your song travels onto a soundtrack, or a remix, or someone takes it and repurposes it, it's incredibly rewarding. It sort of has a different life breathed into it.
What has surprised you about the music industry?
Everything! We got into it without much calculation; we just had to do it because we're both music obsessed. Nick talked me into opening a profile on a crowd-funding site called Sellaband. It sounded like a terrible idea to me, but I agreed. That same day people were writing us notes about how much they loved our music and how they wanted to contribute to a professional album. With over a thousand artists on that site, we rose to number one in record time and pretty soon had $50,000 to start our new album. It was amazing for us to see an immediate need for our music.
The humbling experience was that these were not particularly affluent people; they just wanted to share their heart and money with these artists whose music was making their day better.
Once the album was all finished, we looked to possibly pair up with a label to distribute it. We met with a bunch of the top labels, and the passion was just not there. They weren't sure what direction to take and we realized we could just do this all ourselves if we just had access to all the distributors. So we decided not to go with a label and we've never looked back.
That's pretty intimidating as well! Just to put it out there solely responsible for it.
I trust it. This is my gut, my soul out there: what you hear is the artist, pure and true. And I do realize at this point in life that you will not please everyone and that's okay. Music, and what's beautiful about it, is that it hits everyone a different way. I know that for every person who doesn't like it, there's someone else who will be hit in the gut. And that's the best part about music – it goes straight to the core.
Tell me a little about your relationship to Paul Walker and what he was like to be around.
Paul was this incredible individual. We got to work on the film Hours together. He wasn't just charismatic and fun to be around; he was also an incredible dad, and in his spare time would fly out with his first responders' organization to destinations around the world. And he was great on the set to everyone – actors, producers, nannies, the crew. It was difficult not to be smitten with him.
The director wanted the song “All I feel is you,” to be the closing of the movie, long before we knew it was going to turn into a tribute. We worked on a video for the single and were going to release it a couple weeks before the movie, sort of as a sneak peak into the film and into Paul's incredible part in it.
The day I finished the last edit of the video I got the news about the accident. We were all distraught to say the least, so we waited to put the song out with the movie. People immediately started calling it a tribute to Paul Walker, and the outpouring of appreciation was so huge. It was never meant to be a tribute, but sadly it became one.
We decided to donate all the proceeds of that single to his charity, Reach Out Worldwide.
What do you miss the most about him?
Those big blue eyes – he was so kind, he could see right through you. He would remember something you told him weeks before. And he had those big hugs. He was just all goodness wrapped up in this gorgeous package. His beautiful daughter, he so wanted to be there for her. It's just the biggest loss.
I know he had so many fans. I'm sure hearing from someone who knew him personally will touch people as well.
So what is up next for you?
I can't divulge what it is yet, but it's going to be great! I can say I'm working on a song for the soundtrack of upcoming film The Choice, so I'm pretty excited about that. Also, I have to tell you about my new “All I feel is you” remix. We just remixed it into a dance song with DJ Cajjmere Wray, and it's so good it's going to make your feet want to dance! I cannot wait for everyone to hear it. — By: Lauren Douglas
Natalia Safran
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