Mary Komasa discusses inspiration collaboration and sisterhood

What does it mean to create something truly meaningful? For Mary Komasa, the answer is anything but straightforward. “It’s like trying to share your dreams with the world,” she says. “Vivid, surreal, often indescribable dreams – with the limited tools we have at our disposal.” The challenge of translating the extraordinary into something tangible is daunting, yet it fuels her drive.

Whether through her lyrics, music or film scores,Komasa, 40, measures her success by how well she can evoke emotion in her audience and connect with them. To do so, she needs to dig deep: vulnerability is essential. “The greatest reward I could ever receive is knowing someone understood what I was trying to express emotionally, that I touched those soft spots in another human being,” she says.

Komasa’s musical journey began in Poland, rooted in the discipline of classical training, an experience she often found stifling. “It always felt like a corset I needed to break free from. It was hard to breathe in that environment,” she says.

Growing up under the shadow of Poland’s communist history, her parents instilled in her a
belief in art as a sanctuary of freedom. Yet even within this strict regimen, Komasa discovered an escape: pop culture. “While my days were consumed by Bach and Chopin, my tapes from the 1990s were pure chaos,” she explains. “One song would be Chopin, the next Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears, and then back to Bach.” The stark contrast became her secret refuge. “It felt like a crazy idea to even listen to pop music back then, but it was that wild mix that gave me something to hold onto.”

She dreamt of becoming both a singer and a film composer, but felt constricted by the roles that society had imposed on her. “I knew it wasn’t possible for me to become a film composer because I was a girl,” she says. “It felt like a boy’s job. So I told myself it would be easier to start by becoming a singer and writing my own songs.” But the cinematic world remained a vivid part of her imagination; she dreamt of working with film directors such as Lars von Trier and David Lynch or even on a Batman movie.

Komasa’s most recent album, Sister, profoundly explores themes of human connection, vulnerability and introspection. Its title track, the lead single, was written after an intensely emotional phone call with her sibling. At the time, they were both grappling with the isolation of the pandemic. “I just wanted to hug her, but we couldn’t see each other for so long,” she says. Feeling helpless, she turned to music and, within moments, the song poured out of her – the hug she couldn’t give.

Sending the song to her sister, the artist received a heartfelt response: “You saw my scars
open, and you hugged them.” What began as a song for someone specific evolved into a
universal anthem. Over time, the song resonated with Komasa’s friends as well and she realised that while she had thought it was for her sister, she had actually written it for herself,too. Through this, the concept of Sister grew to represent a powerful message of connection.

The album, though diverse in sound and mood, explores deep existential questions
about humanity and seeks to engage listeners with tough, introspective questions: are we
disappointed with where we are as a society. If so, how can we start to build something better? “I don’t want my music to be elevator music. Sometimes, it’s tough. But you can still dance to it,” she says.

Now a successful boundary- breaking artist, Komasa is happy with how far she’s come, but the journey wasn’t always easy. “Labels would ask me, ‘What’s your genre?’” she says. “I didn’t fit into their boxes and I didn’t want to.” One medium alone isn’t enough for Komasa to communicate. “I admire artists who understand this, who work across disciplines. That’s my language, my way of growing. I need all of it to thrive, like a plant that can’t grow without enough water.”

Komasa may be a multi-hyphenate, but she is also a keen creative collaborator. And one of her key partners is her husband, Antoni Łazarkiewicz. Together, they’ve created compelling soundtracks for films such as In Darkness, Spoor and Mr. Jones, helmed by the great Polish director Agnieszka Holland, in addition to Julia von Heinz’s Treasure, which featured in the Berlinale Special Gala section at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival last year.

Komasa’s work with her husband is often defined by a dynamic interplay of tension and mutual growth – a process that feels profoundly natural to her. Even if they have differing working methods, she embraces them as a vital part of their creative processes. “Antoni brings something outside my vocabulary, and I bring the energy he doesn’t have. We’re totally different in terms of ideas and dynamics, but that’s what I love about our collaboration. It’s like constantly discovering new worlds.” Komasa isn’t afraid of ego or disagreement: “If one of us thinks our idea is better, we try it out. At the end of the day, it’s about what works best for the project,” she says. “When we work together, it feels like I’m reaching his heart. I’m gently tapping it and he does the same to mine. Being able to share that through our life’s work is a dream. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Fotografie JUERGEN TELLER
Kreativer Partner DOVILE DRIZYTE
Moderedakteur VERONIKA HEILBRUNNER
Talent MARY KOMASA
Text GIULIO POLVERIGIANI
1. Fotoassistent FELIPE CHAVES
Postproduktion LOUWRE ERASMUS at Quickfix
Produktion JOELLE FLACKE at Westend Berlin
Ausführender Produzent NICOLAS SCHWAIGER at Westend Berlin
Besonderer Dank to Next Management
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