In her first official single from a forthcoming debut album, Agnesz Anna etched out her own sonic terrain — one rooted in 60s rock ‘n roll and threaded with the complexity of personal reflection, cultural observation, and the subtle ache of lived experience.
In this interview, the actress-turned-songwriter reflects on the duality of her lead single No One Will Ever Know, discusses why imperfections deserve space in recorded music, and explains how motherhood, grief, and social awareness quietly shaped the emotional architecture of the record. With references spanning Roy Orbison to Francoise Hardy, her sharp grasp of nostalgia is never surface-level. It’s filtered through a director’s eye, a playwright’s pen, and the human impulse to archive what matters before time moves on.
No One Will Ever Know marks the first glimpse into your debut album. What made this the right track to lead with, and how does it set the tone for the rest of the record?
I wanted an upbeat energetic track with a catchy melody as a first single. But I also wanted some romance and nostalgia to it. I like the duality of that. I think this song has it all. Although the song is about moving on during a heartbreak, it is about self-reliance and self-empowerment. We all have our baggage that nobody knows about that can change you profoundly. But you can overcome it. Musically it has this rock ‘n roll vibe to it that takes you back to The Beatles or Roy Orbison. The retro quality of the song with all the above qualities combined made me think that this might be a good starter. The entire album is made with the guitar as a leading basic instrument. We started building from there. I think you can expect that on the rest of the album as well. But we felt free introducing other genres into the music as well. Without losing an approachable pop sensitivity.
There’s a clear affection for the golden age of rock ‘n roll running through the single, both sonically and visually. What drew you to that retro aesthetic, and how did Paris come into play for the video?
Because of the 60’s rock ‘n roll sound to it I started to get inspiration from that era. You can see it is a prominently male owned genre in that era. I went looking for female references. I lived in New York City for quite some time, but I am also European, so I wanted it to have a European vibe to it. I love the old 60’s Italian and French movies for the aesthetic. And I love the female vulnerability in those movies and in the music. I thought of Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Hardy, Vasthi Bunyan. Perhaps a more natural take on the aesthetic. With the city being the backdrop for the story.
The album spans rock ‘n roll, folk-rock, country, blues, and funk, all grounded in pop sensibilities. How did you approach keeping that cohesion while still honouring your varied influences?
Some songs on the album rely a little less on pop structure but most songs on the album do maintain the common pop structure. If you maintain a pop structure throughout the song, it remains accessible. We also worked with layering sounds and vocals to get a more modern pop sound, the pop vocals that most people listen to nowadays. Postproduction, the mixing of the songs, is also very important. We didn’t work with beats but with real instruments. That can sound like a band if you mix it a certain way. But by keeping the focus on the voice, in the right recording settings, you get a more pop quality to it. Some may qualify the music still very much indie because of the lack of synths and a drum computer. But I think the songs have gotten a more timeless feel because of it.
You’ve previously spoken about the importance of imperfections in your sound—guitar scratches, vocal cracks. How did that rawness inform your recording process for the album, and why is it something you consciously hold space for?
I think that makes the recordings unique and authentic. Everything is so polished nowadays with stuff like Melodyne and autotune. I recently did a Bob Dylan cover, and in the first verse, I sang a couple of blue notes instead of the original version. We left it in there because it makes sense to do it that way as well. There is a certain sadness about what I am singing, and the chords are blues. Why not? Or in another song the guitar sounded a bit on the edge. It gave the song a rawness to it. That’s the thing with music as well. If it feels good, why not? Why be conventional? I love singers with their own sound. You can always distinguish them. Singers like that might not always appeal to the masses, but when they emerge at the right time, they leave the biggest impact.
Your work often balances the personal and the political. How have recent years shaped the lyrical direction of the album, particularly when it comes to themes like social criticism and grief?
I’ve made this album together with my partner independently. We invested in our own recording equipment and turned our attic into a recording studio. A game changer. Before, I was always dependent on a budget for a recording studio. Working on the clock. Now we were able to do it ourselves in our spare time. This gave us challenges, like figuring out the recording process, but also the advantages of coming back to a former recording session and tweaking things. We spent two years working on this album. I don’t know if it is in the cards to do it again. So, I wanted the last decade of mine to be reflected in this album. Everything I learned, I experienced and what I want to pass on. I had some older songs lying around, but I also wrote new songs for this album. The first part of the album is about self-reflection. Once we can do that and maintain our empathy, we can look and turn towards the outside world. Midway, the album that shifts. I also have children, and I felt I wanted to make an album that sends a message to the next generations as well. How to cope with all these things in life, we all deal with sooner or later.
You’ve worked across disciplines as an actress, director, and songwriter. When you’re building an album like this one, how much of that theatrical sensibility spills into the writing, arranging, or visual storytelling?
It is all so connected to each other. You can compare the singer to the actress, the music producer to a director and the songwriter to a playwright or screenwriter. The content may vary, but they all do basically the same thing with a different discipline. As a director, you oversee the entire play or film. You have a vision you want to achieve; you try to connect all the elements. As a music producer, you do the same but with music. When I am singing, I try to imagine or feel the way I (or someone else) was feeling at that time so I can make a truthful interpretation of the song. I use my voice in a more elaborate way. Which asks for another skill. And a song is just a more concise form than a movie script, but they all obey certain rules to make it coherent. The songwriter and the writer are both lyrical storytellers. In all disciplines, you tap into that vulnerability to create with your own sense of truth.
Your past projects have drawn heavily from where you were living at the time. Did any particular city or environment shape this new body of work, or did you approach it from a more internal space?
No, this album reflects my late 20s to my late 30s. Things I’ve dealt with, how I see the world or how I feel about certain things like love, friendship, society, nature, motherhood, death.
As the album heads toward its release this autumn, what conversations do you hope it sparks, especially among those who, like you, carry a love for the old masters but are still navigating the world in the here and now?
I hope people appreciate the musicality of it. We did it ourselves in the little time we had, mostly at night. I think I managed to make an album that has all the influences of the music I love. If I love it there must be someone else in this world who loves it as well. I think of the subjects and the instruments, creating a more timeless feel to it. But let’s see in another decade or so. Let them be entertained by it. Let them feel something. I hope the diversity of topics on the album can give them some comfort or hope. I wanted to make an album that leaves you with a good feeling once you’ve finished the last song. An album that reminds us that we are all connected despite our differences. God knows we need a little bit of that in this world.
Discover more about Agnesz Anna via her official website.
Interview by Amelia Vandergast
