Polish artist and songwriter ALICJA steps forward with Pray.
A multi-layered build where gospel roots, hip-hop weight, and pop structure converge into a performance designed for scale.
Emerging from a 30-session studio process and a self-built choir recorded layer by layer, Pray – released via Tenace Records – moves beyond format. Shifting from stripped gospel intention into something more volatile and modern. The track now sits at the centre of ALICJA’s Eurovision run, carrying both personal narrative and broadcast ambition as it transitions from studio system to live staging.
From early momentum across streaming, radio, and pre-party circuits to co-signs from Verka Serduchka and Justyna Steczkowska, the rollout positions Pray as both a statement piece and a cross-market connector. Built on instinct, not formula.
Here’s ALICJA for FM PRO Quickfire 5.
I started my singing journey in a gospel choir when I was five years old, so that was always close to me. Even though church choirs are different in Poland than gospel choirs in the US.
Pray frames a journey from darkness to strength. What was the turning point that shaped the track?
Well, it’s been a long journey with the Pray track, because me and my producer first wanted to make a gospel track, but then after a few sessions, we felt like it was a bit boring, so we wanted to switch it up. And we had this crazy idea. What if we mix gospel and hip hop and from the gospel intro, we made a crazy, crazy song. We had 30 studio sessions to make it. We also recorded the whole gospel choir by ourselves, just the two of us, making hundreds of layers of different voices. So that was a journey, the whole making of Pray. But I feel like it turned out great. It’s very unpredictable and it’s such a special song to me with a really deep meaning and strong message and I’m super proud of it.
You’re stepping onto the Eurovision stage. How are you positioning Pray to connect across different cultures and markets?
Pray is the type of song that has never been heard in the Eurovision competition before. So it’s hard to predict how people are going to resonate with it. But from what I’ve seen on the Internet, live reactions, etcetera, I feel like the people are feeling it and they connect to it very strongly. So I’m super happy. And I hope that once I get to perform it on the Vienna stage, with the whole new staging, it’s going to hit them even harder and hopefully inspire them, because the whole song is about fighting for yourself, fighting for your dreams, going through ups and downs, but just staying yourself. So I hope that it will get them motivated, inspired and feeling like there’s still hope for a better day and for a bright future.
Sonically, where do you see your lane between R&B and pop, and how does Pray define that balance?
I would say that Pray is so much more than just R & B and pop. It’s based on many more genres. I would say gospel influenced it the most because I always wanted to do a gospel track. I started my singing journey in a gospel choir when I was five years old, so that was always close to me. Even though church choirs are different in Poland than gospel choirs in the US. But I always felt this sense of community in singing together, and it just inspired me, truly. But coming back to the question, it was influenced by gospel and hip hop the most. I wanted to do something that felt like it had a vintage feel, but then it was switched to something super modern. That’s why it came out to be this crazy gospel, hip hop and then pop track.
Your momentum is building across streaming, radio, and pre-parties. What’s the next move in your rollout after Eurovision?
My next move would be my next singles and then the album and then hopefully live shows to perform my music. Yeah, I’m super excited. I also just signed a record deal with Tenace Records and I’m super, super happy about that.
On the production side, how is Pray engineered for both broadcast clarity and live Eurovision staging: arrangement, vocal chain, and dynamic build?
It’s funny because Pray was not written for Eurovision. That’s the main thing with the song. I was just working on my album and we did Pray and after we finished, we felt like, damn, we have something special here. Why not show this to Eurovision fans? And we didn’t think much about it. We just signed up for Eurovision pre selections and then people followed it. They chose us. So I wouldn’t say that there was any recipe of thought behind doing a song for Eurovision. It just came naturally. I’d love to see more of this type of song because, you know, there’s a whole genre of typical Eurovision songs which are ranked. But I wanted to bring something more to the competition, just being authentic and showing people my inspirations behind my music, rather than just doing a typical Eurovision track.I always knew that I wanted to come back to Eurovision at some point, but I didn’t plan when it would be. I was just doing it based on my intuition.
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