Anieszka - Body On Me (Single)

Picture Credit: ZARA SHOT ME!

For Sydney based Australian R&B artist Anieszka, music has never really felt like a choice. Singing and dancing from childhood, joining choirs and vocal groups at school and even taking on the role of Beyoncé in a school show, creativity was always where she naturally gravitated. While people told her that her childhood ambition of becoming an artist might eventually change, it never did.

“I always knew that I wanted to be an artist from when I was a kid,” she explains. “People would tell me, ‘It’s going to change when you get older,’ and it just never, ever changed. It’s been a very long road, but I feel like I’m finally in a place where I’m really happy with where I’m at.”

That journey now brings her to ‘Body On Me’, a sensual slice of contemporary R&B that finds Anieszka exploring a different side of herself. Co-produced alongside Law OS, the track moves away from what she jokingly describes as her usual “R&B angel healing, let’s light some incense” energy, instead leaning into intimacy, confidence and desire.

Rather than being drawn from one particular relationship, the song came from imagining something she wanted to experience. “Sometimes I write about things that I’ve experienced, and sometimes I write about things I want to experience,” she says. “I really wanted to explore this other side, which is just as beautiful and important.”

There was initially some nervousness around how far she wanted to take the lyrics, but committing fully to the idea allowed Anieszka to approach sensuality on her own terms. The result feels intimate without becoming obvious, with its slow burning production leaving plenty of room for her vocals to breathe.

Its closing French spoken word section adds another layer entirely. Anieszka is of Mauritian heritage, where French and Creole form part of her cultural background, and incorporating more of that identity into her music is becoming increasingly important.

“I’ve been wanting to put a lot more French into my music,” she explains. “I wanted people to start to know that I also have that part of me. In this instance, it almost felt like I was whispering in their ears a little bit, just leaving you with a little something.”

That connection to Mauritius could become considerably more prominent in her future work. Anieszka has already experimented with Mauritian influences on previous material, including ‘Human’, but she has ambitions to push the idea further.

Sega’s distinctive rhythms and storytelling traditions have shaped the way she understands music, even when those influences are not immediately obvious. For Anieszka, heritage is less about simply dropping recognisable sounds into a record and more about how rhythm, melody and storytelling become embedded in the way an artist creates.

Picture Credit: ZARA SHOT ME!

With more than 10 million streams behind her and performances stretching from Australia to the UK, ‘Body On Me’ feels like the beginning of another evolution. Following an EP centred around heartbreak, she now wants to explore confidence and feeling comfortable within herself before moving towards more introspective territory.

“My whole thing with my music is to remind you what it is to be human and what it is to feel human,” she says. “It’s going on a journey from heartbreak with the EP, to now feeling sexy, feeling confident, feeling good in my skin. Then I think I’m going to go into a bit of a deeper place of self reflection.”

An album is also firmly on her mind. Having already released multiple EPs, Anieszka wants her debut full length to feel substantial rather than simply arriving for the sake of it.

“When, not if, I do create an album, I would love to bring that back,” she says, reflecting on the days when listeners would live with records, study their artwork and play them from beginning to end. A vinyl release is something she would particularly love to make happen.

Collaboration has also played an important part in her journey. A particularly full circle moment came through her relationship with Children of Zeus, having originally attended one of their shows in Sydney as a fan more than a decade ago. Years later she reconnected with Children of Zeus' Konny Kon, eventually collaborating before appearing on the track ‘Water and Vibes’ from their new album, "As The World Burns".

“I was a fan ten years ago,” she recalls. “When I met them all those years ago, I didn’t even expect anything really to come from it.”

Those years of building independently have taught Anieszka the importance of self reliance. Her advice to emerging artists is simple: understand why you are making music in the first place and learn as much of the business and creative process as possible.

“Figure out why you’re doing it,” she says. “If you’re doing it because you really love it, that’s one of the biggest ways that you can actually keep going at it, because there are so many moments when you’re going to be sitting there thinking, ‘Should I keep doing this?’”

Consistency matters too, as does allowing listeners to see the person behind the music. Having recently moved further into production herself, Anieszka sees constantly learning new skills as part of becoming a stronger artist rather than waiting for a huge team to arrive and do everything for her.

That curiosity extends beyond her own work. UK R&B remains a major source of inspiration, while Michael Jackson and Bob Marley were two foundational artists growing up. Ask her for a favourite MJ record and, after some serious consideration, she lands on ‘I Can’t Help It’, praising its melodies and groove.

Outside music, Anieszka makes a conscious effort to actually live. Cooking, nature, travelling, art galleries, films and spending time with family and friends all provide the balance that ultimately feeds back into her songwriting.

“I really value having a life outside of music,” she says. “Prioritise living as well, and then you have more things to write about.”

And when she does return to the studio, her essentials are refreshingly straightforward: water, a candle to create the right atmosphere and something sweet to keep the energy going.

It perhaps sums up Anieszka’s approach perfectly. There is ambition and a clear desire to keep evolving, but also an understanding that music is at its best when it remains human. With ‘Body On Me’ opening the door to a more sensual and confident chapter, Mauritian influences waiting to be explored further and the prospect of a debut album somewhere on the horizon, there is plenty more of Anieszka’s world still to come.