“My mother and grandmother taught me right. I will always stand for compassion, generosity, kindness and justice.”
I find myself thinking about this a lot lately — how values like these can sometimes feel almost forgotten. And yet, living by them shouldn’t be something extraordinary. It should simply be part of how we move through the world. Rebekka Salomea carries that very same grace. Fronting SALOMEA, her journey over the last few years has been about stripping away the noise—trading heavy expectations for self-trust, and giving her inner world the space to expand past old storylines.
“Turning inward, I’ve found more lightness,” she tells us. “My personal wounds have healed a bit, and I’m able to reimagine who I am – not who I think past experiences have turned me into.” This new perspective also finds its way into SALOMEA’s new album axxxis. Created together with her band and self-produced, the record moves between intuition and experimentation, intimacy and openness, without feeling the need to resolve every contradiction. Instead, it leaves room for curiosity, playfulness and change.
We spoke with Rebekka about trusting what comes next, chosen family, the visual world behind axxxis, fashion as part of performance, and why humour and creation can sometimes be meaningful ways of moving through this strange and beautiful world.
Photography by Rawaa
axxxis feels like a record about what happens after healing – when the work isn’t necessarily finished, but your perspective has changed. Where are you emotionally now compared to when you were writing Good Life?
I’ve been able to find some relief. I have longer periods of calmness, less stress, less hurry, less bitterness, less rage. I’m not chasing, and I’m done proving that I can do certain things – for now.
I didn’t realise it then, but when writing Good Life, I was still in deep, deep pain and grief. I’m lighter now. I’m playing, embracing the process rather than trying to skip it or alter it. I’m more confident in my own abilities, my taste and my choices. I’m really giving less fucks – not trying to give less fucks, if that makes sense. Lao Tzu keeps telling us…
Trust seems to be at the heart of axxxis – trust in yourself, in intuition, in what happens next. Was there a particular moment when you realised that you no longer needed to have all the answers?
At the beginning of 2025, I was at a dead end. We had finished touring through Chile and Germany, the album was out, and I was spent and empty, to be honest.
I booked a session with a counsellor specialised in working with artists and bands, so there was no need to explain the low point I was at. “Take the pressure off,” she suggested. That resonated. I had placed my entire artistic and financial dependencies on this project, so it was time to step away. Zoom out, do other things, take it easy, not care as much.
Weirdly enough, this new perspective drew me back in, and sooner rather than later I found myself back in the studio with my band.
You describe axxxis as a kind of “turn inward.” What does that mean to you personally? And what did you discover there that surprised you?
I’m a people pleaser in recovery – someone said that online and it feels real. This comes from years and years of care work. For a lot of situations, the truth is, though: the more you please yourself, the more you will please others.
It’s kind of arrogant to think we know what others want and need, you know what I mean? Where’s the space for change and surprise in that?
I have a strong inner compass; my core values are solid. My mother and grandmother taught me right. I will always stand for compassion, generosity, kindness and justice.
Turning inward, I’ve found more lightness. My personal wounds have healed a bit, and I’m able to reimagine who I am – not who I think past experiences have turned me into. Humour and playfulness are also valid methods of coping with this horrible and beautiful world.
“I’m learning to worry less and create more. Because creation is the antithesis of destruction.”
Your music has always had a strong visual identity. When you were creating axxxis, did you already see a world around the music – certain colours, textures or images? How closely are the visual and musical sides of SALOMEA connected for you?
Yes, I saw colours and textures, but after recording the music. The pastel sunset and metallic ocean silver-blue were some of the first things on my visual board.
We recorded the majority of the music in Cologne, Germany, and I did some overdubs and a lot of editing during my LA residency at the beginning of 2026. As I was finishing the music, I was deep in my “morning pages” routine, and I would brainstorm every day about what to call the record and which visuals I saw in combination with the music.
I love to build worlds around the music. The visuals are allowed to create their own level and may stand for themselves as well. rawaa did an amazing job on the whole visual world.
You work with sustainable fashion designer Rico Lalira on your stage costumes. What draws you to his work, and what is important to you about what you wear when you step onto a stage? Can clothes change the way you inhabit a song or perform?
I love how he combines reconstruction and high-fashion elements, and when I wear his pieces, I feel exactly that. I feel free.
Some of his clothing I wear almost every day; others I pick for special occasions. His fashion helps me translate my fluid style: androgynous, chic, sexy, modern, comfortable, outside the box.
The silhouettes of his jackets create beautiful motion and give me the confidence to lean into movement and performance, adding an extra level of a living fantasy.
axxxis was written collaboratively and self-produced, and you describe the band almost as a chosen family. After so many years together, how has the relationship between the four of you changed – musically, but also as people?
As we change individually, we continue to bring our influences into the group. We show each other new music and art and books and movies, and create introductions where they’re needed. Change is certain and beautiful, and we trust each other to take each other along for the ride.
We dig into old recordings of past gigs, talk about how it feels to hear them, what we like and why – how we’ve grown and grown more aware.
As people, we watch out for each other. We check in. We listen, we create space and time to share what’s important to us. We’re more mindful of what’s going on in everyone’s lives, and we’re invested in the “we thing,” as I like to call it.
“Humour and playfulness are also valid methods of coping with this horrible and beautiful world.”
There is something very intimate about allowing other people into songs that come from your own personal stories. How do you bring something vulnerable to the band and then let go enough for it to become something you all share?
I trust these guys, and I trust my gut. We’ve all agreed to leave our egos at the doorstep, and we focus on the song. We let music dictate what we do.
And if something is too personal or too painful, my gut will tell me – and usually theirs will tell them.
Your music often lives between contrasts – experimental and immediate, intricate and instinctive, intimate and expansive. Do you feel most at home somewhere in between things rather than in clearly defined spaces?
100%. I used to always feel like an outsider. Now I see it this way: why choose if I can have it all?
Somehow it can feel like a compromise in integrity to me when things are too homogeneous. Obviously, some topics are very sensitive and need everyone to be on the same page, especially if we’re talking about issues surrounding identities.
But for the most part, I’ve made it my mission to combine – as much as possible: the genres, the influences, the art forms, the people. The nerds and the divas. The oldies and the rebels. The lovers and the haters.
You were named Artist of the Year at the German Jazz Awards just before entering this new chapter with axxxis. Has recognition like that changed your relationship with ambition and success – or perhaps given you more freedom to care less about them?
It’s been kind of crazy to see that way, WAY more people engage with news like an award than with a lot of the material I’ve been sharing around the record and the music.
But yes, having people in power – “the industry,” the institutions, the gatekeepers – say that what I and we do is legit has given me more freedom and has offered me opportunities as well. It saddens me, but also it’s part of the game, I guess. So let’s play.
If axxxis is ultimately about trusting what comes next rather than searching for resolution, what are you learning to trust more in your own life right now?
I’m learning to worry less and create more. Because creation is the antithesis of destruction.
