In an unexpected New Year’s Day release, Citovitz and Fireflies of February—the musical partnership of songwriter and guitarist Andrzej Citowicz and his wife, Shereen Shoukry Citowicz—have released “My Story,” a surprise 12-track album available now on all major streaming platforms.

Unlike their recent Italian Christmas collaboration, “My Story” represents something far more personal and unexpected: an entire album where Andrzej composed every song, but Shereen wrote all the lyrics—transforming 53 years of lived experience, overlooked pain, and unspoken trauma into music.

“My Story” arrives without advance promotion or industry fanfare—released on January 1st, 2026, as an honest beginning to a new year following one of the darkest periods in the couple’s life.

“This album wasn’t planned as a surprise release,” Andrzej Citowicz explains. “But after everything we’ve been through—the loss of our son, the grief, the struggle to keep breathing—we realized this couldn’t wait for traditional album cycles or marketing strategies. These songs needed to exist in the world. My wife’s words needed to be heard. On the first day of 2026, we wanted to give something real, something honest, something that might help someone else who’s been overlooked, unappreciated, or broken by life.”

The 12-song collection translates trauma into music, grief into melody, and survival into art—continuing the couple’s evolution from Andrzej’s deeply personal “Living Room Rockstar Part 2” (dedicated to their stillborn son Jonasz) through their Italian Christmas singles, and now into this complete collaborative statement.

While Andrzej Citowicz has spent years processing emotion through music, “My Story” marks the first time his wife Shereen has claimed the narrative entirely through her own words.

“My wife sums up her 53 years of life in this album,” Andrzej states. “It is her message to the world—a world that was often cruel and unfair to her. She was overlooked and unappreciated for so long. With my music, she is voicing her own traumas and laying out the truth. If you too are overlooked and unappreciated, this is for you.”

The discovery of Shereen’s remarkable voice during their Italian Christmas recordings revealed one hidden dimension of her talent. “My Story” reveals another: her ability to transform personal pain into universal truth through lyrics that speak for anyone who has been dismissed, diminished, or denied.

“These aren’t just her stories,” Andrzej emphasizes. “They’re the stories of everyone who was told they didn’t matter, everyone who carried trauma in silence, everyone who survived what they were never supposed to survive. She’s giving voice to all of that. Every lyric comes from lived experience. Every word is earned.”

Leading the album is “Now I Understand,” accompanied by a lyric video released simultaneously on New Year’s Day.

“This song is crucial,” Andrzej explains. “It represents that moment when everything suddenly makes sense—when you look back at your life and understand why things happened the way they did, why you had to go through what you went through, why the pain had purpose. My wife wrote these lyrics from a place of hard-won wisdom. After 53 years of being overlooked, she finally understands her own story. And now she’s sharing that understanding with anyone who needs it.”

The lyric video allows listeners to connect directly with Shereen’s words—to read, absorb, and recognize their own experiences reflected in her truth.

“We wanted people to see the lyrics as they listen,” Andrzej notes. “These words matter. They deserve to be read, considered, felt. This isn’t background music. This is someone’s life, translated into language that might help someone else survive theirs.”

The couple’s recent journey—from the devastating loss of their son Jonasz to the revelation of Shereen’s musical gifts—has been marked by their choice to transform unbearable pain into creative expression.

“We translate everything into music and lyrics,” Andrzej states simply. “It’s how we survive. After losing Jonasz, music was the only language I had. Now, with ‘My Story,’ my wife has found her own language too. We’ve taken the hardest moments of our lives—loss, grief, trauma, being overlooked and unappreciated—and we’ve made something from them. Not to glorify the pain, but to prove that even the worst experiences can be transformed into something that matters, something that connects, something that helps.”

The album continues the musical evolution established in their earlier collaborations, with Andrzej’s guitar-driven compositions providing the foundation for Shereen’s unflinchingly honest lyrics.

“I write the music from my heart,” he explains. “She writes the lyrics from her lived experience. Together, we’re creating something neither of us could make alone. That’s what ‘My Story’ represents—two people who’ve survived the unsurvivable, creating art from the wreckage.”

Throughout “My Story,” the album speaks directly to those who have felt invisible, dismissed, or denied their truth.

“If you’ve ever felt like the world didn’t see you, like your pain didn’t matter, like your story wasn’t worth telling—this album is for you,” Andrzej emphasizes. “My wife spent 53 years being overlooked. She spent decades with her trauma unacknowledged, her experiences diminished, her voice unheard. ‘My Story’ is her way of saying: I was here. I survived. My story matters. And so does yours.”

The surprise release on New Year’s Day carries symbolic weight—a declaration that new beginnings are possible even after profound loss, that voices can be found even after decades of silence, that stories can be told even when the world tried to silence them.

“Starting 2026 with this album feels right,” Andrzej reflects. “It’s a statement of survival, of resilience, of refusing to let pain have the final word. My wife’s lyrics prove that even when life has been cruel and unfair, you can still create something beautiful from what tried to destroy you.”

Musically, “My Story” maintains Citovitz’s signature approach—guitar-driven compositions influenced by classic rock craftsmanship while embracing contemporary production techniques. But the lyrical focus shifts entirely to Shereen’s perspective, creating an album that balances Andrzej’s melodic sensibility with Shereen’s narrative truth.

“I wanted the music to serve her words,” Andrzej explains. “Every guitar line, every arrangement choice, every production decision was about creating space for her lyrics to breathe, to be heard, to land with the weight they deserve. This isn’t a guitar showcase. This is her story, supported by my music.”

The 12-track collection covers the full range of human experience—from trauma to healing, from being overlooked to being seen, from survival to understanding.

“We didn’t hold anything back,” he states. “These songs are honest about the hardest parts of life. But they’re also honest about hope, about resilience, about the possibility that understanding can come even after decades of pain. That’s what ‘My Story’ offers—not false optimism, but earned hope.”

“My Story” follows the couple’s Italian Christmas singles “Notte Di Stelle” and “Un Altro Domani,” which marked their first musical collaboration and the discovery of Shereen’s vocal abilities.

“Those Christmas songs revealed that my wife had this incredible voice,” Andrzej recalls. “But ‘My Story’ reveals something deeper—that she has stories that need to be told, experiences that need to be voiced, truth that needs to be heard. The progression feels natural. First, we discovered she could sing. Now, we’re discovering what she needs to sing about.”

The couple’s evolution from Andrzej’s solo grief processing in “Living Room Rockstar Part 2” through collaborative holiday celebration and now into full album-length storytelling demonstrates music’s capacity to hold everything—from individual mourning to shared joy to collaborative truth-telling.

“Every project has been necessary,” he reflects. “‘Living Room Rockstar Part 2’ was me trying to survive losing Jonasz. The Italian Christmas songs were us celebrating life and partnership after that darkness. ‘My Story’ is my wife claiming her own narrative after 53 years. They’re all connected. They’re all part of the same journey from loss toward healing, from silence toward voice, from alone toward together.”

“My Story” is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and all major streaming platforms. The lyric video for “Now I Understand” is available on YouTube.

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/49gPbwNQGB0?si=HyRO5EaJ66dNk4Wu

The couple plans to continue their collaborative work, with more music from the “My Story” collection to be promoted throughout 2026.

“This is just the beginning of my wife’s voice being heard,” Andrzej promises. “She has more to say. The world needs to hear it. And I’ll keep writing music that gives her the platform she deserves—the platform she was denied for too long.”

YouTube: https://youtu.be/49gPbwNQGB0?si=uWGVLkauIlrfsAZs

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/0J30vjwbCFPJFV0pcRKESG?si=V4rXOWv4Quu0l0cdBYT9Ew

On World Mental Health Day, Citowicz and the Fireflies of February releases “Living Room Rockstar”, the title track from the album “Living Room Rockstar, Part 2”. Available now on all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music, the single represents both a deeply personal reflection on unfulfilled dreams and a celebration of the enduring power of music to heal and sustain.

SINGLE STREAMING LINKS: Youtube Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGuqjft-iAE

FROM WAŁBRZYCH TO THE WORLD: A ROCKSTAR’S JOURNEY
The single’s artwork features a photograph from 1997—a young Andrzej Citowicz in his childhood bedroom in Wałbrzych, Poland, surrounded by Bon Jovi posters, clutching a white guitar with dreams bigger than the small town that held him. Nearly three decades later, that image has become the perfect visual metaphor for “Living Room Rockstar”: a song about the dreams we chase, the reality we live, and the music we make regardless of whether anyone is listening.
“That photo is me at the beginning of everything,” Citowicz reflects. “I’m standing in my mother’s home, in my room, with Bon Jovi posters covering every inch of the walls. Back then, Bon Jovi was writing the soundtrack to my youth. They made me want to pick up a guitar. They made me believe I could be a rockstar. Well… that never happened in the way I imagined. But I became something else—a living room rockstar who still plays guitar, still writes, still dreams, and still releases music and visions.”

He continues with striking honesty: “The song is about understanding that your dreams might not look like you thought they would, but they still matter. I never played stadiums. I never had screaming crowds. But every night, in whatever room I’m in, the stage is mine. And I still play like it means something—because it does.”

DREAMS TOO BIG TO STAY TOO SMALL
“Living Room Rockstar” captures the bittersweet reality of artistic dreams deferred but never abandoned. The track explores themes of perseverance, the passage of time, and the quiet dignity of continuing to create even when the spotlight never arrives.

“The song talks about faded posters on the wall, about dreams that were too big to stay small,” Citowicz explains. “It’s about singing loud before the moment’s gone, even if no one’s out there listening. It’s about playing in a dim-lit room but strumming those six strings like you own the moon. That’s what being a living room rockstar means—you keep going because the music itself is the reward, not the fame.”

The anthem resonates with anyone who has held onto a dream despite the odds, who has continued creating art in obscurity, who has played for an audience of none and still given it everything.
“There’s a line in the song about how it might all be a lie—this idea that you’re on a stage, that you’re going somewhere,” Citowicz shares. “But here’s the truth: it’s not a lie. The stage is real because you make it real. The audience might be imaginary, but the music isn’t. The passion isn’t. The meaning isn’t. I still play like it means something because it means everything.”

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: MUSIC AS THERAPY
The decision to release “Living Room Rockstar” on World Mental Health Day (October 10) is deeply intentional. As someone on the autism spectrum, Citowicz understands intimately the importance of mental health care and the role that creative expression plays in emotional survival.

“Being on the autism spectrum means I process the world differently,” Citowicz explains. “Things that are already difficult become even harder. Communication, emotions, social connections—they all require more effort. But music? Music speaks a language that bypasses all that confusion. When I’m writing, when I’m playing guitar, when I’m singing—that’s when everything makes sense.”

He continues: “Writing and playing guitar is part of my therapy. It’s how I process emotions I can’t articulate in regular conversation. It’s how I deal with pain, with loss, with the overwhelming nature of existence. Music doesn’t judge. It doesn’t require me to be anything other than honest. For anyone struggling with mental health—whether you’re on the spectrum like me or dealing with grief, depression, anxiety, whatever it is—I want you to know that finding your own form of expression, your own ‘living room’ where you can be yourself, is vital. No matter what. Take care of your mental health. Find what makes you feel whole, even if it’s just for those few minutes.”
The release on World Mental Health Day serves as both a personal statement and a call to action: “Mental health matters. Creative expression matters. Your dreams matter, even if they look different than you expected. This song is for everyone who plays in empty rooms but still plays like someone’s listening. Because you are listening. And that’s enough.”

THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE
“Living Room Rockstar” embodies the spirit of never giving up, even when success looks nothing like the poster-covered walls of teenage dreams promised.
“The song acknowledges the emptiness—the empty echoes in the night, the absent roaring crowds, the locked-away dreams,” Citowicz notes. “But it also celebrates the act of continuing anyway. There are no ticket lines, no velvet ropes, no tour buses waiting down the road. Just a melody and the person brave enough to keep playing it. That’s not failure. That’s heroism.”

The track’s soaring guitar solo—described in the composition as “emotional, filled with longing”—captures the tension between aspiration and reality, between the dream of who you wanted to be and the acceptance of who you are.
“That solo says everything I can’t put into words,” Citowicz explains. “It’s longing, yes. It’s disappointment, maybe. But it’s also defiance. It’s also joy. It’s also freedom. Because when you accept that you’re a living room rockstar and you embrace it, you realize that you’ve been free all along. You’re not chasing someone else’s definition of success anymore. You’re creating on your own terms.”

CLASSIC ROCK SPIRIT, PERSONAL TRUTH
Musically, “Living Room Rockstar” channels the anthemic spirit of the bands that inspired young Citowicz in that Wałbrzych bedroom—particularly Bon Jovi, whose influence permeates both the song’s structure and its emotional core.
“Bon Jovi taught me that rock music could be both huge and intimate,” Citowicz shares. “Their songs had these massive choruses that made you want to sing along, but the lyrics were personal, real, relatable. That’s what I wanted to capture here—that same sense of ‘this is my story, but it could be your story too.’ The big ‘woah-oh’ moments, the sing-along quality, the guitar-driven energy—that’s all from those bands that made me fall in love with rock and roll.”
The production, handled by longtime collaborator Patryk Szymański, balances the song’s stadium-rock aspirations with an intimate, honest production that reflects the “living room” reality of its creation.

“Patryk understood what I was trying to do immediately,” Citowicz notes. “The song needed to sound big—like an arena anthem—but it also needed to feel personal, almost vulnerable. He achieved that balance perfectly. His bass work grounds the song while letting the guitars soar. His production gives it that classic rock feel while keeping it contemporary and raw.”

COLLABORATION AND FRIENDSHIP
The partnership between Citowicz and Patryk Szymański continues to be the backbone of the Living Room Rockstar project.
“Patryk has been there through every stage of this journey,” Citowicz reflects. “He’s not just a musician I work with—he’s a friend who understands the vision, who believes in these songs even when they’re just rough ideas at 3 AM. His contributions to ‘Living Room Rockstar’ go beyond bass and production. He helped shape the entire sound, the entire feeling of what this project is about.”

Credits: Music, Guitars, Lyrics: Andrzej Citowicz
Bass and Production: Patryk Szymański

FROM THEN TO NOW: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
The 1997 photograph that graces the single artwork serves as both a time capsule and a bridge—connecting the dreaming teenager to the artist he would become.
“When I look at that photo now, I see so much hope,” Citowicz says. “I see a kid who genuinely believed he would conquer the world with a guitar. Part of me wants to tell that kid, ‘It won’t happen the way you think.’ But another part of me wants to say, ‘You’ll still be playing that guitar nearly 30 years later, and you’ll still love it just as much. You’ll still be chasing something. You’ll still be creating. And you’ll realize that was the dream all along—not the stadiums, not the fame, but the music itself.'”

He adds: “That room in Wałbrzych, those Bon Jovi posters, that white guitar—they represented possibility. And you know what? I’m still living in that possibility. My living room might be in a different country now, the posters might be faded, but I’m still that kid at heart. Still playing. Still dreaming. Still believing that this song, this next song, means something.”

THE LIVING ROOM ROCKSTAR PHILOSOPHY
Beyond the personal story, “Living Room Rockstar” has become a philosophy—a way of approaching creativity and life that celebrates persistence over perfection, passion over fame, and meaning over metrics.
“Being a living room rockstar means you create for the love of creating,” Citowicz explains. “It means you don’t need validation from the industry or massive streaming numbers to know your music has value. It means you play like people are listening even when they’re not, because you’re listening. You matter. Your art matters. Your dreams matter.”

This philosophy extends beyond music: “Whatever your ‘living room’ is—whether it’s music, writing, painting, whatever—the point is to keep doing it. Keep creating. Keep dreaming. Even if the world never notices, you notice. And sometimes, that has to be enough. Actually, sometimes that’s more than enough. That’s everything.”

MENTAL HEALTH, MUSIC, AND MEANING
Returning to the significance of releasing on World Mental Health Day, Citowicz emphasizes the connection between creative expression and mental wellbeing.
“For anyone struggling—and I mean really struggling, the way I have—please find your living room,” he urges. “Find your safe space where you can express yourself without judgment. For me, it’s music. For you, it might be something else. But find it and protect it. Your mental health depends on having that outlet, that place where you can be authentically you.”

He continues: “On the autism spectrum, socializing can be exhausting, overwhelming, sometimes impossible. But in my living room, with my guitar, I don’t have to perform for anyone but myself. I don’t have to mask or pretend or struggle to communicate in ways that don’t come naturally. I just play. And in those moments, I’m free. That’s what I want people to understand on World Mental Health Day—creative expression isn’t a luxury. It’s survival.”

ABOUT THE ALBUM:
“Living Room Rockstar” is the title track from Living Room Rockstar Part 2, released with Patryk Szymański. The album explores themes of dreams, perseverance, love, loss, and the enduring power of music to provide meaning in uncertain times. Part 2 of the album series, dedicated to Citowicz’s late son Jonasz, will follow in autumn 2025.

ABOUT CITOWICZ AND THE FIREFLIES OF FEBRUARY:
Andrzej Citowicz, performing as Citowicz and the Fireflies of February, is a songwriter, composer, and guitarist known for deeply personal rock compositions that blend classic influences with contemporary honesty. His work explores themes of dreams deferred but never abandoned, the healing power of music, and the importance of creating art on your own terms.
Based in Cairo and originally from Wałbrzych, Poland, Citowicz has spent decades creating music that serves as both artistic expression and therapeutic practice. As someone on the autism spectrum, he advocates for mental health awareness and the vital role of creative outlets in emotional wellbeing.

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Single: “Living Room Rockstar”
Artist: Citowicz and the Fireflies of February
Album: Living Room Rockstar Part 2
Release Date: October 10, 2025 (World Mental Health Day)
Music, Guitars, Lyrics: Andrzej Citowicz
Bass and Production: Patryk Szymański
Platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music

Andrzej on the single and cover:
“I never became the rockstar on those posters. But I became something better—someone who still plays, still creates, still believes. That’s what a living room rockstar is. And on World Mental Health Day, I want everyone to know: your living room, your creative space, your safe place where you can be yourself—that matters. Protect it. Honor it. Keep playing like it means something. Because it does.” — Andrzej Citowicz

Just recently CITOWICZ AND THE FIREFLIES OF FEBRUARY released the first single “Serpents of Tomorrow” from the album, in case you missed, stream it here: https://youtu.be/Mlwy6guwlK0
Also check out “Hole in My Soul” (Radio Edit – Demo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pNo86jILX0

ARTIST CONTACTS & LINKS:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aIeg5DyI7xwkYLsBgJNWf
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndrzejCitowicz
Instagram: https://instagram.com/citovitz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citovitz/

In case you missed, watch the videos from the recent Whiskey Gospels EP:
“Fly or Die Trying” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciLdy06bvGU
“Whiskey Gospel” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOh71kpdL0M
“Ruler of the Crossroads” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1qK2zw–KQ

Also check out ANDRZEJ’s earlier released videos:
‘Tattooed on the Wind’ – https://youtu.be/Hhnj59zSKxE?si=fXAit58jHmICE2fU
‘You Are The Magic’ – https://youtu.be/1XZ3vVtAAmA?si=hhEBt_udWl57XCS-