We caught up with Nxdia back in May — the Egyptian-Sudanese artist from Manchester who’s been redefining alt-pop on their own terms. Blending playful production, heartfelt honesty, and unapologetically queer storytelling, Nxdia’s music feels like a diary entry written on the dancefloor. Fast forward a month, and their mixtape I Promise No One’s Watching has fully sunk its teeth into us. It’s ten tracks of beautiful chaos — messy, honest, loud, and tender in equal measure.
We talked about rapid growth, writing from a place of vulnerability, the moments that inspire lyrics, and the hidden touches that bring Nxdia’s songs to life. There’s even a track on the mixtape called Jennifer’s Body — which, if you keep reading, you’ll understand exactly why we were so excited about the name (spoiler: it involves Nxdia’s dream reboot soundtrack).
Last year was a huge year for you, the release of She Likes A Boy saw your streaming numbers grow by millions, how has it felt to see such rapid growth in such a short time?
I think it’s not something that you can really understand cause it’s like it’s one thing to have people excitedly telling you something and being like “oh my God have you just seen this happen, it’s sick” and you’re just sat there like I’m in my room, I just don’t know what’s going on and everything’s online and none of it’s real. But I think I it really sank in for me when I did a meet up at Leicester Square
when I got my first little billboard from Spotify and my face is on it and all these people showed up and celebrated the moment with me and I felt much more like
oh wow this is actually something’s happening you know.
Tell us a bit more about your mixtape.
I have a mixtape coming on the 13th of June, two days before my birthday so you have to care about it sorry. It’s called I promise no one’s watching and it’s just kind of like I guess self portrait cause I’m literally painting myself in it I guess but it’s a self portrait of like the last year I’d say some conversations I’ve had, some messiness, some bullishness, but some really beautiful moments as well cause it’s been such a ride.
What’s a tiny production detail in one of your songs you’re obsessed with?
I’m so weird in the mixing and mastering process in terms of getting all the levels right but one of the things that I love is like feeling like you can hear the breaths and like the track that you can feel as though everything is kind of even harmonies you wouldn’t necessarily imagine or put on I just want it to feel as though there’s these little nuggets that you can hear that I know about whether it’s a silly little ad lib or like I don’t know a fun harmony or something like that.
Which song of yours would you play to a total stranger?
I think out of my songs the one I’d play to a total stranger would maybe be “Feel anything”. It is probably one of my most honest songs about the whole mania
manic depressive thing and I think it was so important to me to write that
and whether or not it’s the easiest to digest in terms of like how much it changes in the second half, that doesn’t really matter, it’s more about how it made me feel and it feels true.
Your newest single “More” is gaining a lot of traction, what was your main inspiration behind this track?
Oh hot dates. So this is the thing, I think sometimes you go on bad dates,
sometimes you go on good dates, and then sometimes you go on dates where you’re walking away and you’re like you know what? I was feeling them, they were feeling me, we’re all feeling each other, I’m definitely seeing them again. It’s just like a haul and you want more of it and you wanna see them more, you wanna be around them more, you wanna understand more why you’ve got this gravitation towards someone and I just wanted to write a big song about it.
What typically comes first for you, a lyric, a feeling, or a melody?
Oh the feeling always comes first and then the melody creeps in. It will be like words and I’ll have them all across my notes and stuff, so it will be kind of like
I’ll have this phrase like for “She Likes a Boy”that chorus played over and over my head but it started from a tiny little like lyric journal entry I’d seen where I was like
oh my god she likes a boy and at that time I was meant to be straight.
You often blend in some Arabic in your songs, does that kind of mixing come naturally as you’re writing?
Of course! I mean I grew up in Cairo where I was listening to a bunch of like
Arab artists as well like Donia Massoud there was even Ahmed Mekky
when he had his singing stint and then there was like so many so many amazing people like Umm Kulthum.
In my brain everyone’s like, what language do you think in then if you know two?
And it’s like you know what? I think in both languages, I wanna speak in both languages, I talk at home in both languages when I’m with my mum. It feels like the most vulnerable I can be in a very like everyday honest way.
Is there anything you’ve been listening to lately that your fans wouldn’t expect?
Oh I don’t know, I feel like I’m definitely one of those annoying people that’s like I listen to everything. I’ve been so so back in my Black Eyed Peas bag like that’s been great and then I was listening to “Blood” by In This Moment
cause I was obsessed with that song when I was like 15 but it’s so intense it’s like “blood blood blood pump blood through my veins”. I had a lot of feelings.
What’s a perfect no skips album?
It’s hard picking just one. I mean Racine Carrée by Stromae. I know I don’t speak French but that album got me through so much that I’m like it just was everything from gender identity to like honest expression and “Tous les Mêmes” and like
all of these amazing like “bârtard”. I love these songs, so that that album’s no skips for me.
Do you have any guilty pleasure songs?
I don’t feel guilty about any of them, if I’m being honest I listen to the music I listen to. I was I was singing “Lipstick” by Jedward just now, they ate.
If you could only communicate in lyrics for a day, which artist would you choose to quote?
Who’s got the most amount of lyrics? Cause I feel like in terms of someone who’s written a crazy amount I’d say Paul McCartney is like probably such a good choice cause he has written so many songs and so many that I just I’d have something for everything, it’ll be great.
What’s the last thing you listened to that blew your mind?
There was a song recently that I saw that I was obsessed with and it was by Emory and it’s called “Double Dog”. Just the way she does her vocals on that I just I think it needs so much more love, it’s so cool there’s a little bark in it, it’s fun I love that song that really.
Your lyrics often explore themes of sexuality and gender identity, do you consciously write with those in mind or do they emerge naturally?
I think when you’re writing about anything, if something moves you enough to write about it, it’s because you’re experiencing it. Or at least that’s for me. I think I used to like inventing stories and stuff like that ’cause it was easier when I was younger in my songs but now I just feel like the hardest thing is trying to be as honest as possible but it’s like the most meaningful thing like it makes me come out with something that I actually really care about and I don’t feel detached from.
So I’d say I explore those themes because it’s my life and that’s just how I am. I’m a queer, Arab, black, Egyptian, Sudanese, top surgery. So I just try and explore everything.
Do you see your music as a way of processing personal experiences or more as creating a shared space for others to see themselves?
I think absolutely it’s like a personal thing. I think the more personal you make a song like there’s so many songs that I know if an artist would have written them
they wouldn’t have thought about other people connecting to them cause it’s just so beyond specific. But I think the more specific you get the more you find people who’ve experienced the same thing cause I think we experience the same things all the timeI think we lead very parallel lives and obviously there’s extremes in that
but absolutely I think it’s like it has to come from a really personal place and then afterwards it’s up to people how they take it. They’ll infer what they need to like take what they need.
What do you hope queer and gender nonconforming listeners take away from your music?
In all honesty, I hope it brings you any kind of hope or bravery to continue being honest with yourself and with people around you because I think it’s a very difficult thing, being different and feeling so different and at the moment all this discourse and conversation about whether or not people have the right to exist and I think it’s boring you know? Trans rights, human rights, if you’re watching this and you feel alone, you’re not, and there’s so many people just like you. I’m just like you and I just hope that you feel a sense of community, even if you can’t see it immediately but you’re loved and I love you.
If you could soundtrack a reboot of any movie, what would you choose?
Okay so it would be a really hefty thing but I think a reboot of Jennifer’s Body
because the track list was just SO good that I think whoa like you know you could just do so much, the basis is so good. I’d want that challenge cause I feel like so many fun emotional aspects of that is so sick.
And finally, what’s your favourite flavour crisps?
Because I’m a psychopath it’s prawn cocktail. I think ready salted just stabs the top of your mouth and dries it out. I think salt and vinegar is too intense emotionally. It’s an emotional experience prawn cocktail babes.
Nxdia’s music lives in the in-between — between genres, between languages, between the personal and the universal. I Promise No One’s Watching isn’t just a mixtape; it’s a reminder that there’s power in showing up exactly as you are. Whether you’re dancing through the chaos or sitting with the quiet parts, Nxdia’s right there with you — messy, honest, and unapologetically real.
Watch the full interview here: