New Music
Interview
NXDIA:”We’re going to be headbanging through heartbreak”
With the release of new EP Lovemesick, we get to know the rising alt-pop star with a punk edge
NXDIA makes unapologetically noisy alt-rock bangers with lyrics pulled straight from their journal. Over the past twelve months, they’ve supported viral indie goth Sofia Isalla, bratty rock star Yungblud and everyone’s favorite Traitor Cat Burns after their angsty 2024 single about unrequieted love ‘She Likes A Boy’ went viral.
Their joyfully hectic I Promise No One’s Watching mixtape further established NXDIA as a fearless artist who wasn’t all that bothered about genre, while their upcoming Lovemesick EP promises to continue pushing boundaries. “It doesn’t have to be chaos, but it doesn’t have to be what you’re used to either,” they explain the day before heading out on tour with Cat Burns. “I’m just really pumped for everything that’s coming,” they continue, still putting the finishing touches to the EP and already thinking about what comes after.
Let’s go way back to the start – what first got you interested in music?
I just couldn’t stop making noise. I was a bit of a loner as a kid and I’d always be talking or singing to myself. I later realised it was how I coped with a lot of stuff because my upbringing wasn’t easy and moving from Egypt to England was a whole world change. The lightning bolt moment came when I was eight-years-old. I was in primary school in Manchester and I was singing this silly little song under my breath about cherry blossoms. This girl, Sophia, asked me what song it was, I told her it was a random one I’d just made up and she said I should be a singer. Before that, I had no idea that was even an option. My family didn’t even really listen to music at home apart from my dad playing a bit of AC/DC so I had to find my own way to it.
How did you go from singing songs to yourself to sharing them on TikTok and YouTube?
There’s this place called Z-arts near Hulme and they’d really encourage young people to collaborate and make music for the fun of it as well as giving kids opportunities to perform live. It wasn’t until I got involved with the Levi’s Project [a two-week group course where Everything Everything mentored a handful of teenagers and taught them the basics of production] that I realised you could even make music without going on The X Factor or The Voice. I never fancied that because I didn’t just want to be a singer, I wanted to write.
So you didn’t grow up dreaming of selling out Wembley Stadium?
You don’t have to feel like you’re good at art or creativity to take part in it. It’s fundamental to the human experience to express yourself. I didn’t start making music because I thought it was a good singer. I didn’t do it because I thought I was a particularly good writer. I just needed it. I needed that expression. I needed that outlet. I’m extremely grateful it turned into something that is my life and is something I can share with people, but I don’t think there’s any better way of getting to know yourself than drawing, singing or playing something just because you want to, and not because you think that someone else will be impressed by it. I would encourage everyone to try it, even if you don’t think you’ll do it as a career. Do it because it feels good, y’know?
And what artists did you end up connecting with?
Paramore were huge for me. I loved Stromae, Fall Out Boy, Marina and My Chemical Romance. It wasn’t just the music either, it was the world building, the music videos, the costumes, the crazy hair. They taught me you could be anyone you wanted to be, and do whatever you wanted. I saw the hate they got and that was cool, because even if someone is making something awesome, not everyone is going to get it. From there, I wanted to use my imagination to build a world that I want to be in.
Did music give you a sense of belonging after moving to the UK from Egypt?
Even though I was alone a lot as a kid, it’s not that I didn’t want to be close to people. I just didn’t know how. Obviously I now know I’m neurodivergent but at the time, I just felt super different. What music gave me was a way to understand what I was going through. It helped me work out what I wanted to say and how I was feeling. It also gave me community.
Your early tracks are a lot more soulful, singer-songwriter pop – what inspired the pivot to aggy punk?
Growing up in the UK, I think I felt inclined to sing a certain way because of the way that I looked. It wasn’t until a friend told me I could do anything I wanted with my music that something clicked for me. It’s crazy I needed that pep talk but when you don’t have a huge amount of confidence in what you’re doing or a huge amount of ego around what you enjoy, it’s difficult to say “I want to do this,” especially in the face of people who are so much more experienced. After that chat though, the Crayola set went from 12 colours to 32 and it made me see the world a lot more vividly. I don’t know if I’ll always stay in this electronic, punky lane but I’m excited to keep digging.
Were you surprised by the reaction to ‘She Likes A Girl’?
I’m always surprised about everything. I thought I was talking about a specific, slightly isolating experience that I’d gone through but after being told by so many people what it means to them, I realise that song is a mirror to what a lot of people have been through. It’s amazing to be accepted with open arms and encouraged to be who I really am. Being told that my music means something to anyone is amazing, because that’s something you just can’t control. It’s so special that anyone else cares.
There’s a new EP out later this month – what inspired it?
The vision for I Promise No One’s Watching was to stop thinking about myself so much. I just wanted to have a clusterfuck of everything I’d been feeling without stressing too much about it after ‘She Likes A Boy’ took off. LoveMeSick was going to be about this whole new era of dating new people because I’m a huge commitment-phobe. And then I had a terrible break-up. There was a lot to process and reflect upon, and I use music like a journal to do that. It’s a bit frustrating to be honest because I had all these fun, ravey songs but the lyrics are actually really horrible and painful. This year is all about crying in the club.
Is it more emotionally-charged than what’s come before?
All the songs for this EP were written while I was in the thick of it, when the emotions were still fresh. It’s acknowledging that the breakup did suck and I felt like a loser for a while, but there were also times I felt sexy or angry. I went through all the stages of grief and came out of the other side with this record. It was fun to force myself to not make it light-hearted either. We’re going to be headbanging through heartbreak.
It sounds like there’s a lot of self-belief behind this next chapter…
I do feel more confident in myself. I know what I can do, I know what’s coming next and I know how cool it’s going to be. There’s still fear. If you care about something, of course there’s going to be fear but facing that is what makes you a better artist. It’s about proving to yourself that you can do it scared.
‘Cool’ has both English and Arabic lyrics, which is something you’ve been doing for a while now. Why is that important for you?
Because it’s part of me. My inner dialogue is a mix of both and I speak to my family in Arabic. That’s something I tried to hide when I was younger and I hate that I felt like I had to do that. This is my whole-heartedly accepting myself and understanding that all parts of me are me. It’s dismantling that inner prejudice.
What do you hope your music means to people?
I would love it if it brought some kind of comfort and clarity. I’m always hearing songs that make me realise how I’m feeling, or they articulate what I’m going through. It’s happened recently with the new Underscores album U and Tiffany Day’s Halo. That, and maybe just a good time.
Speaking of which, what’s the vibe of a NXDIA show?
I’m obsessed with the videos of Pulp playing at Glastonbury. It’s all these beautiful songs sandwiched between Jarvis Cocker just chatting with the audience in a way that feels so personal. I wish I was a little cooler, but my shows are going to be me running rampant, jumping up and down and trying to get everyone to do the same. I want everyone to have as much as fun as possible basically.
NXDIA’s new EP, Lovemesick, is out now via Bxdger Records.
