Nxdia is making Arabic alt-pop to heal their inner child

On a stormy afternoon, NME is warmed by the vibrant personality of budding alt-pop star Nxdia. The 23-year-old is in between studio sessions for their forthcoming project, and we’re taking shelter from the blustery winds outside in Jumbi, a swanky music bar in Peckham, south London.

We’re speaking to Nxdia (born Nadia Ahmed) in the weeks after their first viral song ‘She Likes A Boy’, which has netted nearly 5 million views on TikTok. It’s a classic tale of an unrequited lesbian love, but with an added twist – Nxdia sings in both English and Arabic. And they’re stoking fans’ curiosity about the language by translating their songs on TikTok, bringing everyone into their world of zesty pop-punk melodies.

Unlike English, Arabic doesn’t have a standard dialect; the language has significant regional variations, which means it’s not always mutually intelligible between Arabic speakers from different countries. But if it did have a standard dialect, perhaps it might be Egyptian Arabic, transforming Nxdia’s lyricism into a gateway for learning Arabic.

“Egypt has a dialect that’s very easy to understand”, Nxdia explains. “Egyptian TV series and films are extremely popular. In some places like Morocco or Algeria, the Arabic is spliced with other languages like Spanish or French, so it feels slightly more difficult to understand. But with Egyptian Arabic, if you speak Arabic, you usually understand it.”

Life has made it very difficult for Nxdia to embrace their identity at times. Growing up in Cairo, the Sudanese-Egyptian artist was bullied for their darker skin, and experienced further discrimination upon moving to Manchester as an eight-year-old to escape President Mubarak’s rule.

But speaking to NME as just one of many young, queer Arab people that live their lives freely today, Nxdia is thoroughly energised to be making music – and they’re determined to do it their way: “When I was 15, I woke up, and I was like, ‘No one’s opinion matters but your own,'” they tell us. “You’re born as yourself, you live as yourself, you die as yourself. You’re always stuck with yourself, so you might as well like yourself.’”

You wrote ‘She Likes A Boy’ about an unrequited crush – does your crush know about the song?

“I don’t think so! I don’t think she even knows it would be about her.

“She was at the school next to mine. I would get the bus to school because I lived about 30 minutes away. There was like this girl at the back. I thought she was so pretty, but you know how some people just have a warmth to them? I just love it.

“So she was talking about this stupid gangly boy. He was really horrible and he went to the all boys school. I would sit there and we’d talk about it. We’d be talking about guys that she liked, but I never saw them, so I didn’t mind. But when she started liking this guy, I don’t know what happened to me man… I was like, ‘Why do you need him? I’m right here!’ He was about my height, what’s different? Obviously a lot [laughs].

“But I lost contact with her, and I think she has a kid now. I’m pretty sure that’s why I stopped seeing her around.”

How did you first get involved with music in Manchester?

“It was African drumming that I got into. I’m not very good at it, but there was a local centre, it’s called Z Arts now. It’s so beautiful, such an amazing community, it’s in Hulme. I used to go there every week, I loved it and I thought it was so cool. It was an opportunity for a random eight year old in a new country to learn something and be bad and be good at something.

“I did this thing when I was 16, it was the Levi Music Project where Everything Everything were mentoring 12 young people for two weeks. I learned about production there, and I was like, oh – you can record music and put it out and you can do it yourself. That was an insane thing for me.”

How did you journey towards your current alt-pop style? 

“I was obsessed with Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan. Marina [FKA and the Diamonds] was a huge thing for me because she was weirdly operatic. And Stromae was my introduction into bilingual music. I remember seeing ‘Tous Les Mêmes’ and seeing that video of him and he was like half woman, half man. And I was like, ‘Whatever that is, I’m that!’”

Why is making bilingual music important to you? 

“It was important to me to start writing English and Arabic because I came from a different country: I speak Arabic to my mom only, I don’t have other people that I’m speaking Arabic with. I need people because I’m such an extrovert and I love people. I want to form a community here, and make people feel less like how I did when I was 13 – quietly calling my mum, talking in Arabic quietly so the other school kids wouldn’t hear – as I needed that.”

Your music contains a lot of Egyptian vocal runs and melismas – do you view your music as a gateway to the country’s culture at large?

“I think it’s a stepping stone in a way. I feel as though I’m making it slightly more accessible, and instead of having it be this beautiful thing, I’m writing poppy, punky, angsty stuff. I don’t think something should only be loved when it’s gorgeous and stunning. It’s nice when it’s a little bit more janky and fun as well. But even with the little runs and stuff, I don’t mean to do that. It’s just how you speak – Arabic is a very rhythmic language.”

“I just want to make music that really goes off live”

How has the queer Arab community reacted to your music? 

“I can’t tell you how many queer Arabs have reached out and they’re telling me their problems or things that they’re going through, because they have absolutely no one else to talk to. I’m finding that the conversation around Palestine has been heartbreaking over the last year, just seeing the amount of dismissal. It’s crazy because I grew up in a place where I inherently knew about this – my mum would take me to Free Palestine protests from the age of 11.

“It’s bizarre because even with everything that’s happening in Sudan right now – huge political issues, people dying, there’s so many people who don’t have access to basic things you need to survive – I always feel like nothing’s been talked about enough. Part of that is because I feel connected to it, these are people that are like me.”

It’s really lovely to see your mother be so supportive of your music. What was it like showing your music to her? 

“She’s not scared of anyone, I love her to death. She’s always supported my music, she’s known about my queerness since I was 17. I feel extremely privileged because I’m in a situation that is unfortunately unusual. I have an opportunity to show that and have that kind of normalcy communicated.

“It’s so hard, I have so many amazing friends that they’ve told their parents and they’ve been ostracised or they’ve not had a home to go back to. It’s hard to be angry because it’s coming from ignorance – they don’t think they’re doing anything wrong.

“But yeah, I’m in an extremely privileged position where everyone in my family knows and they love me. I was worried as well when I was showing her ‘She Likes A Boy’ – I was like, ‘Mum, people are going to comment and that might not be nice for you.’ And she was like, ‘Fuck it, I don’t care.’”

What kind of music do you want to make in the future?

“I just want to make stuff that really goes off live. I’m thinking about people singing it back and trying to imagine what it would sound like in a room. So I’m just trying to make loads of stuff that feels exciting, fun, different and cool. Poppy, but with the Arabic influence. I sampled Donia Massoud, who is an amazing artist, and she covered this traditional Arabic song ‘Batnadini Tani Leh’, which is ‘Why are you calling me again?’ There was stuff like that where I was like, this is fascinating.

“I went to Luxor and Aswan in December. There was this guy on my tour showing us around, and he was talking about a Queen Hatshepsut like, ‘She wanted to be a man, she wanted to be a king.’ I recorded it and I’d love to include stuff like that because fuck yeah! She was so successful, she introduced trading from Sudan and Somalia and all these spices. It was just nuts. There’s some cool ass people in Egypt.”

Nxdia’s new single ‘She Likes A Boy’ is out now

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