Nxdia on embracing their identity and debut mixtape 'I Promise No One's Watching' for DIY's Class of 2026 • Neu • DIY Magazine

Sitting across from Nxdia - the moniker of alt-pop musician Nadia Ahmed - on a Chesterfield sofa in the warmth of their local pub, they make a confession. Dressed in a furry leopard print coat, with a fan-made bottle cap pendant around their neck, they embody a collected, creative cool that feels like a far cry from their sentiment around the fear of being observed.

“I think about myself entirely too much,” Nxdia explains, “And I think about what other people think about me entirely too much.” It would make sense that Nxdia’s debut mixtape, ‘I Promise No One’s Watching’, would be the antithesis of the self-consciousness they describe, radiating an unapologetic energy as they tear through alt-pop, punk, and electronic boundaries with riotous energy. The title itself reveals the contradiction at the heart of their work: the version of Nxdia that wants to not care what anyone thinks, and the version that cares so deeply it becomes paralysing.

Much of that hyper-vigilant awareness can be traced back to Nxdia’s childhood. Born in the neighbourhood of Roxy, Cairo, before moving to Manchester at the age of eight, Nxdia spent much of their youth feeling fundamentally different from their peers. “I got in trouble all the time because I just didn’t understand. People told you what the rules were, but they never explained why they were in place.” This lack of understanding around social and cultural “rules” often led to a familiar refrain: “You’re really nice, just a bit weird.”

“I think it had so much to do with growing up queer, as a Black Arab kid in a primarily white school,” Nxdia explains. “I felt like there was just a screen between me and everyone else.”

Music would eventually become the space in which that screen dissolved. But first, they were inspired by poetry, specifically work influenced by the slam poetry boom. They discovered a new creative world within the YouTube channel Button Poetry. “It was the first time I’d seen women angry. I wasn’t an angry kid, but I had such a strong sense of justice,” they note.

Raised in a politically engaged household - with their mother involved with protests around the Egyptian uprising in 2011 - they were already attuned to resistance. But seeing everyday people pouring out their rage online offered a different avenue for expressing feelings about injustice, while offering a sense of relatability. “I was like, ‘wow, I’m not alone in the feelings that I have’.”

Many of Nxdia’s early musical influences painted a particular picture of angst through means that were brash, yet fun: Paramore’s ‘Riot!’, P!nk’s ‘Funhouse’, My Chemical Romance, Marina and the Diamonds’ ‘Teen Idol’. With an understanding of the emotions they latched onto, Nxdia began exploring what visual identities inspired them. Prince and David Bowie offered templates for sensuality and movement, providing a sense of freedom that Nxdia is adamant about pursuing in their own work. “Everything’s so polished now in a way that almost feels untouchable. I want a bit more ugliness, a bit more realness. Not everything has to be pristine.”

“My experience in my life is so well-rounded and so big. I don’t want to just be a queer artist: I just want to be an artist who exists, and my queerness is part of my identity.”

Released in June, ‘I Promise No One’s Watching’ is just that: real. It sees Nxdia document their complex journey over the past year, navigating top surgery, gender dysphoria, queer awakening, and the messy duality of growing up while growing into yourself. “Being able to look like myself, feel like myself, it settles you. Maybe at this point I can stop feeling guilty for existing,” Nxdia says, with a comforting sense of relief.

Written largely from their childhood bedroom in Manchester - which still has old wallpaper and anime posters on the wall, Nxdia quips - creating the mixtape demanded uncomfortable vulnerability for the sake of authenticity. “I had to say a lot of stuff that I never say out loud. I think that because I’m such a chatty, open person, people think I share a lot. I don’t. I’m very anecdotal.” Being at home provided the isolation needed for Nxdia to feel as comfortable as they could be with excavating such raw material about themselves. “The best place to write is a place where I feel completely alone, as much as I hate that.”

Although it was a work created out of solitude, Nxdia could hardly predict how their songs would resonate. When their 2024 single ‘She Likes A Boy’ exploded to garner 58 million streams, they were suddenly embarking on a sold out headline UK and European tour, securing festival slots at Reading & Leeds’ BBC Introducing stage, Latitude, TRNSMT, and Lollapalooza Paris, with a support tour alongside Cat Burns scheduled for 2026.

But Nxdia isn’t interested in pursuing past success. “I was intent on not recreating ‘She Likes A Boy’,” they note firmly. “My experience in my life is so well-rounded and so big. I don’t want to just be a queer artist. I just want to be an artist who exists, and my queerness is part of my identity.”

‘Boy Clothes’, written while undergoing top surgery, explores gender dysphoria with anarchic energy. ‘Body On Me’ incorporates lyrics in Arabic, creating what Nxdia calls “a secretive world, a bubble of love where nothing else matters.” The choice to sing in both English and Arabic opened up new possibilities, grounding Nxdia within a sense of cultural familiarity, while expanding their capacity for deeper communication and connection. “Before I started writing in both, I would look for validation from people I trusted. People would be like, ‘I don’t know if people are going to get that’. But as soon as I started, it felt like I went from 12 crayons to 36.”

“Everything’s so polished now in a way that almost feels untouchable. I want a bit more ugliness, a bit more realness. Not everything has to be pristine.”

Their sold-out tour equally brought unexpected moments that emphasise the level of connection that Nxdia has fostered. In Paris, fans presented a card project with pictures of themselves, accompanied by explanations of how they found the music. “I cried because I was just like, ‘oh, this is nice’. To deny it would be so invalidating.” When we compliment their necklace today - a delicate piece featuring their face from the ‘She Likes A Boy’ artwork - they light up. “A fan made this for me,” they say, touching it gently.

The self-assessment that once felt crushing is slowly but surely shifting. They recall seeing someone online who’d been asked how he stayed confident: “He was like, ‘I decide that when people meet me, they really like me’. It sounded so simple and so stupid. I was furious! Like, ‘damn, that should have come to me first’,” they laugh.

But this idea of reframing their interactions did make an impression. “At some point I just gave up. I was like, ‘I can’t control what people think of me, but I can decide how much I like myself’. And I do really like myself.” For someone who spent their youth feeling misunderstood, that self-possession feels hard-won. “I have the right to exist as freely as I believe anyone else should, and that is freely. If you’re not hurting yourself or other people, mind your fucking business.”

Looking ahead, Nxdia is focused on discomfort as growth. “I want to make myself so uncomfortable. I get restless and bored if I don’t feel challenged.” The music they’re making now feels different, and poses an opportunity to traverse new territory. “I’m bringing in more Arabic instruments. I’m learning to produce so I want to have a more active role. The longer I make music, the more it demands I’m completely part of it and surrender to it. But I really struggle with that vulnerability because I just feel like no one wants to hear this. Everyone’s got struggles. Get over it. And it’s like, ‘what if someone pokes at my bruise?’ Me telling you about it increases the chance of you being able to poke at it.”

But the alternative - playing it safe and keeping their truth hidden - feels impossible for Nxdia to comply with. “It’s one thing to throw something out for no one, but you’re throwing it out because it means something to you, and therefore most likely it will mean something to someone else.”

Now, they’ve stopped waiting for permission to be seen; they’re done being defined by rules they never agreed to follow.

‘I Promise No One’s Watching’ is out now.

#AD