“WE’RE SO F**KING LUCKY, WE’RE AT A MUSIC FESTIVAL. NO ONE IS LOOKING AT THE SKY WORRIED” NXDIA SINGS LOUD IN GLASGOW
Nxdia (photo credit: Rory Barnes)
INTERVIEW | NXDIA @ TRNSMT 2025 by Anne Kelly
Releasing their debut album, I Promise No One’s Watching just last month, Manchester’s Nxdia made their Glasgow live debut at this summer’s TRNSMT Festival opening the King Tuts Stage on Sunday afternoon.
A passionate Pro-Palestine advocate, NXDIA leverages their substantial social media presence, boasting over 1.2 million followers on TikTok, to champion critical humanitarian issues from genocide to LGBTQ+ equality. Born in Cairo, Egypt before moving to Manchester as a child, Nxdia showcases a vibrant blend of alt-pop and dynamic beats, featuring lyrics in both English and Arabic, which continue to resonate powerfully with a young audience across the nation.
We caught up with Nxdia on site following her opening set to chat about all the above and more.
How was your first ever TRNSMT appearance?
“It felt amazing. I think I warmed up into it, literally, because it got hotter and hotter”, laughs Nxdia. “I’ve never played in Glasgow before and I’ve never even been in Glasgow before so it was incredible. I thought there’d be about five people. I’m not gonna lie. Like, I had no idea if there’d be anyone there. But people showed up, they were singing and I didn’t feel like I was alone out there.
Releasing your debut album last month, how does it feel to finally get it out there to the fans?
“It’s been amazing. Like, I feel very grateful. I had no expectations, and because I intentionally called it a mixtape because it didn’t feel like what I think of as an album. I always think an album or an EP represents something which has been put together intentionally, when in reality I think the mixtape for me was just me trying to understand something.
As it came together at the end, I had a clearer vision of who I am right now. I didn’t even think about whether or not people would resonate with it in the same way because I was just hoping it was gonna ring true to me. I don’t know if I love every part of it, but I can see every part of it and that’s great.”
I think it’s fair to say that your style of music is fairly fluid as well, there’s lots of different styles in there. What sort of influences did you have growing up compared to how they are now?
“I feel like you don’t ever lose your early influences if I’m being honest – I think there’s people who are very ingrained in you. I grew up listening to Paramore or like artists my mum showed me like Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin. I loved My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, but also I had a huge phase with people like Stromae and John Bellion, I was obsessed with. Especially Stormae’s album, Racine carrée as he’s from Belgium and sings in French so I didn’t understand any of it, but I so deeply resonated with it. I searched the lyrics afterwards, and it was exactly about what I thought it was. It’s funny how music can do that, it communicates so much more than just the words, you know.
I still listen to all these people, but more recently there are loads of people who I admire. I think Emory is really cool, Erin LeCount is incredible and my housemate DellaXOZ, I think she’s amazing. But I’ve also been going back and listening to like so much Bowie, so much Prince, just so many of these icons. I’ve obviously been listening to them for a while, but recently I’ve just really diving deep. Nirvana, weirdly is one too, I’ve been really into Bleach lately.”
Singing in both English and Egyptian Arabic, what led to that decision to interweave both within your music?
I think when someone says, ‘oh, you speak two languages, what language do you think in?’ It’s like all of them, just everything all at once. I mean it’s close to my heart, I grew up in Cairo. I lived like eight years there and then moved here and it was similar. But it was also like worlds apart, there’s different things and there’s ways I didn’t fit in in Cairo because I’m half Sudanese. Especially for being darker skinned, which is honestly crazy considering it’s North Africa, but hey ho. Then there was ways that obviously didn’t fit in in Manchester in my like predominantly white school.
I was like, great, the kids know that I’m Arab and Black, I’m sure they’re gonna treat me super well, I’m gonna be super popular.” laughs Nxdia sarcastically.
“But no, it was definitely a very shaving experience. My mum has always been an activist and always been someone who speaks out, so when I was like 17 I thought that I don’t actually hear anyone singing English and Arabic. But I think in both and I think it’s a huge part of me, so why the fuck wouldn’t I sing in both.”
Do you feel that your ability to portray both facets of your culture within your music resonates with other young Arab artists?
“I hope it does, because I think the thing that you can do better than anyone else is stay true to yourself and be yourself. It’s like if you feel pressured to fit into a box that you think is gonna work then it doesn’t work for half the people that you think it does. I mean, it’s like even if you’re a cookie cutter, you can’t connect with people unless you’ve connected to yourself. And I think the more connected you are with yourself, the more honest you are with yourself and enter on other people, the more then hopefully people feel a genuine connection to you and what you do, you know.”
A very vocal supporter of Palestine, Nxdia delivered one of the most resonating speeches during her set at TRNSMT this weekend. I had to ask how they felt towards the festival removing prominent Pro-Palestine voices like Kneecap from the line-up.
“It’s frustrating, especially when I’m seeing certain groups being silenced and proscribed at the moment. I think everyone should be concerned that there’s any kind of power that the government has to stop you from being able to share what you want to share. I think the outrage that’s been had over the wording of how people are communicating stuff.
But it’s like, you’re not really understanding that outside these walls, outside like in the world out there – no one’s nitpicking the different ways people are saying. People are dying and there’s a whole onus on us as people who are supplying the fucking military. But at the same time, I’m grateful to be here just so I can say something.
We’re so fucking lucky, we’re at music festival right now, and we’re enjoying that. No one’s looking at the sky worried that something’s gonna drop. In reality, we’ve been so desensitized to seeing mangled bodies, like fucking awful shit, that people are becoming apathetic and people are becoming kind of disconnected from it. When in reality, like if it came to our doorsteps, you’d be pleading, you’d be begging people to like have any stretch of empathy and we’re seeing it all the time.
So if there’s anything I can do in any way to talk about this will help people, I want to because I can’t live with myself otherwise.”
