Name: Nadia Ahmed aka Nxdia
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Egyptian-Sudanese
Current release: Nxdia's idc EP is out now. She is also one of the artists performing at the UK’s longest running Arab Arts Festival, Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF). Other artists include Aar Maanta, Ahmed Mukhtar, The Ayoub Sisters, as well as Maya Youssef.
Recommendations: There's a sci fi book that I love called The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It's part of a series but I've only read the first one. And it's a standalone book.
Also, go listen to Spill Tab. She's so cool, the way she writes, the way she comes up with melodies, the way that it's all organised. I'm obsessed with her. Please check out any of her stuff.

[Read our Aar Maanta interview]
[Read our Maya Youssef interview]

If you enjoyed this Nxdia interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.  



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

When I listen to music, I tend to see colours and scenes more than shapes. Anything else is kind of strange because I'll listen to a friend's song or I listen to a song that friends recommended to me and I'm like, “Oh my God, this sounds like a Ferris wheel when you're eight or this colour.” And usually they'll agree, which is really nice.

It helps with my own music because sometimes I'm like, “Oh, these colours stand out to me when I listen to this. And this is the scene that plays out.” So when I'm talking to people who I'm working with for music videos and such, I'll tell them that I imagined this and this and this and we just go off that.

I tend to listen to music with my eyes closed if I can. But because I'm always out and about, it's not always an option.

What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

I think it's funny - finding out that you could have a career in music was always kind of a bit of a warped thing. I didn't know that you could become a singer or a writer or anything like that. I used to write all the time, I still keep journals, like I have done since I was a kid. And my first steps were very much going to my local Music Centre and trying to learn things with other kids and trying to soak in as much as I could - because I really wasn't understanding a lot of it.

Now, I understand more about software and digital audio workspaces. But when I didn't know anything, I was finding creative ways of doing stuff that was still very special in its own way. Unfortunately, I think sometimes you learn rules and yes, you get better and you're going to get more experienced and understand more. But I think I'm really proud of how creative I was when I was kid.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

At that age, I started listening to music and other languages.

I liked some all kinds of music. Baby Metal. And I was super into My Chemical Romance. I really got into I really loved Jon Bellion. I thought he was incredible. And Pink meant so much to me as well. Growing up, I was obsessed with her lyricism and her raspiness and androgyny.

When I was 13, 16, I thought these people are so cool, because they're obviously being genuine. And that was something that I was really struggling with in my own stuff: To be completely transparent at that age is fucking hard.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools and how have they shaped your perspective on music?

Sitting and watching other people make music has been instrumental.

I think understanding how people are creative and comparing notes is really important. Also, listening to a lot of music, trying to listen specifically to one particular track or just specifically the lyrics - I'm a lyric nerd.

What would you say are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

Life and people. 100%. Understanding that whenever I experience something, whether it's very positive or very negative, or somewhere ambiguously in the middle, I'm not the only one experiencing it, always eases my stress.

Also, when I write about things that I've gone through, it's my way of processing that emotion. I tend to intellectualise things and it's very difficult to intellectualise music unless you're sitting there and you're breaking down a track to all the stems.

It is making me understand myself better and is a healing process.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

After I've made a song with someone I'll come out of the session and won't listen to the song immediately. But then, I'll listen to it over and over. And if I'm still enjoying it, that's how I know.

It's not so much about the specifics. It's more: Do I really enjoy this or do I just sit here? And if I enjoy a song that's sick, because it means I can perform it live and I can champion something without feeling like I'm forcing it.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I remember being in Portugal when I was I want to say 18 or 17. I was so tired but I'd had this amazing day. I was sat next to the beach and the ocean was going and there was this kind of murmur of my two very close friends talking and like laughing and all that stuff. And I remember recording it and feeling like it sounded like heaven. It sounded so so good. I felt so at peace and that made me really happy.

I think there are some sounds, like my grandma's rings clicking together, and now I have my own rings so mine click together, too, when they move around, which I love.

I'm always distracted by sound. I'm always interested in sound, I think, finding things that I enjoy. I like hearing the way my friend's mouth moves around a certain word, all of these things are so musical. There's music all around us, even the wind going on. And I really, really, really, I find myself immersed in that.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I love loud, really just jarring sounds.

A song I always references is “Splinter” by Spill Tab. She's incredible.



There's this part where first it's really calm and ambient, and then all of a sudden it just jumps up and it's a bit distorted and I really love that juxtaposition. I love when you can hear the emotion in the whole thing, not just the lyrics, when it takes you on this journey.

From symphonies and traditional verse/chorus-songs to linear techno tracks and free jazz, there are myriads ways to structure a piece of music. Which approaches work best for you – and why?

I always tend to start at the beginning if I'm talking about my experience. I'm explaining this thing from the start, it kind of makes sense for me to write from that point as well. And then to carry on a little bit and lead up to a hook and then see how I feel after that. I love going through it organically like from the beginning to the end.

That's super traditional, but it's just what works for me, in terms of how it's flowing.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

“OUCH!” was very important to me. It was really pivotal for me in terms of allowing myself to be angry.



It was about a friend and how things had gone a bit wayward. Whatever, that's fine. But it remember so specifically sitting in my friend's basement, and he was producing something. And I was looking at the spider in the corner. And I was shouting at the spider. And I remember right there it clicked in my head that I could shout in songs as well – that I could raise my voice if I wanted to. And that felt really good.

I was just screaming these lyrics, addressing the issue and then carrying on and jreferencing specific moments in the friendship where things were a bit intense. And then coming to the crux of I don't understand why this is happenin, the disappointment of being upset with a friend. It's so, so awful. I think that was cathartic.

I think anything that causes catharsis to me when I'm in the session feels like a big sigh of relief - to finally get that off my mind. I am always chasing that feeling.

Sometimes, science and art converge in unexpected ways. Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

I suck at science. I wrote a demo ages ago called “Mitosis.” That's the closest I've got to science and music.

Experimenting is part of it, though. Like you will make a song you hate. And you'll make a song you love and you'll make sounds you didn't expect or you'll be embarrassed in front of a producer because you're just making all these weird noises.

It's constant trial and error.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Making music helps me understand my life. It puts stuff into perspective for me. I tend to overthink or overanalyze situations and it's helpful being able to be in a studio environment and map out exactly how I feel about something and map out exactly how I'm processing something or the kind of person I am or the kind of people I allow into my life.

It feels like a constant self analysis and when you're writing, there's nothing that's off limits. You can't really stop yourself from being honest about your experiences. You're constantly learning more about yourself and more about what you allow into your life, whether it's positive or negative.

That's what music is for me. it's almost like a therapy. I love it.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

The thinking element comes into it. I've made a coffee a million times. And I know how I like my coffee. Maybe I'll change whether it's dairy milk or oat milk, or what kind of sugar I'll use. But I know how to make it. So I'm not thinking about it.

But with music, you're always thinking about it, you'll never get used to it. Because how can you get used to it when you're in different kinds of emotional states? When you're performing stuff, and sometimes things ring true more at one point in your life than they do in another?

I's a constant change and that's something that I adore about it. I don't think music can ever be mundane. There are parts you get better at or maybe you have a process that that works for you. But you can never guarantee that you go into a space and you make an incredible song.

You can't put creativity in a specific box, you can't define it as a thing. Sometimes you will think of something super easily and sometimes you just can't find the words and it's so frustrating. It's so intense, you know.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

Some people, when they're sad, will listen to sad music. I never do that. I don't like doing that because it stresses me out.

Maybe Jon Bellion's albums, he was so instrumental to me when I was growing up. But there is a song that comes to mind … “Please don't leave me” by Pink because if I watch it with the video, it's so ridiculous. You know, she's running around and really hurting this poor poor guy but this is such an endearing song and you're like: What do you mean “Please don't leave me”? It's a crazy sad and relatable thing and I love that song.



Also, it's happy sounding which I love. That one was a huge song for me growing up.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

Collaboration. I like it when I see people who are supporting other artists and I love seeing artists come together. I'm always kind of shouting from the rooftops about people I find cool or interesting.

I understand how this industry can feel competitive, but I feel like we have a lot to celebrate here and we have very unique opportunities to connect in ways that we wouldn't have been able to. And I can't help but want to celebrate that and want to prioritise that.