In Conversation x Nxdia
Words By: Anya Duncan
Less Regimented, More Real: The Definitions Behind Nxdia’s Mixtape
“It’s not an album and it's not an EP. The distinction for me is that (by my definition) an EP is meant to be a cohesive project, and an album is meant to explore a bunch of themes in a very intentional way. The mixtape is something less regimented.”
If you asked Nxdia why their newest project is a mixtape, they wouldn’t offer a marketing explanation — they’d talk about freedom. They’d talk about pressure, and about how no existing term in the music industry’s vocabulary felt like the right container for what they had been crafting. This project wasn’t conceived as a single, tidy narrative but as a living document of the past twelve months in the singer’s life. There was no plan to make a mixtape. At least, not at first. It happened because it had to happen. Because there were too many moments, too many emotions, to leave unrecorded.
“I don't think I realised I was writing the mixtape at the time. I think I was just going through a lot of stuff in a year. A lot of stuff I'd never had to deal with before. I just needed somewhere to put this.”
Those words reveal a process that feels more like keeping a journal than making a record. The result is a body of work that favours sincerity over symmetry. “When I was making those songs, I was trying to explore those feelings, and I was trying to see how I could get over them or through them or anything like that… or experience them to the fullest. I just wanted it to feel as though it was honest more than it was trying to be perfect.”
Image By: Eva Pentel
That contrast — honest over perfect — is what gives the mixtape its pulse. It isn’t neat, and it doesn’t try to be. It is a record of a life being lived, and the listener is invited to sit with Nxdia through every climb and crash. They even describe the project as a kind of envelope for the year. A place to store all of its lessons and mistakes.
“I think a lot of the stuff I was quite naive about and definitely late to learning. I find that a lot; some things intrinsically are very easy for me to understand and then some things I realise very late. I think it's just nice to be able to have a little envelope of what the year looks like.”
The envelope might be creased, stained, and covered in ink, but that’s exactly why you feel compelled to open it. Nxdia has never been one for strict parameters. Their creativity has always thrived in the space between mediums, where experimentation can lead the way. Growing up, music was the centre of their world, but it was never the only thing. There was always painting, sewing, crafting. Any excuse to create something with their hands.
“I think a lot of people maybe feel this way, but growing up, I wanted to do anything. Music was my main love and focus, but the idea of being able to make clothes and paint and design and sew and mould clay… it was this thirst for wanting to figure out any avenue of learning that's not regimented.”
That spirit of curiosity sits at the heart of the mixtape, and it’s also why the very word “album” felt too heavy for what they were trying to do. An album, with its sense of grandeur, might have implied answers. The mixtape, on the other hand, is a collection of questions. It is playful, loose, and forgiving. Choosing that word was a way for Nxdia to reclaim joy from the pressure to be perfect.
Image By: Ryan Jafarzadeh
“I did art for A-level and it killed any love I had for painting for a very long time. I was just like ‘how can I be doing this wrong?’ It's just expression. Obviously, there's so many more complications and nuances to that, but at the same time, creativity is creative expression. Creative expression in my mind is creative freedom.”
Nxdiamusic
Two years ago, Nxdia picked up a paintbrush again, and with it, rediscovered something fundamental about themselves. “I did this little guy. Like, it's literally me! I sent it into the group chat with my management, and they were like, ‘oh, it kind of looks like an EP cover.’ That ignited something in me, and I followed that thread.”
That grand return to painting became a thematic parallel to this new project. Both signifies the moment they stopped trying to do it ‘right’ and just let themselves do it.
The mixtape also carries the intimacy of language. Nxdia’s music exists in two tongues, weaving English and Arabic together. The Arabic in their lyrics often functions as an internal monologue, the private thought given melody. “In my brain, I speak Arabic and English. A lot of the time, I find that the Arabic I write is meant to be an internal comment.” Growing up in Manchester, Arabic wasn’t something they shared widely — only with their mum. “I wasn’t able to communicate freely with people in Arabic as a common occurrence, so I think Arabic still feels like a secret to me (even though it's one of the most popular languages in the entire world). It always catches me by surprise when people know what I'm saying. I'm just like, ‘how do you know the words?’”
Live performance becomes the final piece of the puzzle. During Nxdia’s upcoming first solo tour, connection takes priority. “Growing up, I just felt so isolated in so many ways. So insular. I love people so much that I just wanted to not feel alone or lonely. My goal with this community is to make sure less people feel alone. That face-to-face connection… I don't think there's anything in the world that can mimic that. I will definitely be out in the crowd. I'm gonna be in people's grills.”
If I was forced to define it, then, I’d say that Nxdia’s mixtape is the bridge between them and the people listening. It creates space for others to find themselves inside it, and that might be its most important feature. Creative expression is creative freedom. In choosing this format, Nxdia has chosen freedom, and through that freedom, they’ve found the truest way to connect with their community.
NXDIA ANNOUNCES FIRST EVER UK + EU HEADLINE TOUR FOR OCTOBER 2025
Amidst a riotous summer of hot, sweaty and jam-packed festival shows, alt-pop rising star Nxdia has shared details of their first ever UK and European headline tour set to take place in October 2025.
Following their debut headline show at London’s Camden Assembly on Valentine’s Day 2025 that sold out in just minutes, the I Promise I'm Watching Tour kicks off in Manchester on 15 October 2025.
‘Nothing at All’ features on Nxdia’s critically acclaimed debut mixtape I Promise No One’s Watching, which was released in June 2025. A raw self-portrait exploring Nxdia’s journey with identity and sexuality, the mixtape entered the Top 10 of Spotify’s Debut UK Albums Chart in the week of release.
