Over the weekend, several artists took to the stage at Brighton Pride’s Pride On The Park mainstage, but for one singer in particular, the concert felt like a particularly humbling moment. After watching Mariah Carey and Ashnikko perform on Saturday (August 2), I return to Preston Park on Sunday (August 3) to watch viral sensation, Nxdia.
This is the second time I’ve watched Nxdia perform. The first time I sat with the Egyptian-Sudanese musician, six months ago, Nxdia was performing at their sold-out concert at the Camden Assembly to a crowd of 400 people. Since then, Nxdia has played packed-out stages at various festivals including The Great Escape, TRNSMT, Lollapalooza Paris and Bludfest.
Six months ago, their viral hit, She Likes A Boy, had been streamed 47 million times on Spotify, an already impressive number that has now grown to 63 million streams. Back in February, Nxdia had 95,000 followers on Instagram and 1 million on TikTok.
They are now followed by 113,000 people on Instagram and 1.2 million on TikTok. As I now sit down with the artist, post-Brighton Pride show, Nxdia reflects on this impressive and rapid growth.
“It’s crazy to me how different it was like a year ago, and I’m so f*****g humbled and so grateful for it,” the singer shares. They continue: “The relationship between me and my community hasn’t changed at all. I still come out afterwards, I’m still trying to talk to people and take pictures with people and just like, say thank you, because you give me energy in person, you’ve come through, you’ve made a plan and sometimes travelled from a different country to come see me.
“Why the f**k would I not say thank you? I’m very grateful, so I feel like I’m getting more confident. I feel like I know who I am a little bit more, but in reality, I don’t think I’m ever not going to feel really, really grateful.”
Nxdia graced the same main stage Mariah Carey did the previous night at Preston Park, delivering a mix of their new tunes from their I Promise No One’s watching album and some covers, including Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl. The crowd, predominantly queer and female, knew every single word of Nxdia’s repertoire and visibly shared a strong bond with the artist, who is known to engage both online and in person with their fans.
“I thought [the show] was incredibly fun,” Nxdia reveals, as they unpack their Brighton Pride performance. “I had the best time.”
They add: “With these kinds of festivals, you can never be like, ‘Oh, this amount of people will be there’, because you never know.
“[There are] different circumstances, it’s a rainy day today, all this stuff, but I couldn’t believe how many people showed up. I couldn’t believe how many people were singing along.”
Speaking up for those who don’t have a voice
After a busy summer touring across Europe, Nxdia says that while Yungblud’s Blud Fest in Milton Keynes was their favourite festival to perform at, it was Lollapalooza in Paris that left the deepest impression on them.
“I was like, this is insane,” Nxdia reveals. “I was actually like, ‘This is crazy, I can’t believe it.’”
As a longtime Stromae fan, Nxdia has a deep appreciation for the French language, something they can’t resist showing during our interview, speaking a few words in a perfect accent. And, as a bilingual artist, they felt a special connection with their French fans, especially hearing them sing along to their songs.
“People would be able to sing my songs, but then afterwards, some of them would be like, ‘Oh, sorry, [my English] is so bad and I’m like, ‘I’ve been listening to Stromae for, like a very long time, I can maybe get about 15% of the words right’,” Nxdia shares.
For Nxdia, the stage isn’t just a space to perform and share their art; it’s also a platform to make bold political statements. At their Brighton Pride show, in a ‘game’ of booing at a list of things they view as negative in life, two words sufficed to get the crowd particularly heated: “J.K. Rowling!”
The stance Nxdia, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, made against the Harry Potter author referenced J.K. Rowling’s widely criticised comments about transgender people that have fueled ongoing controversy and accusations of transphobia.
The Jennifer’s Body hitmaker has also previously used their show to express their solidarity with Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. Still, in a climate where artists like Kneecap and Bob Vylan have faced backlash and even censorship for speaking out, I can’t help but wonder whether Nxdia ever worries about how their outspokenness might impact their career.
“I think you have to live with yourself and I think if you know that there atrocities that you see every single day, and you are acutely aware of it, and you discuss within your communities wherever, and you’re not sure, because you can’t do enough research even though it’s there in front of you, it has been going on for so long, I just think it’s a bit pathetic,” Nxdia replies.
They continue: “It’s like, what do you stand for? Do you stand for sponsorships?
“Do you stand for like collaborations? Do you stand for people who you might not even share your morals wanting to work with you?
“Is that really the hill we want to die on? I don’t think it goes like that.
“I think you don’t know how much time you have here. You don’t know when you’d have to ask for help, and I think if you have basic empathy and you have a platform and you have the ability to speak on something, I think you just should.”
With the U.S. revoking Bob Vylan’s visas over “death to the IDF” chants and Kneecap dropped by their U.S. agent after controversial Coachella comments, I ask Nxdia if they’re afraid of facing similar consequences.
“I think these types of consequences are very scary, especially if you’re an independent artist,” Nxdia admits. “I know everyone’s situation is slightly different.”
They add: “However, I think the thing is, at the end of the day, the fewer people are doing it, the more those people are allowed to be targeted and then vilified and then the consequences fall on them. I think people are trying to make an example of certain people, and I think when that example is set, it obviously creates this reluctance from us getting involved or to fight it back because we don’t want to lose the opportunity that we have, especially when yo’ve worked your whole f—–g life and poured your whole heart into this and all your time.
“Lost friends, lost time, like lost Christmas, birthdays, whatever, doing this. I absolutely understand why you’d want to protect it.
“But, again, you don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future. You only know what’s happening right now, and I know people’s situations are different.
“However, if you have the opportunity, and you know yourself you have the opportunity and you chance to say it, say it. It’s not like people are on the other end who are pro-Palestine going, ‘Yo, you’re f—–g great for not saying anything’.”
“I think the internet’s a very kind of difficult place to exist in. I think it’s difficult to exist publicly.
“Public perception and public commentaries are at an all time high and it’s not very nice. But, that’s good, if there’s eyes on you, even if they’re shouting at you to change your mind, you’re at least speaking for people who can’t speak for themselves at the moment.”
Racism still exists
I’m curious how Nxdia feels about the common belief that artists should steer clear of politics. They reply: “When you are at a protest, you sing it.
“When you’re anywhere, you’re singing. If you can elicit all these emotions, why can’t it acknowledge and appreciate a privilege that so many of us live with which is not living in fear?”
Nxdia also doesn’t shy away from sharing personal experiences openly on social media. While reflecting on a recent trip to Prague for the Metronome festival, Nxdia shared that they faced racism online, but chose not to let it overshadow the kindness they received from locals.
“On one hand, I had the best time in Prague, and I went and I had dinner with my friends, everyone around me was super helpful,” they share. “The reality of it is when you go to these places, when you put yourself out there, actual locals, actual real-life people, they’re incredible and they’re so excited to meet other people in the same way that I’m so excited to meet people from different countries and in the same country, I just love people.”
They further state: “But, I couldn’t not acknowledge it [the racism] because I think there’s this rhetoric sometimes that Black people and or any marginalised group, don’t experience racism in a way, because we’re so evolved and we’re so past racism, and it’s not the case. Unfortunately, racism is very rife, and while I didn’t experience any of it in person, I went online, alll I saw were like hundreds of comments of these losers or teenagers or whatever, just being like, “Go back to your own country, as if I wasn’t there for literally less than 48 hours.”
The rising rockstar has also been honest about their struggle with ADHD. Nevertheless, they reveal that music is the one thing they can always lock into to cope with it.
“That’s the only thing I can focus on. I have fixations being in the studio, music work in that way,” they explain. Nxdia adds: “I think [ADHD] is probably understood the most in the music industry in a way.
“Part of me feels like neurodivergency and creativity are so aligned, and that’s not to say that like, neurotypical people can’t be creative, but I feel like I meet so many people who have autism, who have ADHD, and we talk and I just don’t have to explain anything.”
In June, Nxdia released their debut LP, I Promise No One’s Watching, a project that delves into themes of gender dysphoria, sexuality, and self-discovery through tracks like Boy Clothes and Body On Me. For first-time listeners, though, Nxdia suggests starting with one standout track: Boo, Nevermind.
“I just think hopefully it’ll make them feel good. That’s it, as long as it makes them feel good.”
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