My response to Manchester based artist Nxdia, who moved the U.K as a child after being born and growing up initially in Egypt is a personal one, as my own mum Merlynne also spent part of her early childhood in Egypt.
My grandad Ken was based out there with the R.A.F, and I spent years being fixated with old black and white photographs of her sitting on a camel and living in a distant land. It seemed so unreal to me a kid who only knew our life in a small english rural town. Growing up, my living room had on display, golden artefacts which I used to clean for pocket money, and imagine they belonged to Egyptian gods or Cleopatra.
Egypt has always been a fantasy to me, so I can understand why Nxdia’s earliest memories of growing up in Cairo and living near to a cinema, are so important to her, but perhaps the bond we share here goes beyond heritage, but in using it to document, write down feelings and tell stories.
Pop music sometimes feels artificial, often because pop singers are not necessarily songwriters, they simply sing songs given to them. Something about Nxdia’s music makes me think about SIA, perhaps the theatrical press shot, the raw triumphant hooks. There’s an unashamed energy here with lyrics that feel like they could have been taken straight from the pages of a diary. She Likes A Boy is going to connect deeply with her audience, Vulnerability, self-awareness and frank emotions are the makings of a star.