Nxdia is not interested in making heartbreak sound pretty. ‘Lovemesick‘, the Cairo-born, Manchester-raised alt-pop artist’s forthcoming four-track EP, arrives on 24th April as something more honest than that: a bilingual reckoning with loss, longing, and the ugly behaviors that follow when love falls apart. It is already one of the most anticipated independent releases of the UK spring.
Written in the aftermath of a real relationship breakdown, the project does not reach for resolution. Instead, it leans into the mess: the toxic cravings, the coping mechanisms that probably make things worse, the instincts that fire before the brain catches up. The tracks move between English and Arabic, the two languages Nxdia has always used to navigate the distance between worlds. It is the same bilingual fluency that drove their debut LP, ‘I Promise No One’s Watching‘, to surpass 100 million Spotify streams by August 2025, cementing their position as one of the most compelling independent voices in UK alt-pop.
“Lovemesick is a manifesto on how I see love,” Nxdia said, “dedicated to the fuck ups of my love life. It’s a collection of dark love songs with even darker endings, my way of raving through the whirlwind of heartbreak and the instinctual, human reactions to that sort of loss.”
A Season on the Road
The EP lands in the middle of a packed live schedule. Through April, Nxdia is supporting Cat Burns across a string of O2 venues, including Manchester’s Apollo and O2 Academy Brixton in London on the 19th. It is exactly the kind of room where Nxdia thrives: their live sets have been described as visceral and consuming, and their festival appearances at Reading, Leeds, and Lollapalooza Paris in 2025 confirmed that their energy translates at any scale.
Then in May, the project goes intimate. Three launch parties under the banner Lovemesick: Fever Run are set for Colours in London on the 3rd, Deaf Institute in Manchester on the 4th, and Rough Trade in Bristol on the 5th. The name signals exactly the kind of night it promises to be: hot, close, disorienting. Pre-sale tickets go on sale at 9am on Tuesday 14th April. General sale opens at 9am on Friday 19th April. Nxdia is also confirmed for Neighbourhood Weekender in Warrington on the 23rd May and Birmingham Pride on the 24th.
Why This Moment Matters
Nxdia has always written from the inside out. Born Nadia Ahmed in Heliopolis, Cairo in 2000, they moved to Manchester at eight, growing up between Umm Kulthum on the stereo and My Chemical Romance on their headphones. That particular collision has never left their music. On ‘Lovemesick’, it finds a new context: not identity, this time, but desire. Its destruction. Its aftermath.
With over 134 million cumulative Spotify streams, a sold-out debut headline tour, and features in DIY Magazine’s Class of 2026 and Kerrang!’s Sound of ’26, Nxdia arrives at this project with an audience who is ready to cry-dance alongside them. On social media, the artist has already described the EP as “a collection of dark lovesongs to cry-dance to.” That phrase lands. Right now, in a UK independent music scene hungry for emotional honesty and cultural specificity, ‘Lovemesick’ feels like the right record at exactly the right time.
