Nabihah Iqbal is a musician, writer and broadcaster from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. A former legal professional, she has studied at both

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

and

The University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. She first released music under the alias 'Throwing Shade' in 2013 whilst contributing vocals to

Sophie Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...

's early releases such as

Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using le ...

. She switched to her birth name for her debut album 'Weighing of the Heart'.

Early life

Iqbal was born to

British Pakistani British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...

parents in London near Regent's Park as the eldest of six siblings. Her brother Haseeb is a poet.

Career

She began developing musical projects while working as a human rights lawyer. Early releases under Throwing Shade landed her a show with

NTS Radio NTS Radio (also known as NTS Live or simply NTS) is an online radio station and media platform started in the Hackney area of London. The station was founded in April 2011 by Femi Adeyemi "for an international community of music lovers". NTS b ...

which she continues to this day where she grew her following with shows exploring music from across the globe. Her early style explored a mixture of experimental and more dancefloor oriented electronic styles including spoken word. Around the same time she began to contribute vocals to

(a close friend of hers) which after heavy manipulation, would go on to play a key role in early

Hyperpop Hyperpop is a loosely-defined music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early-to-mid 2010s. It is characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the genre ...

. In 2017 she switched to releasing under her birth name, so too her style switched towards guitar oriented vocal music. Her debut album 'Weighing of the Heart' was released by

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others. Inspired by a visit ...

to generally favourable reviews, drawing inspiration from

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

and Matthew Arnold. One particular review in

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Sea ...

was removed for racism for questioning why she didn't include more of her own heritage in her music, a question Nabihah noted would not have been asked to a white musician. More recently she has undertaken a residency at The BBC Asian Network. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, she was forced to lockdown in Pakistan whilst visiting her grandparents after her album was stolen by thieves. Whilst there she started a webseries documenting local plants.

Personal life

After 10 years together, Iqbal married British menswear designer Nicholas Daley on 20 August 2022.{{cite web , last1=Hess , first1=Liam , title=Nicholas Daley and Nabihah Iqbal’s London Wedding Was a Joyous Ode to Their Cultural Heritage , url=https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/nicholas-daley-nabihah-iqbal-wedding , website=Vogue , publisher=Condé Nast , access-date=9 October 2022 , ref=Vogue

References

1988 births Living people 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century English singers Alumni of the University of Cambridge English women in electronic music Desi musicians