Heart on Wax: Nippa on Growth, Relationship Grief and 'Hope She Hears This'
We sit down with North London R&B star Nippa to discuss his growth, heartbreak, Disney movies and the emotional gut punches behind his new project.
Cropped artwork for Nippa's Hope She Hears This EP. Image property of Spacebound.
It's clear that Nippa knows how to make a tune slap. Whether it was hip-hop-laced anthems fused with melody ("Situation", "Where They At") or R&B numbers built for functions ("Reverse", "F.N.F."), the Tottenham crooner carved a lane somewhere between hood elegance and heartbreak hesitation.
But with his nine-track serving Hope She Hears This, Nippa steps into full-tint romance. Less filtered, more exposed. The 24-year-old's city boy exterior still lingers—but these days, there's smoke in the air, strings in the background, and the ache of something (or someone) slipping away.
Gone are the Avirex leathers and hardened R&B posturing (for now, at least). On his latest EP cover, he's suave, with a cigar in hand, framed against warm vinyl static and inferred heartbreak. The girl's already walking out of the room. The music? Somewhere between make-up romance and emotional reckoning.
Hope She Hears This unravels emotional poetry, a reflective invitation into his rawest moments. "It's not about being perfect in the studio," Nippa says over Zoom on a sunny Friday afternoon. "It's about being real."
Nippa explains that when writing, his process starts with an emotion before creating a melody. "Sometimes I'll just have something on my chest," he utters, "and the lyrics come before the beat." This approach creates space for intimacy, allowing listeners to connect on a deeper level beyond the sound.
The authenticity of his emotions flows throughout the entire project, with each track offering emotional clarity that feels real and genuine. "Writing down thoughts, not necessarily for songs, but for myself—those lines end up becoming bars."
More than a passive collection of songs, Hope She Hears This builds a narrative, with the EP closer "One More" feeling like a retro 2011 Frank Ocean detour with its plucky beat and lyrical melancholy paired with Nippa's distinctly British tone. Then there's the chilling "1 Month in Toronto", which carries a sense of repentance, embodying the EP's overarching theme of tattered, lovelorn promises. As Nippa explains, "Every song on the EP offers a different perspective of me… the whole journey is about character development."
Nippa in 2025. Image via Press.
At its core, Hope She Hears This is a love story that's not simply about love. It's about how men react to heartbreak and the ways they try to avoid truly feeling it. The EP delves into the aftermath of heartache: the distractions, the denial, and the struggle to navigate loss.
"This rollout is basically a message," Nippa says. "I don't want it to be on some lover boy shit like I'm just singing to a girl. Like, what do you mandem do when they get heartbroken? You go [to a] shisha lounge, you do regrettable shit. Just to distract yourself from the fact it's time to face emotions." In discussing how men deal with heartbreak, Nippa offers a self-aware take that doesn't glorify escapism. Instead, he acknowledges it as a temporary veil.
When speaking with Nippa, the conversation didn't immediately jump into music. Instead, the focus shifted to what has been fuelling his creativity—what he's been watching, listening to, or reading. It's often in these outside mediums that artists find their more profound influences.
"Oh, damn," he laughs. "The last film I watched was The Lion King... not gonna lie, I'm not really into the live-action versions. You don't feel them the same way. But it came out on Disney+, so I thought, why not?"
I ask if anything he watches inspires his songwriting, and he pauses, thoughtful. "I've been watching Ozark... There's this scene where Wendy Bird cheats on her husband, and he finds out through these videos. It's raw, man. And I just thought, let's take that emotion, that kind of pain, and make something exciting out of it."
Nippa explains how journaling outside the studio was crucial in shaping the lyrics for Hope She Hears This. In creating this EP, he embraces a level of honesty that offers listeners a more vulnerable side, not as a confession, but as an open invitation into his life. "I used to overthink… but now it's just like, bro, I am who I am," he says, reflecting on that shift in mindset.
Despite Nippa's accolades for his music, he remains no stranger to the stress and nervousness that come with releasing new music. "I'm always stressed, man. Like, what if people hate it?" he admits candidly. "But I'm getting older, and now, I'm just like, this is my art. I'm sharing it. Whoever connects with it, connects with it. If you don't, that's calm too."
This shift in attitude mirrors his musical growth. Earlier tracks like "The One" and "Where They At" were a product of a different time, where Nippa was still honing his sound. "Those early songs, I was still finding my tone, my voice. I was making music for the end. But now, I just want to go deeper."
Nippa's conversation then pivots to the concept of closure. "Yeah, this [project] is all about closure. It's a closed chapter," he says. From start to finish, the EP unfolds with a clear growth arc. "Every song represents a different side of me," he explains.
“There are times when I feel insecure, other times I feel tough. Sometimes I’m just in awe of someone. It’s really... a story about how men feel.”
"Whether it's about music, relationships, or how I view myself. It's a journey." Though the title suggests a letter to someone, Nippa keeps it vague and resists over-explaining. "Who is she? I don't want it to be about that. I just hope she hears, innit." For Nippa, it's less about getting closure from someone else and more about finding peace within himself. That emotional growth is etched into every track—he's entered a new era of quiet confidence.
"This time I was confident enough to run how I wanted it to be," he says. "I completed the process, then showed people. If I resonated with it, and they didn't—it's staying on." For Nippa, the standout anthem is 'unfair': "That one's like... get back gang. It's like, yeah, you done me dirty, but I'm still on my shit. It's an F-you, but a cool one. I'm living."
That same confidence spills into how he sees himself beyond music. "This is my art, and I'm just sharing it with the world now... I was doing it before people were hearing it, and I'm gonna carry on doing it even if people hear it or not. I want people to feel like they know me. I want them to listen and think, 'Yeah, I understand this guy.' Not just vibe with the songs—but actually resonate with me."
It captures the complexity of being a young man today—confident one moment, uncertain the next, trying to make sense of love, identity, and everything in between, all channelled through R&B. "There are times when I feel insecure, other times I feel tough. Sometimes I'm just in awe of someone. It's really... a story about how men feel."
When asked what success looks like now, Nippa pauses: "I want people to look at this and say, 'Yeah, this was crafted well.' I want them to see the growth… not just in the music, but in me overall."
Stream Hope She Hears This below: