Nabihah Iqbal (born 22 April 1988) is a British musician, writer and broadcaster from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. A former legal professional, she has studied at both

SOAS The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) 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 area ...

and

The University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the ...

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

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". 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 * Soph ...

's early releases such as

Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored drink. There are many varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In some parts of the world, lemonade refers to an un-carbonated, traditionally, homemade drink, using lemon juice, water, and a sw ...

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

Early life

Iqbal was born to

British Pakistani British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are Britons or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakis ...

parents in London near Regent's Park as the eldest of six siblings. Her older brother Haseeb is a poet and her younger brother Shahir is a photographer.

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 a music radio platform which was founded in 2011 in Hackney, East London by Femi Adeyemi "for an international community of music lovers". NTS was built as a platform to celebrate the eclec ...

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 (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on p ...

. 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 independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

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 has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

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 S ...

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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Weighing of the Heart'' (2017) * ''Dreamer'' (2023)

EPs

* ''19 Jewels'' (2014) * ''Fate Xclusive'' (2015) * ''House of Silk'' (2016)

Singles

* "Mystic Places / Lights" (2013) * "Chancer" (2014) * "Something More" (2017) * "Eternal Passion / Zone 1 to 6000" (2017) * "Is This Where It Ends" (2020) * "Elvis" (2021) * "This World Couldn't See Us" (2023)

References

{{Authority control 1988 births Living people 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century English singers Alumni of the University of Cambridge English women in electronic music British musicians of Pakistani descent English people of Pakistani descent Alumni of SOAS University of London Desi musicians