Ayyem (Adam Nessfield) is a UK artist from Loughborough (UK blending indie rap roots with EDM, pop and glitch-inspired production. Beginning his music journey at just 11 years old, Ayyem independently developed his sound through multiple mixtapes and EPs, gaining early traction within the UK underground scene. He achieved early recognition as a top 5 finalist out of over 1,000 entries in the Final Verse 2011 competition for Devlin’s “Teardrops,” judged by industry figures including Island Records A&R, Ben Scarr. He later received BBC Radio airplay at just 16 years old. Following a break from music, Ayyem now returns with a refined, genre-blending sound combining emotional storytelling with modern electronic production. With a new album in development, Ayyem’s comeback marks a new chapter in his artistic evolution. Check out the exclusive Interview below:
- Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music?
AYYEM:
Music for me personally became an internal escape from a very young age. I truly believe it can be one of the most therapeutic things for an overactive mind. It had the ability to calm my nervous system and gave me more focus in my day-to-day life. Eventually, music became not only therapy for me, but also an outlet for creative writing. It became the voice that people don’t always want to shout out loud, but still carry deep inside themselves. Even now, I’m still completely immersed in music every day of my life.
- Did your musical journey begin with formal training, or was it more of a personal exploration? How has that shaped your unique approach to your craft?
AYYEM:
My musical journey was definitely more personal exploration than formal training. I learned through experimentation, trial and error, and countless hours writing, recording, and mixing. I see myself more as a lyricist than a rapper. Music and the psychology behind art can hold some of the deepest meanings, and the beauty of storytelling is that it can remain just vague enough for people to connect it to their own experiences.
For me personally, music is never just passive listening. It’s about dissecting the emotion and story behind the sound from an artistic point of view and interpreting it in the most positive and meaningful way possible. I think that approach naturally gave me a more instinctive and emotional style creatively because I’m usually chasing a feeling rather than following strict technical rules.
- What do you believe sets your music apart? How would you describe your sound to someone discovering you for the first time, and what emotions or experiences do you hope to evoke in your listeners?
AYYEM:
What sets my sound apart is probably the intensity and emotional contrast within it. There’s always a mixture of emotional flavours embedded into the music, and my genre blend definitely comes from a unique perspective. I try to combine atmospheric and energetic sounds with lyrics that hold deeper emotional meaning underneath them.
I believe everybody has demons inside them that they’re trying to fight, even if they take different forms. For me, the right music can calm those darker sides, help people process conflict internally, and balance out emotions that are difficult to explain. I want listeners to feel understood, energised, and emotionally immersed all at once.
- For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as EDM?
AYYEM:
I absorbed inspiration from everything around me in my day-to-day life, including internal conflicts and confusion I experienced growing up. I’ve been making music for a long time now, but during my return to music I really began focusing on creating what genuinely felt right to me instead of trying to become what others expected to hear.
The album I’m currently working on contains a small piece of my authentic self in every track, all tied together through a larger storyline based around the past decade of my life. In earlier years I could easily tell you exactly who inspired me, but with this new project I’ve been looking inward more than outward and reflecting emotions and experiences that feel current and real to me now.
- Music often transcends entertainment. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
AYYEM:
Music can absolutely act as a cultural, emotional, and even spiritual outlet. Some songs are capable of expressing things people struggle to put into words normally. The power of a perfectly crafted song in the modern world is almost infinite.
I definitely bring spiritual energy into a lot of my own music. At the same time, I think many artists today are more weaponised than idolised because of the influence music can have on people and culture. Personally, I try to make sure my music has a positive impact on people’s lives and focus less on feeding negativity. For me, music is at its strongest when it genuinely makes somebody feel something meaningful.
- Do you feel the rewards of your musical career match the energy and passion you invest in it, or are there different kinds of fulfillment you’re still seeking?
AYYEM:
Music is really a love-hate game, and I only do it because I genuinely love it. I don’t create music for rewards or materialistic things. I’ve always believed that having peace and purpose means more than chasing status.
My newest album is probably the most authentic reflection of myself that I’ve ever created, and I don’t expect anything from it beyond honest connection. The most rewarding thing for me is knowing that people resonate with the music. Music itself has saved my life countless times, so if my work can help inspire someone through difficult moments, then I feel like I owe that back to the craft. The progress my recent releases have made has already gone far beyond anything I achieved in the past, and I’m genuinely proud of the music I’m making now.
- Can you walk us through your creative process? From the first spark of an idea to the finished track, what’s the most essential part of your process, and how do collaboration or external influences shape your work?
AYYEM:
My creative process usually starts with a mood or atmosphere first. Most of the time I already have a topic, emotion, or visual idea in mind that I feel strongly connected to. I try to tap into those moments as quickly as possible to capture the rawest version of the emotion before it fades.
If the subject is complex, I tend to break it down almost mathematically and focus on key emotional points throughout the storyline. If it’s more emotionally driven or inspirational, I usually work intensely in the moment until I can fully see the bigger picture. I build projects gradually over time when the feeling is right.
The most important thing for me is preserving the original emotion that sparked the idea in the first place and maintaining it like a moving picture throughout the entire track.
- What’s been the most challenging hurdle in either your personal life or music career, and how has it shaped you as an artist?
AYYEM:
The biggest challenge I’ve faced was losing my partner to cancer. She was only 27 years old, and by the time everything happened we were both emotionally and physically exhausted. It took a huge toll on me, and my time away from music ended up becoming much longer because of it.
At the same time, it also became one of the biggest driving forces in my life. Once I had taken the time to truly process and accept what had happened, I came back with a much deeper drive to push myself creatively and emotionally. It taught me how to turn pain into passion and helped me push beyond limits I once thought were impossible for me. That experience reshaped me not only as an artist, but as a person too.
- On the flip side, what moment or achievement in your career so far has made you feel the proudest, and why? And let’s talk about your latest release and future plans.
AYYEM:
One of the proudest moments for me has been reaching the point where my music genuinely feels like its own creative identity. My latest releases represent a completely new chapter sonically and emotionally. Tracks like “Don’t Let Go” marked the beginning of a larger comeback and a much more refined direction for the project overall.
My second release, “Echoes,” is planned for radio airplay across stations around the world over the coming months, and it will also be my first taste of entering the Euro indie charts. I don’t plan on slowing down with the momentum I’ve built so far. I spent a very long time planning this return during my years away from music, and I wouldn’t pick up a pen again unless I had complete confidence in the direction and vision behind these new projects.
- Do you think it is important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
AYYEM:
Music will always be subjective because we all experience life differently as individuals. The human condition itself is built around interpretation. Nobody will ever fully understand exactly how another person feels internally, and that’s why I encourage listeners to take their own meaning from my music if it inspires something positive within them.
If there’s ever a message I feel should never be lost in translation, I’ll usually write it very directly. But overall, I want my music to feel more like a moving picture than a collection of static releases. Everything I create is usually connected to a larger emotional storyline.
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