You’ve got to hurt to heal. Through painfully honest self-reflection, Nadim Azzam addresses depression, addiction, and the dysfunctional realities of our times with his songs rooted in hope and connectivity. A singer, rapper, and songwriter who makes his own beats and plays multiple instruments on his tracks, Nadim has spent years evolving to where his music is at today.

Starting out young, he was writing songs and playing in bands for fun as a teenager, but extraordinary opportunities came his way while he was mid-bloom. When he was just 20, he was asked to come along as the opening act on Matisyahu’s 2016 US campus tour. With only a few years under his belt playing modest gigs, Nadim was now standing in front of crowds of hundreds, playing solo, and joining Matisyahu during his sets to throw down nightly freestyles. It was an abrupt acceleration into the big time, and when the tour was over, it was a lot to process. Nadim spent some time regrouping, realizing he wanted to take his still-developing songwriting further than the naive pop he was starting out with. Even though his early ideas had been validated by plenty of new fans, he knew he had further to go as an artist.

The hip-hop foundation that earlier songs were built on is still there, but the arrangements are more sophisticated and musically rich. A symbiosis of programmed drums and organic live instruments creates a warm, sometimes surreal sonic environment. Smooth keys, angular guitars, and lush synth pads swim alongside melodic vocal hooks and bars that waste no time getting straight to the heart of things. The energy is chill, friendly and open-hearted, but the songs open up from this unassuming approach into statements of vulnerability and bracing honesty. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is off-limits. Graceful vocals and smiling lyrical flows reveal a personal truth that’s sometimes almost hard to look at but always comes from a search for real understanding.

Making songs for the deep-thinkers, the over-drinkers, and other sensitive souls, Nadim faces his own struggles head-on in hopes of offering some sense of solace to anyone else walking similar valleys of their own. These songs seek to remind that there’s more to life, and that the pain any given individual feels can be transformed from a solitary torment into a vessel of connection.