See How Nardia Reignites Her Spirit in “Is It You”

Nardia doesn’t just sing soul — she lives it. On her latest single “Is It You,” the Melbourne-based artist delivers a masterclass in restraint, ache, and slow-burning intensity. It’s a track that unfolds like a memory you can’t quite place — one part confession, one part hallucination, and all heart.

Built on minimalist production, the song feels intentionally unfinished — like a conversation cut short. That’s the point. It’s about potential, not permanence. Nardia leans into the unspoken, her vocals trembling on the edge of a question she might be too afraid to ask out loud: Could this be real, or is it just something I imagined?

She doesn’t resolve the tension. She swims in it.

But “Is It You” is more than a single — it’s a signal flare. With an upcoming album recorded between Nashville and Memphis, Nardia is stepping into the lineage of soul royalty not as a visitor, but as an inheritor. She’s absorbed the grit of Stax, the elegance of Motown, the songwriting rigor of Music Row — and she’s filtering it all through her own distinctly Australian lens.

What sets Nardia apart isn’t just her range or technical skill (both formidable), but her emotional fearlessness. She’s not afraid to be broken, not afraid to show where the seams are. She sings like someone who’s survived herself. That’s what makes her dangerous.

The video for “Is It You” — shot in a neon-lit diner suspended somewhere between now and never — adds another layer of surreal longing. It feels like a scene from a love story that was never fully written, starring a woman who can’t decide if she’s remembering or dreaming. In that ambiguity, there’s magic.

If the soul genre has long been defined by its American roots, Nardia is proving that its reach is far greater. Soul, after all, isn’t geographic. It’s emotional. And what she’s doing — writing from wounds, singing from scars, and refusing to sanitize the mess — is as soulful as it gets.

Nardia doesn’t need to compete with the greats. She’s walking alongside them now.