Get To Know: Halima

From London to Brooklyn, Halima is the genre-full musician that should be on everyone’s lips and her 11-track debut album SWEET TOOTH is a sentiment to that, as her raw but playful music intertwines Afro-Pop, fresh R&B, club bangers and deep meaningful ballads. Talking all things SWEET TOOTH, Halima's genuine passion for her craft radiated through the conversation, we sat down to discuss musical influences, reclaiming power, having a taste for sweet things and more.

“Mary J Blige was one of the first artists I downloaded onto my iPod shuffle”, when discussing the artists she grew up on Halima explained Mary J Blige was at the top of the list and insisted she’s one musician this generation need to know about, other artists included Destiny's Child, Missy Elliot, Misteeq, Ciara and more, these artists spoke life into Halima through their music and visuals, “Anytime I would watch TV when I was growing up I would always be like how do I that? How do I get there? Watching the artist I loved felt very aspirational”. 

Halima’s early music discovery allowed her to map out ideas of how to become a musician, “Once I learned it [music] was something I could do, I always thought to myself why would I do anything else?”. Determined and motivated, Halima’s childhood was already paving the way for stardom “Aged 4 or 5 I felt this illation during a dance rehearsal I had, it was just a feeling of pure joy. Later on aged 9 I performed at this summer fair, I wrote the song, I had a friend with me who played the trumpet and I was supported with some backing vocals. It was such a random assortment but I really enjoyed the process.” From that moment on Halima knew instantly that music was something she wanted to pursue.

Along with Halima’s exquisitely selected artists from the early 2000’s, her Nigerian heritage, Brooklyn base and London roots also play a huge part in artistry and self expression as an artist, “I’ve always found growing up in cities, the environment has always been so musical, in Lagos it’s colourful noise, in London there’s industrial noise and in New York, it’s just noise, each place just finds its way into the music because you’re documenting your life. I like to honour the sounds of the spaces I have been in”.  

The album includes three tasty hot singles that were already shared prior to the SWEET TOOTH release and they were “cocoa body,” club anthem “eau de vie” and the sensual sounding “november like u”. When it came down to the writing process of SWEET TOOTH, Halima shared that it was all slightly unintentional, but simultaneously all in good timing, as she approaches a new decade in her life, tackles unknown horizons and at the age of 28, Halima has taken this moment to take a look back at her twenties, “I wasn’t trying to write an album, I just had this collection of experiences that organically developed into stories this fragrant of stories. It’s an interesting time globally and I feel like this project will act as a marker and maybe bring some relief to the harshness of times we are in… it's something to get lost into, which is what I need right now”.

In a nutshell Halima describes this album as “something to get lost into”, as she closes one chapter and gets ready to enter a brand new one. The title track SWEET TOOTH is one of Halima’s personal favourites, a refreshing single that saw the singer face demanding challenges but still left her feeling well accomplished and proud, “Now that it’s complete and out there for the world to hear, I’m so proud of what came of that process, other songs came really quickly, like november like u for example. The tracks that I really battled with and allowed me to face certain things, I feel like that is the essence of the album”.

With an album title like SWEET TOOTH it only makes sense that Halima has an actual Sweet Tooth, her top selection of treats range from Haribos, Twizzlers and Portuguese Pasta De Nata’s, during our conversation she shared a very interesting fact around the topic, “Ever since I was a kid, I always loved sweet things and as I got older I began to look into it, later on discovering a study that stated people with a sweet tooth often have traits of a people pleaser, this was a revelation for me and without even realising the two topics had more similarities than I initially thought. The themes for my album were naturally born from this discovery”.

SWEET TOOTH has organically allowed Halima to regain her power when it comes to pleasing others and extending herself to people, “Sweet Tooth to me is about giving myself permission to be sweet”. In regards to reclaiming her power, Halima finds importance in staying grounded whether that's with positive self talk, affirmed notes on her wall or the 2023 set list of acclaimed singer Sampha, which is also pinned up in her bedroom. 

Halima’s dedication to not being defined by one genre is truly inspiring and SWEET TOOTH is a solid body of work that people need to take in, expect live shows, world tours, more music and confectionary inspired merch. 

A visionary, a creative and an empath, watch this space for Halima!

Watch Halima perform live at the Barbican on October 17th 

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/touching-bass-presents-halima-illnoledge