XIRA

Tamika Stanton, better known as XIRA (pronounced zeer-uh), has spent the last few years quietly becoming one of dance music's most recognisable voices. Her first dance feature, ‘Tokyo’ with 3LAU, arrived in 2019 and became the kind of breakthrough artists dream about. "I kinda got lucky and landed on my feet with that one," she says. More than 25 million streams later, that might be selling herself a little short. ‘Only For You’ with Nicky Romero, ‘One Last Dance’ with Audien, and ‘Eyes Off You’ with Polar Inc. helped establish XIRA as one of the genre's most sought-after vocalists and songwriters, with her voice finding audiences across radio, festivals and playlists around the globe. But while her career was taking off, life behind the scenes was becoming increasingly difficult. Years of IVF treatment, a divorce, the disruption of COVID, and ongoing health complications arrived in quick succession. There were periods where hospital stays became routine and performing became almost impossible. "I couldn't perform or do much of anything I used to do anymore because I was stuck in a hospital bed so often," she says. "Writing music became my saving grace." One of the songs that emerged from that chapter was ‘Feel’: a deeply personal track and, notably, her first release entirely under her own name rather than as a featured vocalist. Instead of trying to escape the pain, ‘Feel’ embraces it. Now healthier, happier and settled in East London, XIRA feels like she's stepping into a new chapter. One where she's no longer just the voice behind the hits, but the artist at the centre of her own story.