Music has been in Nina Lim’s life ever since she picked up a violin as a child. Going from the depths of classical academia into the throes of touring with Black Country, New Road for a few years, it certainly doesn’t look to be going anywhere anytime soon. But with her latest endeavour as Ninush, this is her first foray into songwriting and leading a project, putting a lifetime of performing and studying into something of her own creation. And it all came about simply to see if she could.

Of course, having been a student of music for most of her life meant Nina was primed to tackle this self-imposed challenge. Having spent her childhood learning her chosen instrument under her violinist godparents, she was able to go deep into her craft, which eventually led to her joining the National Youth Orchestra when she was a bit older. But this came at an eventual cost. Finding a severe performance anxiety taking hold after undertaking a degree, this was her life up until 2020 when she decided to do a master’s. However, when BCNR required a replacement for Georgia Ellery, she found a whole new world opening up.

“It was just supposed to be this one-year thing, I was going to take a year out of uni and go on tour with Black Country, New Road,” she remembers. “I was uhhmming and ahhing about it, because it was kind of like, if I do it, it might completely sabotage my classical career. And then one year turned into three years of touring with those guys.”

Fully embarking upon her solo ideas came about when her tenure with BCNR ended in 2023. “I was having a bit of a meltdown about what I was going to do in my life,” she admits. “I had to start my life from scratch.” As she was starting up a career as a freelance violinist, playing with the likes of Jockstrap and Geordie Greep, as well as arranging strings for Holly Humberstone and Little Simz, she found this new avenue calling to her. “Starting the project suddenly gave me a purpose and gave me a thing to think about all the time.”

“It wasn’t so much an itch, like I had to be an artist, but I just wanted to see if I was capable of writing a song,” she suggests. It was actually her time with BCNR that instigated this exploration, particularly during the fractious time in 2021 when ex-frontman Isaac Wood left. Here she saw how the rest of the band came together and stepped up into roles that weren’t previously theirs. “[Songwriting] was still a relatively new thing for them, and it gave me the confidence to be like, ‘Oh, my friends are really fearless, and they feel like they can just do it’,” she recalls. “‘Maybe I can give it a go?’”

Of course, being around the blooming and blossoming post-pandemic Brixton Windmill scene meant she was soon thrust into a collaborative, supportive environment, including living with one half of Jockstrap. For a green Nina, fresh out of the world of classical academia, this proved fruitful. “A lot of my friends doing music weren’t ever fussed about having to fit into a specific thing or genre,” she explains. “They were just taking inspiration from anything they were listening to, and that was really eye-opening for me.”

While Nina has a resounding background of classical music, when it comes to contemporary music, growing up, she was surrounded by the big pop choruses of 70s and 80s pop thanks to her mum (“It’s hard not to do that when I’m writing”). But it was scores for soundtracks that have inevitably wound their way into Nina’s DNA and informed her debut EP, ‘The Flowers I See In You’. From Disney classics to Tim Burton and Danny Elfman team-ups. “I love the rich tapestry of instruments that create a story without necessarily needing to see the visuals. I’ve sort of combined that with pop songs.”

‘The Flowers I See In You’ actually consists of the first songs Nina ever wrote. It’s a quaint collection of folky, twee cuts that are as exuberant as they are minimalist, save for maximalist closer ‘The End’. Initially toying around on piano alongside her producer partner, it was purely happenstance that they began to come together. “Oh, these are really nice. Maybe we should make a project out of it,” Nina recalls thinking. “But it was a very explorative thing; there wasn’t a direction.” However, she does admit she struggled when composing them, particularly on the lyrical front. “I don’t know if I’ve written lyrics that I would necessarily want to write, or I’d feel comfortable sharing,” she explains. “They were more of an intuitive thing that came first, and then I found it really hard to change them once I’d done them initially.”

Giving the project her childhood nickname tied together the idea of bringing out her inner child through such youthful experimentation, while keeping it close to home. It also meant she could hide behind it with a level of anonymity. “Another reason I didn’t want to use my real name was that I didn’t really want people to know,” she laughs. “I do think of the project as its own world, even though it is a reflection of me. It does give you a certain level of freedom.”

This also had a happy knock-on effect. Deciding to do her first solo show under the radar helped Nina on the road to rehabilitation from her performance anxiety. “The first gig I did was a support slot at the Windmill, and I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it, so there were maybe five people there, and it was absolutely fine,” she smiles. “From that, I was like, ‘Oh, maybe this is a good thing for me to do, and it’s gonna make me feel good about performing again’.”

With all of this satisfying the idea that yes, Nina Lim can indeed write songs, this has meant that she’s in good standing for whatever lies ahead. She’s happy with the sonic world she’s begun to conjure under her moniker, and says she’d like to expand upon it. “It was limited by the fact that there was no budget,” she laughs, “but I think that is definitely a nod to the direction I want to go in. I don’t think it’s completely crap!”

Now, with a record label, a team around her, and more ideas bubbling by the day, Nina’s belief in herself is more certain than ever. She’s overcome performance anxiety and discovered a whole new outlet she can voraciously focus on. “Having my own project has been a really new, exciting experience. It’s given me a lot of fulfilment,” she says. “It’s been so nice, even if nothing happens out of it.”

Reflecting upon how far she’s come since deciding to get creative, the difference is remarkable. “Starting out, I didn’t trust that my ideas were good enough, or that I’d be able to do them myself,” she admits. She’d often get people to try and execute them, but the results never quite achieved what Nina had in mind. These days, she’s more than happy to trust her gut and her abilities. “This is my thing, and I’m the only person who’s really going to understand it at the end of the day,” she shrugs.

It seems that if anything is to come out of Ninush, it’s a more relaxed environment for Nina to find a safe space in. “I’ve always enjoyed creativity, but I think going through the classical music education doesn’t really have space for that, to be honest, it’s very regimented,” she admits. “Making music in comparison feels like a whole different world. And it’s a lot less stressful!” Best of all is it’s a world of her own creation, set into motion when she first chose the violin all of those years ago, where it seems the sky’s the limit. ■

Taken from the March 2026 issue of Dork. Ninush’s EP ‘The Flowers I See You In’ is out now.