There’s no cape or mask needed for this alias!

Featured

Sometimes stories just capture the imagination. That little bit of stardust. And that’s certainly the case with Rosemary Nwodoh. By day, she works behind the scenes of a busy east Kent hospital, but by night she becomes Chidimma (@chidimmaldn) - an emerging R&B and neo-soul artist.

There’s no cape or mask needed for this alias as she builds an authentic following through heartfelt songwriting and independently-released music.

At 26, the Medway-raised project manager represents a modern balancing act: public service and personal passion, spreadsheets and studio sessions, NHS meetings and late-night creativity.

Based in Canterbury with the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Rosemary helps it to “run more efficiently and save money”.

It is structured, purposeful work.

“I think it’s a way that I can still help people in some way,” she says. “Even though I’m not a doctor or a nurse, I know that I’m still working on projects that are helping people in the end.”

But to move forwards with this story, we have to go backwards.

For Rosemary, music was never a sudden discovery. It was always there.

“Music has been something that has been with me forever,” she says. “My dad was a DJ. My mum used to sing as well. I remember Smooth Operator by Sade constantly playing in our house. So it’s always been a musical household.”

That early immersion carried into her school years, where she sang in choirs and performed regularly at Rochester Grammar School. The pattern continued at university, where she joined a gospel choir and began to explore her own voice more seriously.

But it wasn’t until she left home for Scotland and the University of Aberdeen that music began to shift from background constant to possible career.

Choosing to study law, seeking, as she puts it, “an adventure… go somewhere new for a little while”, Rosemary’s academic path looked clear, but music began to be another pull.

“I started performing at open mics and started doing a bit of songwriting,” she says. A chance connection would prove pivotal: a fellow Medway creative, producer Samm Anga.

“Honestly, it was so random,” she laughs. “He went to school with one of my good friends… so she kind of put us in contact.” Despite growing up in the same area, they only met in Aberdeen, where their shared passion for music quickly clicked.

“He kind of forced me to get in the studio and record,” she says. “And yeah, that was the beginning of that actual… music-making.”

Their first recording session was far from glamorous. “It was like me and Sam in a practice room at uni, and he brought his mic, and then I had like a blanket over my head,” she says. “It was very student vibes.”

That session produced The Feels, a track written in 2018 but one that would not see the light of day for years.

CHANGING COURSE

Like many creative journeys, it can be shaped by hesitation as much as ambition.

“I was so nervous about putting music out,” she admits. “I didn’t put The Feels out until 2024 on my EP. I was really nervous, I guess, about how people would receive it.”

The Covid lockdowns, however, created both time and space for reflection. “While I was at uni, especially during lockdown, I had a lot of time on my hands to explore my creativity,” she says.

That period also prompted a major life decision. Despite nearing the end of her law degree, she realised it was not the future she wanted.

“I fell out of love with law,” she says simply.

The demands of a legal career clashed with her growing desire to pursue music. “I just… felt that if I went into a law career, that would not give me much time to commit to my music.”

Instead, she pivoted toward healthcare. Her family background made the transition feel natural. “My mum works in the NHS, and so did my dad,” she says. “So it was kind of something familiar.”

Crucially, it also gave her something law could not: time. “Their jobs still allow them to do what they want to do… they’re not taking work home with them.”

Then came the beginning of Chidimma.

“It’s my middle name,” she explains. “My family has always, always called me Chidimma. My friends all call me Chidimma… not many people actually call me Rosemary.”

That personal authenticity carries into her music - a blend of R&B and neo-soul rooted in emotion and introspection.

Her debut EP - Love, Chidimma - marked a turning point: a body of work that included songs years in the making finally released into the world.

As an independent artist, Chidimma handles every aspect of her music career herself, from recording logistics to distribution.

“I am an independent artist… so I’m responsible for all my own admin, uploading my music and things,” she says.

That hands-on approach paid off with her single Mystery, which has drawn significant attention online: “When I uploaded Mystery to Spotify… you can pitch for them to place your song in their editorial playlists, so I just wrote my little paragraph, sent it and, yeah, it got picked up by three Spotify playlists.”

The result was a surge in listens - more than 131k in fact. “That really helped me to widen my reach more than I probably would have without it - that was really a cool experience.”

She has already performed at venues in London and across the UK, steadily building experience and confidence.

If the past few years have been about finding her voice, the next may be about expanding it.

Chidimma is currently working on new material, with plans to release multiple singles and a music video in 2026. But perhaps the most significant development is a deeper exploration of her heritage.

“My family’s from Nigeria, so I’m kind of trying to integrate a little bit of my cultural music into my R&B soul sound,” she says. She has even given this emerging style a name: “I’m calling it… Igbo soul.”

It is a natural progression for an artist whose influences, including Cleo Sol and Solange, sit firmly within the neo-soul tradition but whose personal story spans cultures and continents.

From choir performances at Rochester Cathedral to makeshift recording sessions in Aberdeen, from law lectures to NHS project meetings, Nwodoh’s journey has been anything but linear.

For now, she continues to move between two worlds: one grounded in service, the other in self-expression. As for the story… the rest remains unwritten.