Naomi Sharon: Learning About OCD Taught Me Why I Can't Let Go

Naomi Sharon is an R&B singer-songwriter, the first woman signed to Drake's OVO Sound label, and the voice behind Obsidian — an album she wrote, she says, while stuck in a loop she didn't yet have a name for. Her new single is "No Sleep in Paradise," and it turns out to be a more accurate self-portrait than she realized when she wrote it.

This conversation starts with that song title and follows it somewhere much harder. Naomi opens up about ROCD (Relationship OCD) — a form of OCD rooted, for her, in her parents' divorce at 12, the lie she found out about, and the trust that cracked in a way that never fully sealed.

She describes what it actually does inside a relationship: the reassurance-seeking that exhausts even a loving partner, the rumination that colonizes every quiet moment, the specific experience of standing onstage mid-performance and suddenly being flooded with thoughts about whether he still loves her. And then the harder question underneath all of it — whether what she's feeling is her intuition or her fear, and what it costs not to be able to tell the difference.

This one is for anyone who has ever been told to just let it go and discovered that wasn't something they could do. Want to learn more about OCD?

International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) →⁠ Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) →⁠ National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) →⁠ Mental Health America (MHA) →⁠ Follow Naomi Sharon Instagram:⁠ YouTube:⁠ TikTok:⁠ No Sleep in Paradise:⁠ Want more LOVERS? Follow Shan on Instagram →⁠ Get a free weekly Love Letter from Shan →⁠ Join the Lovers Community →⁠ Explore free quizzes + worksheets →⁠ Advertising & Other Inquiries: team@ Learn more about your ad choices.

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