Faouzia

Born in Casablanca and raised in Canada, Faouzia Ouihya, who performs as Faouzia, trained classically on piano before establishing herself as a singer and songwriter whose commanding vocal range shapes a vivid blend of R&B and Arabic-inflected pop. Early guest appearances alongside David Guetta, Ninho, and Kelly Clarkson generated initial attention, after which she stepped forward as a headliner through the 2020 Stripped EP and the 2022 Citizens EP, whose tracklist included the John Legend duet “Minefields.”

Her parents relocated the family from Casablanca to Manitoba when she was one year old in pursuit of stronger schooling. At six she began an eleven-year course of piano instruction and simultaneously mastered the violin. While growing up in Canada she remained steeped in Arabic music, regularly listening to Fnaire, Cheb Khaled, and Umm Kulthum in addition to Adele and Beyoncé, and she achieved fluency in French and a regional Arabic dialect.

After receiving praise for her voice she posted vocal performances online. By fifteen she had collected three prizes at the regional La Chicane électrique contest for both songwriting and singing. The next year she and Matt Epp became the first Canadians to win the International Songwriting Competition with their submission “The Sound.” In September 2017 she launched a steady series of independent singles beginning with “My Heart’s Grave,” meanwhile contributing vocals and writing to David Guetta’s “The Battle” from the 2018 album 7 and appearing on Ninho’s French chart-topping Destin that same year. Further solo releases followed in 2019 and early 2020, and she joined Kelly Clarkson on the single “I Dare You” while still nineteen and enrolled in computer engineering at the University of Manitoba.

Atlantic Records signed her, and after the Galantis collaboration “I Fly” appeared on the Scoob! soundtrack she issued her first major-label solo single, “How It All Works Out,” in July 2020. One month later came her debut EP Stripped, a set of intimate, piano-driven reinterpretations that paid tribute to her idol Adele through emotionally direct singing over spare arrangements. Later that year the John Legend duet “Minefields” reached both the Canadian and French pop charts and later anchored her second EP, Citizens, released in 2022.