Faouzia Ouihya (Arabic: فوزية أويحيى, Fawziya Uwīḥiya; born 5 July 2000), known mononymously as Faouzia, is a Moroccan-Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Morocco, she moved with her family to Canada at a young age. During that time she learned how to play various instruments, and began composing her first songs. She released several singles and collaborated with many musicians on vocals and songwriting prior to releasing her debut extended play (EP), Stripped, in August 2020. In 2023, she was nominated and was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.[2]
Life and career
2000–2014: Early life
Faouzia Ouihya was born in Casablanca, Morocco to Mohammed Ouihya and Bouchra Alaoui. She moved with her family at the age of one to Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Manitoba in Canada, before settling in the rural town of Carman, Manitoba.[3][4] She has two sisters: Samia (one of her managers) and Kenza (her photographer).[5] She was raised Muslim and often traveled to her native country. Faouzia said she feels "very connected to the country and the region [North Africa]. Even though I grew up in Canada, I grew up eating Moroccan food, [and] wearing Moroccan attire."[6] In an interview she revealed she felt excluded as a child, saying "maybe not just fitting in is the biggest thing I've had to overcome". Her first composition was inspired by this feeling of exclusion, in which she embraced people's differences.[4] Her passion for music began at the age of four when she watched her sister Samia playing the piano, wishing she could learn how to play it.[7] Faouzia began writing songs and poems when she was five years old and playing piano at the age of six. She later studied how to play guitar and violin.[8] She speaks fluent English, French, and Arabic;[4] the latter being the one she mostly used with her family.[9]
2015–2019: Career beginnings
At the age of fifteen, she won Song of the Year, the Audience Award, and Grand Prix at the 2015 La Chicane Électrique.[10] She began posting her songs and other covers on YouTube which led to a contract with Paradigm Talent Agency.[11][4] Thanks to her early success, she released her debut single "Knock on My Door" on 1 November through various platforms.[12]
In 2016, she won second place in the Canada's Walk of FameEmerging Artist Mentorship Program.[13] In 2017, she was the recipient of the Grand Prize at the Nashville Unsigned Onlymusic competition.[4] The same year, she collaborated with fellow Manitoban artist Matt Epp on their single "The Sound", and won the International Songwriting Competition, the largest songwriting competition in the world.[14][15] The two are the first Canadians in competition's 16-year history to win the top prize, beating 16,000 other entries from 137 countries.[15][16] She performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at The Forks, Winnipeg celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada.[11]
Faouzia is featured in the song "Battle" on David Guetta's studio album 7, announced on 24 August 2018.[17][18] In a French language interview with Le Matin, Guetta noted Faouzia's "great voice, powerful vibrato, and unique style" for why he chose her for his album.[19] Faouzia recalled she "was still in high school when I heard the news that there was a possibility of me working with him", and affirmed it was "one of my proudest career moments, so far."[6] At that time, she enrolled in the University of Manitoba, majoring in computer engineering.[20] She also featured in the song "Money" on French rapper Ninho's studio album Destin and the song got certified gold on 9 July 2019.
2020–present: Stripped and Citizens
In early 2020, Faouzia was invited by Kelly Clarkson to translate her song "I Dare You" to Moroccan Arabic, which was released on 16 April.[21] About a month later, the Swedish EDM duo Galantis invited her to feature in their song "I Fly" for the soundtrack of the film Scoob! (2020).[22] On 6 August, Faouzia released her first extended play, Stripped.[23] It features 6 stripped songs, 5 of which were previously released, and one of which, "100 Bandaids", is a new track. To promote the EP, she performed the tracks live in a concert at the Burton Cummings Theatre on 20 August.[24] On 5 November 2020, Faouzia released the single "Minefields" alongside American singer-songwriter John Legend.[25]
On 21 March 2021, Faouzia released "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty" on YouTube.[26] On 29 June, she released "Hero" accompanied by its video-game-themed music video.[27] In July, Faouzia revealed that she has been working on her debut studio album for a few years.[28] On 28 October, she released "Puppet".[29]
On 30 March 2022, announced her second EP, Citizens, and released "RIP, Love" as a single from the project.[30]Citizens was released on 19 May and features her previously released singles "Minefields", "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty", and "Puppet".[31] On 7 October, she released "Habibi (My Love)".[32]
On 14 April 2023, Faouzia released "I'm Blue",[33] which was previously released on YouTube on 30 August 2019.[34] As part of a project titled Doll Summer,[35] she released the singles "Don't Call Me" and "Plastic Therapy" on 9 June,[36] followed by "La La La" on 4 August[37] and "IL0V3Y0U" on 8 September.[38] On 23 June, Faouzia and French DJ Martin Solveig released "Now or Never",[39] which serves as a single from Solveig's upcoming sixth studio album.[40]
Faouzia is a pop,[42]R&B,[43]synth-pop,[44] and acoustic pop[45] artist. She has described her music as "emotional" and "intense".[46] Her early songwriting was heavily inspired by people she was close to. However, her later songs were more personal since she "really wanted my heart in my story."[20] Gloria Morey noted that her music has "the musical elements of upbeat pop songs which often contain quite shallow lyrics, but Faouzia’s lyrics are very meaningful and, well, the opposite of shallow.” Faouzia possesses a potential coloratura mezzo-sopranovocal range that spans from C♯ 3 to G♯5 in mixed voice and A6 in whistle tones.[47] Faouzia sings mostly in English language, featuring Arabic tonalities in her vocals.[6] She has also performed in Arabic and in French language.[48][49]
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Notes
^"Minefields" did not enter the Ultratop 50, but reached number 44 on the Walloon Ultratip chart, which ranks songs that have not yet reached the Ultratop 50.[62]
As featured artist
List of singles as featured artist, showing year released and album name
