| Faouzia | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Native Name: | فوزية أويحيى | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Native Name Lang: | Arabic | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Name: | Faouzia Ouihya | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 5 July 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Casablanca, Morocco | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Origin: | Carman, Manitoba, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years Active: | 2015–present | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Label: | Atlantic | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Module: |
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Faouzia Ouihya (Arabic: فوزية أويحيى, Arabic: Fawziya Uwīḥiya; born 5 July 2000), known mononymously as Faouzia, or as Yaya (mostly in China for her participation on the Chinese TV show Singer 2024), 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.[1]
Faouzia Ouihya was born in Casablanca, Morocco to Mustapha 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.[2] [3] She has two sisters: Samia (one of her managers) and Kenza (her photographer).[4] 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." 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. 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. 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.[5] She speaks fluent English, French, and Arabic; the latter being the one she mostly used with her family.[6]
At the age of fifteen, she won Song of the Year, the Audience Award, and Grand Prix at the 2015 La Chicane Électrique.[7] She began posting her songs and other covers on YouTube which led to a contract with Paradigm Talent Agency.[8] Thanks to her early success, she released her debut single "Knock on My Door" on 1 November through various platforms.[9]
In 2016, she won second place in the Canada's Walk of Fame Emerging Artist Mentorship Program.[10] In 2017, she was the recipient of the Grand Prize at the Nashville Unsigned Only music competition. 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.[11] [12] 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.[13] She performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at The Forks, Winnipeg celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada.[8]
Faouzia is featured in the song "Battle" on David Guetta's studio album 7, announced on 24 August 2018.[14] [15] 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.[16] 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."[17] At that time, she enrolled in the University of Manitoba, majoring in computer engineering.[18] 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.
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.[19] 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).[20] On 6 August, Faouzia released her first extended play, Stripped.[21] 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.[22] On 5 November 2020, Faouzia released the single "Minefields" alongside American singer-songwriter John Legend.[23]
On 21 March 2021, Faouzia released "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty" on YouTube. On 29 June, she released "Hero" accompanied by its video-game-themed music video.[24] In July, Faouzia revealed that she has been working on her debut studio album for a few years.[25] On 28 October, she released "Puppet".[26]
On 30 March 2022, announced her second EP, Citizens, and released "RIP, Love" as a single from the project.[27] Citizens was released on 19 May and features her previously released singles "Minefields", "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty", and "Puppet".[28] On 7 October, she released "Habibi (My Love)".[29]
On 14 April 2023, Faouzia released "I'm Blue",[30] which was previously released on YouTube on 30 August 2019. As part of a project titled Doll Summer,[31] she released the singles "Don't Call Me" and "Plastic Therapy" on 9 June,[32] followed by "La La La" on 4 August[33] and "IL0V3Y0U" on 8 September.[34] On 23 June, Faouzia and French DJ Martin Solveig released "Now or Never",[35] which serves as a single from Solveig's upcoming sixth studio album.[36]
She wrote on the track "Beg Forgiveness" from ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign) album Vultures 1, released on 10 February 2024.[37]
In 2024, she joined the ninth season of the Chinese singing competition Singer 2024 in which she was a fourth place winner overall.
Faouzia is a pop,[38] R&B,[39] synth-pop,[40] and acoustic pop[41] artist. She has described her music as "emotional" and "intense". 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."[18] 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-soprano vocal range that spans from C♯ 3 to G5 in mixed voice and A6 in whistle tones.[42] Faouzia sings mostly in English language, featuring Arabic tonalities in her vocals.[17] She has also performed in Arabic and in French language.[43] [44]
Faouzia cites her parents and sisters as her biggest influence in pursuing a music career. She grew up listening to pop musicians Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Sia, Adele, Kelly Clarkson,[45] and John Legend.[46] About Rihanna, she said "has always been an inspiration of mine growing up and still to this day."[47] Faouzia added that she, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Sia are her major influences as a songwriter.[48] She told that "Say Something" by A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera and "Hello" by Adele are some of her favourite songs. At a young age she listened alongside her parents to Arab music acts such as Umm Kulthum and Fairuz.[18] Faouzia declared they "are two of my all-time favourite artists."[17] She also listened to Assala Nasri and Khaled.[49] When she was learning music she listened to composers Chopin, Bach, and Mozart.[18] Pop rock bands Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons have also served as influences for her,[18] and she attended one of the latter's concerts.[50]
| Title | EP Details | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripped |
| Track list
| |
| Citizens |
| Track list
|
| Year | Peak position | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Dig. [51] | CAN CHR [52] | CAN AC [53] | BEL (Wa) [54] | FRA [55] | LBN [56] | MLY [57] | SGP [58] | ||||
| "Knock on My Door" | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="3" | |
| "My Heart's Grave" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Closed Door" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Bad Dreams (Stripped)" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Stripped | |
| "This Mountain" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="5" | ||
| "Exothermic (Piano Version)" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Born Without a Heart" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "You Don't Even Know Me" | — | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Tears of Gold" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Tears of Gold (Stripped)" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Stripped | |
| "The Road" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="4" | ||
| "Wake Me When It's Over" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Secrets" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "How It All Works Out" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "How It All Works Out (Stripped)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Stripped | ||
| "Minefields" | 45 | — | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | Citizens | ||
| "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Hero" | — | 21 | 34 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Puppet" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Citizens | ||
| "RIP, Love" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | 17 | 27 | ||
| "Thick and Thin" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Anybody Else" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "SoLie" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "I Know" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Habibi (My Love)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="4" | ||
| "I'm Blue" | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Don't Call Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Plastic Therapy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Now or Never" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Back to Life | ||
| "La La La" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="2" | ||
| "IL0V3Y0U" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Fur Elise" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="4" | |
| "Fur Elise (Live Performance)" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "What a Woman" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Ice" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||
Notes
| Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|
| "I Dare You (Arabic: كنتحداك|nocat=y)" (Kelly Clarkson feat. Faouzia) | 2020 | rowspan="2" |
| "On My Way" (Sidepiece feat. Faouzia) | 2023 |
| Year | Peak positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Digital | FRA | SWI [59] | US Dance [60] | ||||
| "Battle" (David Guetta feat. Faouzia) | 2018 | 38 | — | 80 | 26 | 7 | |
| "Money" (Ninho feat. Faouzia) | 2019 | — | 12 | — | — | Destin | |
| "I Fly" (Galantis feat. Faouzia) | 2020 | — | — | — | 29 | Scoob! The Album | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||
| Year | Other artist(s) | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Battle" | 2018 | 7 | ||
| "Money" | 2019 | Destin | ||
| "I Fly" | 2020 | Scoob! The Album |
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Director(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| As lead artist | ||||
| "My Heart's Grave" | 2017 | Faouzia | Chaz | |
| "Bad Dreams (Stripped)" | 2018 | |||
| "This Mountain" | ||||
| "Exothermic (Piano Version)" | 2019 | |||
| "Born Without A Heart (Stripped)" | ||||
| "I'm Blue" | ||||
| "You Don't Even Know Me" | ||||
| "You Don't Even Know Me (Stripped)" | ||||
| "Tears Of Gold" | ||||
| "Tears Of Gold (Stripped)" | 2020 | |||
| "This Road" | ||||
| "Wake Me When It's Over" | ||||
| "Secrets" | ||||
| "How It All Works Out" | ||||
| "How It All Works Out (Stripped)" | ||||
| "100 Band-Aids (Stripped)" | ||||
| "Born Without A Heart" | ||||
| "Minefields" | Faouzia & John Legend | |||
| "Minefields" | 2021 | Kyle Cogan | ||
| "Don't Tell Me I'm Pretty" | Faouzia | |||
| "Hero" | Ariel Michelle | |||
| "Puppet" | ||||
| "Puppet" | 2022 | Kyle Cogan | ||
| "Now or Never" | 2023 | Faouzia & Martin Solveig | Emile Moutaud | |
| "La La La" | Faouzia | |||
| "IL0V3Y0U" | ||||
| "Fur Elise" | 2024 | |||
| "Fur Elise (Live Performance)" | Omar G. Joseph DeSantis | |||
| "Ice" | Nosaj | |||