Indian spice box: Winter warmth

Singer/songwriter

Carman, Manitoba

Country of Origin: Morocco

Named as one of Variety’s “Artists to watch for the 2022 Grammys,” Vogue’s “SThe tyle Stars of 2022 are set to make it an exciting year,” PEOPLE’s “Talented emerging artists making their mark on the musical landscape” and Entertainment Weekly’s “Artists to Watch by 2022,” Faouzia recently shared “RIP, love (Acoustic live),” a stripped-bare new version of her worldwide hit single, “Love, RIP,” available now at all DSPs and streaming services. Inspired by the Moroccan and Arabic music of Faouzia’s childhood, the original version of “RIP, Love” has proven a truly universal sensation, earning over 107M worldwide streams since its release earlier this year. Produced by T.I Jakke (Ava Max, Lady Gaga, RedOne) with additional production by Tor Eimon and co-written by T.I Jakke, Fransisca Hall (Lauren Spencer-Smith, Imagine Dragons, Illenium), and Faouzia, the track is joined by an official lyric video currently boasting over 48Mviews via YouTube. In addition, an official “RIP, Love” dance video has earned more than 5M views.

“RIP, Love” is among the many highpoints found on Faouzia’s acclaimed debut project, CITIZENSYou can stream and download the eight-song collection. The eight-song collection – which has been featured in over 1.8M TikTok creates, amassing more than 4B total views across the platform – also includes such international favourite as “Puppet,” “Anybody else,” “Thick and Thin,” and Faouzia & John Legend’s smash “Minefields,” the latter of which is accompanied by an official music video that has already earned over 132M views via YouTube.

CITIZENS was met with wide applause by media outlets, including Ones To Watch, which declared it “a crystallization of everything (Faouzia’s) worked toward…Over the course of eight moving tracks, the future star carves out an impressive emotional depth, largely carried by jaw-dropping vocal feats.” Faouzia is “the pop star of the future,” raved Consequence in an exclusive Track By Track feature interview, adding, “CITIZENS seems like it could be the first grand hello of an artist primed to make a splash in the 2020.”

Faouzia, with over 1.1B streams globally to date, has a combined reach of more than 11M followers. Faouzia is a rising artist who has a strong following on social media. She has more than 2M YouTube subscribers, over 2M Instagram followers, and over 3.4M Tik Tok users. With collaborations with John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta, and more, the landmark star has been praised in global publications spanning VOGUE, Harper’s Bazaar, PEOPLE, ELLE, Rolling Stone, Genius, Seventeen, Billboard, and Uproxx, to name but a few.

“My favourite thing is hearing that one of my songs helped someone feel motivated or empowered, or even helped them to have a good cry – which sometimes is all you need,” Faouzia says. “I really believe that immersing yourself in music can help you through the tough times in life, and I always hope that my songs can do that for everyone.”

Faouzia Ouhya was conceived in Casablanca, Morocco, on July 5, 2000. Her family moved to Canada about a year after her birth, and settled in Carman, a small rural community. She began taking piano lessons when she was five years old. Her parents instilled Moroccan traditions into her upbringing, teaching her Arabic and playing traditional music. They also made sure she wore traditional clothing on special occasions. She incorporates Moroccan sounds and trills into her songs today. These traditions are what inspire her as a musician.