Written By Oscar Yards

Artist Spotlight #002: Faouzia 

Who the @#$% Is Faouzia?

In 2019 I finally rejoined TikTok having grown up during the Musical.ly era and somehow my account was still functional, though the app I remembered had changed drastically. Evolving from a relatively juvenile app for posting dances and bizarre lip-sync videos to something much bigger, something matured and curated. It was then that I discovered Faouzia.

Posting videos in empty parking lots and acoustic staircases I can vividly remember the first video of hers I ever saw, an impressive rendition of Beyoncé's Countdown. Banging the wall like a metronome, she embarrassed the scales by gliding right through them in an effortless belt.

Who is this woman? I thought. 

The answer? A Moroccan-Canadian singer-songwriter with a voice that just makes you stop.  It wasn't just Faouzia's range, lots of great singers have range. There was something more athletic about her precision. Massive belts that collapse into detailed and intricate runs, a lower register with fascinating weight and a voice that was much bigger than anything I've ever heard to date, it was absurd it was even coming through an iPhone speaker.

So... I followed. And I've kept following.

Her voice was first

What makes writing about Faouzia right now interesting is that it would be wrong to pretend I absolutely adored all of her music she had released back then, because actually I didn't. 

Not to be misunderstood, there were songs I loved, songs I listened to a lot and enough to consistently land her relatively high up on my Apple Music Replay for 2019, 20', 21' and now 25' and 26' which we'll get on to. Tears Of Gold, is a masterpiece in amongst her releases, so is Bad Dreams, but in truth, for a long time, my fascination with Faouzia the vocalist was much larger than my fascination with Faouzia the recording artist.

Her voice was undeniable even when the music underneath it then sometimes wasn't.

Her earlier releases often felt as though she was trying to find songs big enough to accommodate her voice. Her recent work is more like Faouzia has finally found a musical world big enough to accommodate her artistry. Her older releases often times were designed around what seems like the no brainer... look what this woman can do with her voice. Climatic belts and vocal twists are impressive and in Faouzia's case much more so, because even very talented singers probably could not recreate it.

But having extraordinary vocal talent creates its own problems, when being impressed isn't enough and the ballads are starting to sound irrefutably similar. You start to wonder, what is missing?

In fact, thats why I never stopped following her.

Even though I wasn't captivated by every release, even when I didn't fall in love with a record there was something to find in all of her music. Songs like Exothermic, My Hearts Grave, and, You Don't Even Know Me sound similar sonically and even melodically and in most cases there was no risk. This Mountain and The Road even to this day are almost indistinguishable. None bad songs by any means, they all support a fantastic vocal performance but it felt like Faouzia's weakness was rooted in the music itself, her writing was okay but it was repetitive and even more worryingly the production was lacklustre and weak. It wasn't until late 2019 onwards her music began to shift.

Moving away from what felt like self produced or low budget production into music with distinguished production and more musical diversity. Tears Of Gold, Secrets and How It All Works Out mark a turning point in Faouzia's career. The sound of the records transformed Faouzia into a clean and sparkly pop persona which although was a step up from what came previously there was an element of disappointment I remember feeling, thinking that even still it felt like a waste of such talent. Especially when there are glimpses of fantastic and clever songwriting and melodic composition that were being neglected.

Something, I have always appreciated about Faouzia is her commitment and honour to her heritage, throughout her entire musical journey her strengths have been creating flawless melodies and weaving her heritage through her songs. Her use of the Arabic scales and traditional Arabic sounds in her discography never changed and it is clear that through the weak parts of her career she has understood her core draw and its her confidence to express herself.

Finding Faouzia

When Faouzia signed to Atlantic Records, truthfully, not much immediately changed. The resources surrounding the music may have grown, but artistically she still seemed caught between different versions of herself. There were polished, sparkly pop records and increasingly expensive-sounding releases and before Faouzia she would eventually part ways with her label she released the confusing project 'Citizens', supposedly acting as a debut album its a relatively confused and short introduction to the formula Faouzia will soon master. A project with very few great songs, the ones that stand out compliment her voice and embody writing far greater than her previous work. Still, the album feels hollow, it feels manufactured and lacks identity. Minefields which is a highlight not only on the album but in her entire discography does a lot of heavy lifting in the project but it stands out for a reason, it feels categorically Faouzia and contains production that for the first time isn't afraid of her impressive performances.

But I still found myself waiting for the music to reveal something distinctive or at least as the voice singing it.

And out of nowhere, briefly it did.

RIP, Love felt like a glimpse into an entirely different Faouzia. Darker, dramatic and leaning far more confidently into the Arabic musical influences that have always existed somewhere within her work, it took characteristics that previously felt like flashes of personality and dragged them directly into the centre of the record but felt out of place on the Citizens project. HABIBI (MY LOVE) pushed further into that world.

It felt like the things that made Faouzia distinct finally weren't being treated like decoration.

There was a moment in time where she demonstrated what I thought all along; her heritage, her instinct for the Arabic scales and melodies, the theatre of her voice and the darkness that naturally accompanies her vocals twisted onto a great pop melody... really, could exist all together. and for the first time I had the answer to the question i had since discovering her. What happens when the music that surrounds Faouzia is as distinctive as her.

I truly locked in and put Faouzia stone cold onto my radar to watch her next move to hear her releases immediately as they come out, it really started to feel like her foot was landing in the right place. Then, out of no where she turned completely around.

"Doll Summer" was born, a gacha inspired era with the sickliest and nauseating dance, EDM and bubblegum pop records to be born of it, Don't call me, La La La and IL0V3Y0U were dropped alongside the bizarrely branded cartoon artwork that felt entirely out of place in her creative evolution. The songs had promise; great melodies and polished production and there is nothing wrong with a gacha style era but there is the problem that RIP, Love had offered such an exciting glimpse into something culturally and musically distinctive, Doll Summer felt like a sudden and disappointing retreat.

The songs were glossy but strangely anonymous. The production felt small once again and Faouzia more than ever seemed bigger than the records she was vocalising inside. It created a frustrating contradiction, an artist whose voice could make anything impressive, yet the same ability seemed to hide how little some of the music was asking of her creatively. 'Dull Summer' could showcase the vocalist Faouzia and the pop star Faouzia and even Faouzia the gacha idol, but I couldn't find any of the artist Faouzia within it.

In a way, that's why the journey since has been so satisfying and rewarding,

Because the answer was never for Faouzia to abandon pop, or to make every record an explicit call back to her Arabic influences. She never needed to choose one part of herself at all. What she really needed was collaborators who understood how to make them coexist.  

WHEN THE MUSIC CAUGHT UP

Faouzia's last few releases while signed to Atlantic are really what solidify Faouzia as a fantastic artist and she seems to settle into a sound that is much better suited for her voice and writing. Für Elise, a brilliantly written song which features beautiful instrumentation and a genius interpolation of the classic song of the same name. The melody stands out still as one of her most precise and well crafted creations and the production for the first time exists in and around her voice not just layered beneath her and confusing the song. Ice, however is what really stands out to me as the production and visual identity of the song steps up it sets Faouzia up on the dark pop route. Where production isn't afraid to compete with her voice, though, there's no competition really. The production becomes theatrical and her vocals in that theatre environment are allowed to be strange and cinematic. 

The best collaborations don't dilute what makes an artist unusual they are meant to recognise it and throw ideas back, and honouring the sound of an artists voice. Faouzia's recent music increasingly sounds like the product of people understanding that they don't need to tame the enormous thing sitting in the middle of the record and can make everything else, just as enormous. 

Earlier Faouzia could sometimes feel like an exceptional singer looking for songs capable of containing her. Now it increasingly feels like she's found a musical world large enough to contain herself and now that has finally happened, the artist I followed years ago has just become a world more interesting.

SIX YEARS LATER

There's something quite bizarre about watching the rest of the internet discover someone you've quietly been listening to for six years.

The same artist I remember watching sing into a phone in empty staircases is now touring internationally, creating viral performances enough to reach audiences on a completely different scale this time, they're not only discovering her voice but they will be discovering music that fits Faouzia.

Having followed Faouzia from the early TikTok era, through years of releases, seeing her live in London felt like watching all those disparate pieces finally exist in the same place. The technical ability that initially made me stop scrolling was still there, except an iPhone and an empty staircase had been replaced by a stage, an audience and songs that felt capable of matching her ambition, and she was fantastic.

Because despite everything that has changed, seeing Faouzia live reminded me of the slightly ridiculous thing that started all of this in the first place:

she can actually sing like that.

But now there is something much more important surrounding it.

An artistic identity.

"Film Noir", the album, is where all of those versions of Faouzia finally seem to have found a way to exist in the sonic environment.

The vocalist is still there, and on tracks where the production gives her space to stretch, the sheer technical ability that first made me stop scrolling hasn't disappeared and if anything, it feels so much more purposeful. The belts, the runs and the weight in her lower register aren't just there to remind you that she can do them. They're apart of the drama of the songs themselves.

But perhaps more importantly, Film Noir doesn't ask Faouzia to be one thing. The artist who can move between languages, draw from her heritage and still write an enormous pop melody is finally allowed to do all of it without those elements feeling separated into different “eras” or musical identities.

The writing has caught up too. Where some earlier material occasionally felt like it relied on familiar heartbreak imagery and broad emotional statements, there is more character here. More detail. More darkness. There's a willingness to let a line be strange rather than immediately sanding it down into the most obvious variation of itself.

That's what makes the project feel so complete. Film Noir  isn't Faouzia abandoning the pop music she spent years making. It sounds like she's finally figured out what her version of pop is.

The Art of Film Noir

Faouzia's writing throughout Film Noir seems increasingly comfortable with embellishing in its own bizarreness. On Weirdo, she can write something as uncomfortable as “sometimes I wish I could peel off my skin”, a line that doesn't soften the feeling into something easier to digest. It's a bizarre image but sometimes an ordinary lyric isn't enough to explain a feeling.

That same strange instinct appears again in Ornament. “Are you some freak of nature? / Are your lungs made of paper?” an unusual way of approaching its subject, but that's exactly what makes it memorable. The writing isn't strange for the sake of it. Ornament has something important to say, and Faouzia is increasingly willing to find unusual language to say it.

It's a confidence that was completely absence in some of her earlier writing.

Then there is Tous Ces Mots, which almost goes in the opposite direction.

Rather than overwhelming with detail, the song relies on remarkably few words. Faouzia doesn't stop to translate it for the English-speakers either. Instead, the melody and production are allowed to communicate what language can't quite manage.

And that feels important.

There is something almost spiritual about not understanding every word. The emotion is so detached from translation and exists instead in the way she sings it. The melody she chooses and the space surrounding her voice. As though the pain is so specific or perhaps so overwhelming that there isn't an English equivalent capable of explaining it anyway.

You don't need the translation to understand that something hurts.

And then there is Unethical.

It's beautiful, genuinely beautiful. There is a reason people have connected with it so strongly. The songwriting is emotionally direct and by no means simplistic. After spending years watching Faouzia's voice threaten to overshadow the music around it, Unethical is one of the tracks where everything is finally working together. The voice is extraordinary,, but the song would still hurt without it.

But Film Noir isn't afraid of pop either.

The deluxe tracks offer a more immediate, mainstream sound while crucially, they don't abandon the darkness that makes the project feel like itself. Instead, that darkness becomes part of the aftertaste.

We'll Have a Family Someday might be the best example.

On first listen, it's a catfish. Upbeat, driven by infectious drums and built around an unbelievably catchy chorus, it has all the ingredients of a pop song dying to get stuck in your head for days, but then you actually listen to what she's saying.

The darkness slowly reveals itself underneath the hook, turning the song into words tangled up in mental health and grief. “You never really go away, so might as well have something planned” is devastating precisely because of how casually it lands within something so addictive.

That's what I find most exciting about Faouzia now.

She hasn't become less of a pop artist in order to become more interesting, she's become a better pop artist because she's allowing the darkness, the theatricality, the multilingualism, the bizarre imagery and her phenomenal voice to exist within the same songs.

For years, different versions of Faouzia seemed to take turns and on Film Noir, they're all talking to each other.

At her tour she even performed some of the old music I liked but didn't love and giving them a home inside a cinematic and huge tour like "Film Noir" and letting the nostalgia songs exist stripped back reminded me that Faouzia was always musically talented and her penmanship was always present but now she's found a sound and a sonic identity those early tracks sound much sweeter and intentional. 

A fully self-funded tour is hard to pull off, let alone an album and an album rollout. The 'Film Noir" tour was a masterpiece and an example of pure passion, her interludes and production was exceptional and every time I remembered she had no album backing her that sense of pride crept back in and I felt proud of what she had achieved.

And when I look back at her career, even looking back for research for this article I couldn't help but think, how? How has it taken this long? Honestly Faouzia should have had her break years ago, it's almost a bit unethical you're only just hearing about Faouzia.

WHY FAOUZIA?

The Artist Spotlight isn't necessarily about finding somebody nobody has heard of.

Sometimes it's about an artist you've watched for years finally reach the point where everything you thought they were capable of falls into place.Faouzia's talent was never particularly difficult to identify. You could have watched thirty seconds of her singing in 2019 and worked that out. What has been much more interesting is watching her learn what to build around it. Six years after I first watched her use a wall as a metronome while singing Beyoncé, Faouzia is reaching the biggest audience of her career with the strongest music of it too.

I followed because of the voice.

I'm staying because of the songs.

Artist Spotlight: Faouzia

SongSense Recommends:

Start with: Peace & Violence
Then listen to: Unethical, Tears Of Gold and Minefields
For fans of: theatrical pop, ridiculous vocals, dark melodies and production that doesn't sit quietly in the background.