Faouzia

One Liner: Heavy vibrato pop
Wikipedia Genre: R&B, pop, synth-pop
Home: Carman, Manitoba, Canada

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Friday at 2 (WE1); Friday at 2:45 (WE2)
Both Weekends.

WE1 - Miller Lite Stage; WE2 - American Express Stage

Thoughts:  The heavy vibrato brought Miley Cyrus to mind in the first song.  Her biggest song gets a major assist, with John Legend appearing to give the song some piano mastery and his voice under her warbling.  "Minefields" has 250.5 million streams.

Of course, it shows her sitting at the piano.  Which, I don't know, seems like a mistake?  Am I getting the piano kingpin or am I getting this unknown lady?

So, that is her real first name, and she was born in Morocco in 2000.  She then moved to Canada at the age of one, but says that her family maintained a Moroccan connection and lifestyle.  When she was 13, she started posting covers on YouTube that received hundreds of thousands of views.  When she was 15, she won Song of the Year, the Audience Award, and Grand Prix at something called La Chicane Electrique.  That was followed by other awards I have never heard of, including the Nashville Unsigned Only music competition.  In 2023, she was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.  Which, wut?  They have a whole awards program just for immigrants?  Seems weird, eh?

But it appears that some of the heavy vibrato is just the influence of Arabic music on her version of English pop.  And some of that really makes her more interesting.  Listening to "PEACE AND VIOLENCE" right now and I like the little trills and influences from (what little I know of) Arabic music.  Just one album, 2025's Film Noir, and a few EPs and singles before that.  The top song from her album is "UNETHICAL" with 63.1 million streams.

This was that first song that made me think of Miley.  It is very cinematic, very dramatic.  Overly so for me - I would not go out of my way to listen to this sort of thing when just trying to hang out.  It is sort of stressing me out right now, in fact.  "Tears of Gold" is just a little much for this relatively chill afternoon as I try to work.  I am good on this one.