Growing up, vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Faouzia had always felt she wasn’t being listened to, but when she sang, everyone turned their heads. Now, after years of working, creating, and honing her craft, her voice has carried her to a collaboration with John Legend on their latest single, “Minefields.”
Following the release of her EP, Stripped, earlier this year, “Minefields” is a moving piano ballad that simultaneously defies the conventions of any traditional, delicately written piano ballad. Co-written with Ali Tamposi, Halatrax, JKash, Sam Martin, and Yonatan Goldstein and featuring Charlie Puth on piano, Faouzia’s effortless voice shines through on the track as it serves as the driving force for making it as soulful as it is powerful.
When the world met Faouzia in 2019 following the release of “Tears of Gold,” she brought to the music scene a forged path of her own to display women with voices as big as Adele and Beyonce in pop song spaces similar to those produced for Ariana Grande. In the time since her talent has only been amplified, reaching an audience who’s ready for powerful voices to take over charted music – almost 5 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, to be exact.
“Minefields” proves the 20-year-old Canadian-Moroccan artist’s ability to excel across the entire musical spectrum. Inspired by Arabic echoes stemming from her Moroccan heritage and childhood in Canada that filtered in her love for pop music, Faouzia’s musical gift places her on the map to be remembered. It’s her energy, her voice, and her passion to push herself that makes her music authentic, and also what brought her to work with John Legend, nevermind her experience performing since the age of fifteen or her ten years of classical training. For Faouzia, a little motivation and her unique voice is more than enough.
Unafraid to open up, “Minefields” showcases an honest side of the artist. “These minefields keeping me from you / What I’d risk to be close to you,” she sings. “I’d love for listeners to get what they need from my voice,” Faouzia shares about the song, “If they feel healed or happy, that would be amazing. I hope it’s a safe place for them.”
Faouzia has always found it funny that she’s had an “oxymoron combination of a big voice and a little body.” Discovering how her voice has become a tool for not only her artistic expression but also to get messages of hope and healing out to the world, the young artist is determined to move people with her music. “Now, I’ve got a message I want everyone to listen to,” she says about the music she’s soon to create. Whether it’s pop songs or ballads, it isn’t going to matter. The release of “Minefields” further proves that when Faouzia sings, people listen – and listen, you should because this is only the beginning.