Earlier this year, Faouzia Ouihya got a cryptic heads-up to tune into the 2022 Juno nominations announcement. The young singer—whose stage name is Faouzia (pronounced Foe-zee-ya)—watched it at home in Winnipeg on March 1 with her older sister, Samia, wondering if the tipoff was an effort to boost viewership numbers. “Breakthrough artist was one of the last categories announced,” Faouzia says in a Zoom interview. “Eventually my name and face popped up and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is insane.’” A month later, she says, it still hadn’t sunk in. Talking with her team about what she’s going to wear to the award ceremony, she realized, “I’m going to the Junos because I’m nominated.”
Faouzia is not quite a household name in Canada, but this year’s Junos might…
You're reading a preview of
Maclean's (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2022