Wearing a cheetah-print beret like she’s the newest member of the feline elite, Faouzia lounges with a white cat in her arms—because of course she does. The whole scene feels straight out of a monochrome fever dream, as if your Spotify app accidentally time-traveled to the 1950s. From her vintage visuals to those powerhouse vocals that could shatter martini glasses, Faouzia doesn’t just fit into another era—she owns it. With 4.2 million monthly listeners and a fanbase that made her the second-highest streamed international artist in China, right after Taylor Swift (casual), Faouzia’s not a rising star—she’s a meteor, rewriting her own orbit. Since her 2021 project CITIZENS—and that career-defining ‘MINEFIELDS’ duet with John Legend, which casually pulled 325 million YouTube views for its music video—she’s been crafting something cinematic.
The result: FILM NOIR, an 11-track masterpiece sung partly in French, entirely self-made, and draped in mystery, chaos, and candlelight. It all ignites with ‘PEACE & VIOLENCE,’ a track that perfectly captures the album’s duality: soft and sharp, glamorous and guttural. We sat down with Faouzia to talk about the making of FILM NOIR, the lyric she’s betting her fans will scream back the loudest, and how she turned vintage glamour into modern mythology.
FILM NOIR
Hi Faouzia, congratulations on the release! FILM NOIR is not only your first full-length project, but also your first fully independent one—huge. Looking back at the journey, what part of the process are you most proud of, whether artistically or personally, in finally bringing this album to life?
I am most proud of completing this album independently and following my instincts. I always knew that building a world around a project was my calling. Finally being able to do that is what I am most proud of, and I am absolutely in love with every song on FILM NOIR.
Because the term film noir originally came from French critics dissecting American thrillers, the genre has this built-in idea of reflection and critique. After the three-year gap since CITIZENS and the global response to ‘MINEFIELDS,’ did you approach this record by “critiquing” what worked and what didn’t from the last era—or did you intentionally wipe the slate clean and start fresh?
After years of reflection and critique, I wiped the slate clean and started fresh. Almost in a “learn the rules to know how to break them” type of way. I followed my heart and wrote this album very instinctually. Every word stemmed from stories that were very personal to me, but crafted by skills that I learned along the way. I think my essence is present in this album because I led with my heart first, then my mind.
Faouzia’s Parisian Duality
The album opens like we’ve just stepped into a smoky 1950s Paris alleyway—sirens, trumpets, the whole curtain-rise—before it slinks into that sensual, romantic-thriller soundscape. When you were crafting those first 40 seconds, what visuals were playing in your mind?
I wanted to set the mood in this opening track and transport people into the world that is FILM NOIR – live instrumentation, drama, and an emotional rollercoaster filled with tension and heartache.
You speak English, Arabic, and French fluently—and we hear French spotlighted both in the voice-note outro and in ‘TOUS CES MOTS’—and you even wrote your first ever song in French at age six. What is it about French as a language that feels most creatively you?
French is my second language. I grew up speaking it at home and spent most of my education immersed in it, so many of my most formative memories live in French. It’s the language in which I first learned to express sorrow and depth, to give shape to feeling. There’s an inherent poetry in its softness and a quiet melancholy that made it the natural choice for the stories I needed to tell in this album.
Several tracks have that gorgeous cinematic build—the strings on ‘UNETHICAL’ feel like they’re doing the dramatic lighting. You’ve genre-blended before, but this time, working with Arthur Besna and F E R R O, how did you stay rooted in your sonic identity while leaning into those big, film-score moments?
A big part of my musical identity comes from big, dramatic instrumentals as well as classically-inspired pieces. It came very naturally to me to make this album in this world because it felt like “coming home” to what felt the most natural to me.
Flashbulbs & Frequencies
“Sometimes I wish our puzzle aligned” from ‘WEIRDO’ feels like an instant-tattoo/future-bio line. Is there another lyric or couplet on the album you secretly suspect fans are going to claim as their identity quote?
This is a hard question… There are so many lines in this project that I love, but the one that is coming to mind right now is the mantra-esque lyric, “I am not my emotions, they’re a point in time.”
Fashion is such a big storytelling device in this era. Is there one outfit from this cycle—a video look or shoot—that you feel most embodies the persona of this record?
I’d say the ‘DON’T EVER LEAVE ME’ music video and outfit. Or… ‘PORCELAIN.’
Finally, when listeners close the curtain on FILM NOIR for the first time, what do you hope they walk away feeling?
I hope they’ve connected to the music and can feel the depth and passion in it. I hope they can find solace in it.
What’s the song playing as you strut through your black-and-white FILM NOIR TikTok fantasy? Picture this: shadowy lighting, oversized hood, mystery in your eyes—basically giving “I might be in Paris, or just really good at curating vibes.” Spin FILM NOIR one more time, let the credits roll in your head, and then tell us—what’s your soundtrack for the sequel over on our Twitter, Insta, or even Facebook if you’re feeling retro.
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