Wafia crafts soulfully sweet pop music with layers of meaning waiting to be unpacked. The Arab and queer artist has earned recognition from industry titans like Pharrell Williams and amassed nearly two million monthly Spotify listeners with her distinctive blend of emotional storytelling and ethereal soundscapes.

Born in Holland to a Syrian mother and Iraqi dad, Wafia's journey has taken her from New Zealand to Australia and now Los Angeles. Her unique perspective on identity, belonging, and hope shines through in her music, from her breakthrough 2015 cover of "Let Me Love You" that garnered five million SoundCloud streams to her critically acclaimed EP Good Things, which NPR hailed as the "perfect pandemic soundtrack."

Her upcoming debut album Promised Land (January 2025) weaves together themes of vulnerability and resilience, drawing inspiration from natural phenomena like dragonfly migration patterns. Alongside executive producer, Sabrina Claudio, Wafia has created a collection of songs that traverse the spectrum from dreamy escapist pop to raw emotional confessionals, all while maintaining her signature introspective songwriting style.

For Wafia, chronicling tough and triumphant realities alike is well worth the sweat and tears. “I think that me, speaking about the things I do and representing certain people, it means that everyone can walk into a Wafia show feeling accepted and loved. Like, they're in the right place,” says Wafia, whose name means “good friend” in Arabic. “The fans are so diverse. They care about music, they care about storytelling. And they feel deeply. I hear a lot of confessions of how much the songs have helped them soundtrack certain moments in their lives. And that is one of the most rewarding things for me.”

written by NISHA GOPALAN / photo by SHERRIE GARCIA / produced by JUICE HOUSE