Montreal-based Alternative R&B artist Somaya creates music as a glimpse into her soul. She transforms vulnerability and pain, femininity, and personal truth into an intimate, sultry and ethereal world. Writing from a place of honesty and emotional depth, her work explores heartbreak, identity, loneliness, growth, and the beauty found in heavy feelings, with the intention of creating music that deeply resonates with women who see themselves in her stories.
Somaya’s artistry is deeply shaped by her North African roots and Western upbringing. Her debut album, LAYALI, bridges both worlds by blending alternative R&B, neo-soul and experimental production with Arabic influences through oud, traditional percussion and melodic modalities. Created as a way to communicate through music what language could not, the project serves as both a personal reflection and a tribute to family, heritage, and cultural duality.
Rejecting rigid structures and conventional boundaries, Somaya allows emotion to dictate form rather than industry expectations. Her songs often unfold freely, sometimes stretching to six or seven minutes, creating a sound that feels raw and honest. Her visual world reflects her songwriting: witchy, symbolic, and deeply lived-in, filled with smoke, stars, chaotic bedrooms, beaches, ancestral references, and dreamlike imagery.
At the core of her work is authenticity. Somaya builds her art around truth. She celebrates softness, vulnerability, and emotional complexity as forms of strength. Through her music, she hopes to inspire women to trust their voices fully and to create space for femininity, nuance, and emotional honesty in an industry still largely shaped by men.
