Hi! My name is Raphaela. I’m a Canadian-Lebanese singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, and I’ve always been a little obsessed with stories that tug at the heart. If you’re anything like me, you love love — especially the kind that lingers in your chest long after it’s gone. The kind that sets your thoughts spinning with what-ifs and slow-motion memories. The kind that feels like a movie — all butterflies, glances, and a thousand unsent messages.

I grew up in Beirut, in a home filled with music — my mom, an opera singer; my dad, always playing the classics. I wrote my first songs as a teenager, chasing melodies that felt like letters I didn’t know how to send.

Now, I write music that feels like falling — sometimes in love with someone else, sometimes with yourself. Romantic, cinematic, a little bittersweet. It’s for the ones who feel everything a little too deeply, and never quite learn how to stop.

My upcoming debut EP is a collection of songs about the people, moments, and feelings that stay with us — the ones that show up in our dreams or in the pages of letters we never send. The title track, Muse, just released on July 4, and it’s the first glimpse into that world: a story about longing, inspiration, and the way certain connections leave a mark that never really fades.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the chance to share my songs on stages that shaped me — opening for Nigerian R&B artist Johnny Drille at The Palace in Ottawa, performing at the National Women’s Show, being featured by Canada’s biggest MMA promotion, and singing at one of my favorite local venues, Live! On Elgin. I was also chosen as a finalist for the Happy Green Acres Emerging Artist Showcase, where I performed my original music for a crowd that really listened. Most recently, I had the honor of opening for Afrobeats star Joeboy at the Bronson Music Theatre in Ottawa.

Every lyric I write is a love letter.

Welcome to my world.

With love,

Raphaela