Raphaela writes about the messy middle of love.

A Lebanese-Canadian singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, she makes pop about doubt, ambivalence and the things left unsaid. Critics have called her work “both cinematic and immediate” and praised her “rich, expressive vocals.”

She was born in Ottawa and raised in Beirut, in a house full of music. Her mother was an opera singer and her father was always playing the classics. She moved back to Canada alone at nineteen. That double life runs through her songs, with opera and the classics under modern pop, and lyrics that hold two feelings at once.

Her latest single, “Take It Back,” came out in October 2026. It began in Nashville with Jordan Lake, sparked by an old Dolly Parton title she came across there, “I Wish I Felt This Way at Home.” Months later, Josh Bogert joined to reshape and produce it. It follows her EP Muse.

She has opened for Joeboy at Bronson Music Theatre (2025) and Johnny Drille at The Palace (2024), sung the national anthem at the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence and at Unified MMA 53 (broadcast on UFC Fight Pass), and was selected to showcase at Indie Week 2026 in Ottawa. She speaks English, French and Arabic.