Alessia Cara | |
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Born | Alessia Caracciolo July 11, 1996 [1] Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
Other names | Alessia (2014–2015) |
Citizenship |
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Occupations |
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Years active | 2009–present |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Labels | |
Website | alessiacara |
Signature | |
Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara ( /əˈlɛsiəˈkɑːrə/ ), [5] is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploading acoustic covers of songs such as "Love Yourself" and "Sweater Weather" online, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single, "Here", the following year. It peaked at number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and was a sleeper hit in the US, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [6] [7] [8]
Cara's debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015), peaked at number 8 on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number 9 on the Billboard 200. The album's third single, "Scars to Your Beautiful", peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. In 2017, Cara collaborated with DJ and producer Zedd on the single "Stay", which is certified seven-times platinum in Canada, and featured alongside Khalid on rapper Logic's song "1-800-273-8255".
Cara has received nominations for four Grammy Awards, winning the Best New Artist in 2018. [9] She was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 2019 Latin Grammys for her collaboration with Juanes on "Querer Mejor". [10] Her second studio album, The Pains of Growing (2018), saw the moderate commercial success of the singles "Growing Pains" and "Trust My Lonely". The album won Juno Award for Album of the Year and Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year while she went on to win Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year. [11] [12] Her third album, In the Meantime (2021), was met with generally positive reviews from critics, and she is currently working on her fourth studio album. [13]
Alessia Cara was born on July 11, 1996, in Mississauga, Ontario, [14] and grew up in Brampton, where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School. [15] Her family is from Calabria, Italy; her father was born in Canada to Italian parents, and her mother is an Italian immigrant. [16] [17] Cara is the second of four children. [18] She can speak Italian fluently. [19] As a child, she wrote poetry and performed in theatre. [20] She began playing guitar at the age of 10 and taught herself how to play various songs. [20] At the age of 13, she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed. [20] She saw Justin Bieber as a career model at the time. [21]
In July 2014, Cara, accompanied by her father, went to New York, [22] where she signed a management deal with EP Entertainment, [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] and began work on her debut studio album later that same year. [29] [28] She briefly took the professional name simply of Alessia before adding a clipping of her surname to become known as Alessia Cara. [30] In April 2015, Cara released her official debut single through Def Jam. [31] Titled "Here", it was described by MTV as "a song for everyone who secretly hates parties." [26] Produced by Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole, the song is about her personal experience with going to a party and being uncomfortable at it. [6] On May 5, 2015, the song was chosen as the "can't-miss" track by Spin, [32] as well as being listed as a "must hear song" by Cosmopolitan . [33] The song was also named one of the best Canadian songs of April by Complex [34] and included on Billboard 's "20 Pop Songs You Need For Your Summer Playlist" in June 2015. [35] Rolling Stone later ranked "Here" at number 21 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015. [36] On July 29, 2015, Cara made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . [37] "Here" then received a nomination for "Original Song" at the Streamy Awards. [38] She released the EP Four Pink Walls , containing five songs, including her debut single. Her debut album, Know-It-All , was released on November 13, 2015. [39]
From January to April 2016, Cara embarked on her first headlining tour, the "Know-It-All Tour", performing in various US and Canadian cities. [40] She was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of... award for 2016 and finished as the runner-up. [41] Cara was awarded as Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards. [42] On March 7, 2016, Cara released a music video for "Wild Things". [43] In April 2016, Cara was announced to be one of the supporting acts of British alternative rock band Coldplay in the European and North American legs of their A Head Full of Dreams Tour, alongside British singer songwriter and Grammy winner Foxes. [44] On June 23, 2016, Cara was featured in a re-released version of the song "Wild" by Troye Sivan. The music video was released on July 22, 2016. [45] She played Glastonbury Festival on June 24, 2016, in the John Peel tent. The music video for Cara's version of the single "How Far I'll Go", from the Disney film Moana , was released on November 3, 2016, and since then has received over 270 million views on YouTube. [46] The song was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, produced by Oak Felder, and the video was directed by Aya Tanimura. [47] On December 15, 2016, Cara released a music video for "Seventeen". [48]
Cara performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 4, 2017. [49] On April 18, 2017, the music video of the song "Stay" by Zedd featuring Cara was released. Cara was also featured on the song "1-800-273-8255" from Logic's Everybody album. The song was released as a single on April 28, 2017, and also features American singer-songwriter Khalid. Cara also made an appearance in the video, which was released on August 17, 2017. [50]
On January 28, 2018, Cara was named the Best New Artist at the 2018 Grammy Awards, making her the first Canadian artist to win this award. [51] The decision to award her the Grammy was fervently condemned in some quarters, with Cara receiving hateful messages and death threats from angry fans of rapper SZA. [52] As a result, Cara briefly deactivated her social media accounts. [52]
On June 1, 2018, Cara released a teaser video following a week of cryptic Twitter posts. [53] On June 9, she posted lyrics to a new song on her social media accounts for fans to piece together. Once completed, she announced the single's cover and name on June 11. [54] The single, entitled "Growing Pains", was released on June 15, 2018. [55] Its music video was released on June 20, 2018, [56] and was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2018 MTV VMAS.
On July 10, 2018, Cara announced that she would be releasing a song she made in her basement, written and produced by her, the next day, as a small gift for her birthday. The single, titled "A Little More", was released on July 11, 2018, with the music video also released the same day. [57] [58] [59] [60] On September 29, 2018, the Canadian Football League announced that Cara would be the halftime performer at the 106th Grey Cup. [61] In October 2018, she collaborated with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti for the song "Vale per sempre", from the album Vita ce n'è . [62] On October 5, 2018, Cara released another song, entitled "Trust My Lonely". A music video for the song was released the same day. [63] [64] On November 8, 2018, a music video for the song "Babies" by Kyle featuring Cara was released. [65] On November 13, 2018, Cara released another song, entitled "Not Today". [66] The release date coincides with the three-year anniversary of the release of her debut album. Cara's second studio album, The Pains of Growing , was released on November 30, 2018. [67] It debuted at number 1 on the US iTunes Pop Charts, in less than two hours after its release. Despite the successful position on iTunes, the album debuted at number 71 on the Billboard 200; 62 positions lower than her debut album in 2015. [68] "Out of Love" was eventually serviced to contemporary hit radio as the album's third single in January 2019. [69] Cara also collaborated with Alec Benjamin on "Let Me Down Slowly", which was released on January 7, 2019. On February 21, Cara announced she would join Shawn Mendes as the opening act on his self-titled world tour for the European, United Kingdom, and United States legs. [70] [71] In May, she headlined "The Pains of Growing Tour", visiting Canadian cities in the month of May. [72]
In July 2019, Cara announced the release of an EP, This Summer, with tracks to be issued "every couple of weeks" leading up to its release on September 6, 2019. [73] She also announced that she would be adding a new leg of "The Pains of Growing Tour", visiting various US cities in October and November. [74] [75] The first single of the EP, "Ready", was released on July 22. [76] [77] The second single, "Rooting for You", was released on August 9. [78] The third single, "OKAY OKAY", was released on August 23. [79] The fourth single, "October", was released on September 3. [80] [81] The music video for "October" was released on October 1, 2019. [82]
Cara was featured in Bastille's song "Another Place" with a music video released on November 1. The song peaked the number 18 at Billboard Hot Rock Songs. [83]
On March 6, 2020, Cara collaborated with American singer and songwriter Lauv for the song "Canada" on Lauv's debut album, How I'm Feeling . On April 3, 2020, Cara released "I Choose", for the 2020 Netflix animated movie The Willoughbys , where she made her debut voice-role on a film for the character "Jane Willoughby". [84]
On July 17, 2020, Cara released her first live EP, This Summer: Live Off The Floor, which features live, reimagined performances of the songs off of This Summer, as well as three bonus tracks and an intro that interpolates Summertime by George Gershwin. All of Cara's proceeds from the EP for the next 21 years are going to Save The Children. [85]
On July 2, 2021, Cara announced that the lead singles "Sweet Dream" and "Shapeshifter" from her third studio album would be released on July 15, 2021. [86] The announcement of this release came after five days of cryptic posts on Instagram and Twitter, each with pictures that would turn out to be related to the music videos for the singles. The music video for "Sweet Dream" was released that same day, [87] while the music video for "Shapeshifter" was released on July 23, 2021. [88] A riddle to help fans decode the title of the album was sent to Cara's emailing list the day before.
On August 2, 2021, it was announced that Cara would be releasing "The Use In Trying", an original song for the 2021 animated movie PAW Patrol: The Movie , on August 10, 2021. [89] On August 5, 2021, it was announced that Cara wrote and sang "Feel You Now", the theme song for Blade Runner: Black Lotus . [90]
On August 31, 2021, another clue about the album was sent to Cara's emailing list, this time an image of five clocks all pointing towards 9:24. On September 2, 2021, Cara revealed the album's cover and announced that it is titled In the Meantime and would be released on September 24, 2021. [91] On September 10, 2021, Cara collaborated with the Mexican rock band The Warning, on a cover of "Enter Sandman", which was released on the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist . [92] This particular cover was famously used for the teaser trailer of the 2022 strategy role-playing video game Marvel's Midnight Suns . [93] : 0:10
On September 24, 2021, Cara's album In the Meantime was released alongside the music video for the song "Best Days". [94] The album was met with critical acclaim from music critics, praising Cara's introspective and vulnerable lyricism.
On December 23, 2021, the 2021 edition of Yearly Departed was released on Amazon Prime Video, featuring Cara performing "My Heart Will Go On" at the end of the production. [95]
In 2023, she participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's single "What I Wouldn't Do", which was released as a charity single to benefit Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health. [96]
In August 2023, Cara confirmed on an X posting that she is working on her fourth studio album. [13]
Cara lives in Toronto, Canada [97] She has revealed on separate occasions that she experiences synesthesia, [98] [99] and also has keratosis pilaris [100] and alopecia areata. [101] [102] She has also been open about her struggles with mental health and insomnia. [103] Cara has dual Canadian and Italian citizenship. [2]
Cara is a pop, [104] [105] [106] R&B, [104] [105] alternative R&B, [107] indie pop [105] and soul [106] singer. Her influences include Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse, Pink, Fergie, [108] Christina Aguilera, [109] Drake, Ed Sheeran, [110] and Taylor Swift. [111]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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2020 | The Willoughbys | Jane Willoughby | Voice role |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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2017 | iHeartRadio MMVA's | Co-Host | With Joe Jonas | [112] |
2021 | The Other Two | Herself | 1 episode | |
2022 | That's My Jam | Herself/Guest | Along With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chance the Rapper, and Josh Groban | |
2022 | Blade Runner: Black Lotus | Selene (voice) | 2 episodes |
In 2018, Cara became the first Canadian artist to ever win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. [52] She has also received nominations at the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards, and won an iHeartRadio Music Award, five Juno Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and an MTV Europe Music Award.
Anton Zaslavski, known professionally as Zedd, is a German record producer.
Victoria Loren Kelly is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained recognition after posting videos on YouTube as a teenager, and made it through to Hollywood week on the ninth season of American Idol in 2010. Thereafter, she independently released her self-produced debut EP in 2012, Handmade Songs.
Tyler Shaw is a Canadian singer and actor. After winning the "MuchMusic Coca-Cola Covers Contest 2012" organized by the Canadian music cable channel MuchMusic, he released his debut single, "Kiss Goodnight", through Sony Music Canada in December 2012. The song was certified Gold by Music Canada in April 2013. His debut studio album, Yesterday, was released on September 4, 2015, by Sony Music. His second album Intuition was released on September 28, 2018, also by Sony Music.
"Here" is the debut single by Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara, released on April 30, 2015 as lead single from her EP Four Pink Walls and her album Know-It-All, both debuting in the same year. Created around a sample of "Ike's Rap II" by Isaac Hayes from his album Black Moses, "Here" is a pop and R&B song about people who secretly hate parties.
"Wild" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Troye Sivan from his fourth extended play (EP), Wild (2015). It was written by Sivan and Alex Hope, and a revised version features a contribution from Alessia Cara. The song was released on 3 September 2015 and promoted as its lead single. It is also featured on Sivan's debut studio album, Blue Neighbourhood (2015).
Know-It-All is the debut studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. It was released on November 13, 2015 through Def Jam Recordings. The album followed the release of her debut extended play (EP) Four Pink Walls (2015), which Cara regarded as a preview of the album. Know-It-All contains the five original songs from Four Pink Walls as well as five new songs recording for the album. Cara co-wrote all the tracks and worked closely with Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole amongst others. The album led Cara to receive the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2018.
"Wild Things" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara for her debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015). It was released to digital retailers on October 27, 2015, as a promotional single before being sent to contemporary hit radio on February 2, 2016, as the album's second official single. The song was written by Alessia Caracciolo, Coleridge Tillman, Thabiso "Tab" Nkhereanye, and James Ho, and was produced by the latter. Official remixes were commissioned in the spring of 2016 and were released on an extended play on May 13, 2016, one of which features a guest verse from American rapper G-Eazy.
"Scars to Your Beautiful" is a song recorded by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. Def Jam Recordings and Universal Music Group serviced it to contemporary hit radio on July 26, 2016, as the third single from her debut studio album Know-It-All (2015) on November 13, 2015. A pop ballad, the song was written by Cara along with its producers Pop & Oak, Sebastian Kole, and DJ Frank E.
"How Far I'll Go" and its reprise are two musical numbers from Disney's 2016 animated musical feature film Moana. It was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, with additional music and co-produced by Mark Mancina on its reprise. The song was performed in the film by American actress and singer Auliʻi Cravalho in her role as Moana. It was released along with the album on November 18, 2016. Canadian singer Alessia Cara also recorded the song for the Moana soundtrack. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards and Best Original Song at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara has released three studio albums, one live album, four extended plays, nineteen singles, nine promotional singles and eighteen music videos. She is signed to EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings. Cara released her debut single, "Here", in April 2015. The song became a sleeper hit, reaching the top five in the United States and the top 20 in Canada. She released her debut studio album, Know-It-All, on November 13, 2015. In 2016, Cara found greater success in the release of her third single, "Scars to Your Beautiful". The single reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the US pop radio charts. In November 2016, she released a single named "How Far I'll Go" for Disney animated film Moana. In 2017, Cara collaborated with producer Zedd to create the single "Stay", which reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also collaborated with rapper Logic to feature in his single "1-800-273-8255", which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The lead single from Cara's second studio album, The Pains of Growing, called "Growing Pains" was released on June 15, 2018, and charted at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Trust My Lonely" and "Out of Love" were released as the second and third singles from the album respectively. The Pains of Growing was released on November 30, 2018, followed by a third studio album, In the Meantime in September 2021. Cara is currently working on a fourth studio album.
"Stay" is a song by Russian-German electronic music producer Zedd and Canadian singer Alessia Cara. The single was released on 23 February 2017 through Interscope Records, and is also featured on the Japanese edition of Cara's second studio album, The Pains of Growing. The official music video was released on YouTube on 18 April 2017.
"1-800-273-8255" is a song by American rapper Logic featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara and American singer-songwriter Khalid. It was released on April 27, 2017, through Visionary Music Group and Def Jam Recordings, as the third single from Logic's third studio album, Everybody. The song's title is the previous phone number for the American National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL), now known as the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Although the lifeline later changed its phone number to the simpler "988" in July 2022, the original number remains active. It was written by its three performers alongside Dylan Wiggins, Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers, and 6ix, the latter of whom produced the track with Logic. "1-800-273-8255" eventually peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received nominations for Song of the Year and Best Music Video at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
"Growing Pains" is a song written and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara, released as the lead single for her second studio album, The Pains of Growing. Written by Cara and producers Pop & Oak, the track explores the challenges of entering adulthood. It was released to digital retailers on June 15, 2018 through Def Jam Recordings and serviced to American hot adult contemporary radio on June 25, 2018. Its official music video received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
The Pains of Growing is the second studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. The album was released on November 30, 2018, by Def Jam Recordings. Its songs were mostly written by Cara herself, with co-writing from producers Pop & Oak. The Pains of Growing is a "coming of age" record, inspired by three years of the singer's life that led up to its release. Primarily, the album touches themes such as anxiety, heartbreak, and loneliness, as of Cara's experiences inside the music industry. Critics named Cara and her sound as "the big-sister of pop", and praised Cara's songwriting ability. The album would eventually win a Juno Award for Album of the Year at the 2020 Juno Awards, and would also receive accolades on other categories that same year.
"Trust My Lonely" is a song by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara, released as the second single from her second studio album, The Pains of Growing on October 5, 2018. It was produced by Pop & Oak and lyrically concerns moving on from a relationship. The song peaked at number 55 on the Canadian Hot 100.
"Out of Love" is a song recorded by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. Def Jam Recordings serviced it to contemporary hit radio on January 29, 2019, as the third single from Cara's second studio album The Pains of Growing (2018). Richard Nowels Jr. co-wrote it with Cara, and co-produced it with Dean Reid. "Out of Love" is a ballad which was inspired by a friend of Cara's who had a breakup.
"Rooting for You" is a song recorded by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. It was released on August 9, 2019, as the second single from her 2019 EP This Summer. The song impacted mainstream radio on August 27, 2019.
The Pains of Growing Tour was the second concert tour by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara, staged in support of her second studio album, The Pains of Growing (2018). The tour began on May 11, 2019, in Ottawa, and concluded on November 20, 2019, in Houston.
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