Alessia Cara
Alessia Cara
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Alessia Cara

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Alessia Cara

Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (/əˈlɛsiə ˈkɑːrə/), 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.

Cara's debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015), peaked at number eight on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number nine on the Billboard 200. The album's third single, "Scars to Your Beautiful", peaked at number eight 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, which led her to become the first Canadian artist to ever win the award. 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". 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. Her third album, In the Meantime (2021), was met with generally positive reviews from critics. Cara's fourth album, Love & Hyperbole (2025), was released on February 14, 2025, to positive reviews from critics and listeners alike.

Alessia Cara was born on July 11, 1996, in Mississauga, Ontario, and grew up in Brampton, where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School. Her family is from Calabria, Italy; her father was born in Canada to Italian parents, and her mother is an Italian immigrant. Cara is the second of four children. She can speak Italian fluently. As a child, she wrote poetry and performed in theatre. She began playing guitar at the age of 10 and taught herself how to play various songs. At the age of 13, she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed. She saw Justin Bieber as a career model at the time.

In July 2014, Cara, accompanied by her father, went to New York, where she signed a management deal with EP Entertainment, and began work on her debut studio album later that same year. She briefly took the professional name simply of Alessia before adding a clipping of her surname to become known as Alessia Cara. In April 2015, Cara released her official debut single through Def Jam. Titled "Here", it was described by MTV as "a song for everyone who secretly hates parties." Produced by Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole, the song is about her personal experience with going to a party and being uncomfortable at it. On May 5, 2015, the song was chosen as the "can't-miss" track by Spin, as well as being listed as a "must hear song" by Cosmopolitan. The song was also named one of the best Canadian songs of April by Complex and included on Billboard's "20 Pop Songs You Need For Your Summer Playlist" in June 2015. Rolling Stone later ranked "Here" at number 21 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015. On July 29, 2015, Cara made her television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "Here" then received a nomination for "Original Song" at the Streamy Awards. 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.

From January to April 2016, Cara embarked on her first headlining tour, the "Know-It-All Tour", performing in various US and Canadian cities. She was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of... award for 2016 and finished as the runner-up. Cara was awarded as Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards. On March 7, 2016, Cara released a music video for "Wild Things". 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. 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. 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. The song was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, produced by Oak Felder, and the video was directed by Aya Tanimura. On December 15, 2016, Cara released a music video for "Seventeen".

Cara performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 4, 2017. 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.

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. 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 American singer SZA. As a result, Cara briefly deactivated her social media accounts.

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