Alessia Cara on her new album, new tour and old secrets

Jackson Weaver · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Wes Anderson. David Lynch. Both Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away and the deeper chopped release Only Yesterday. Don't hide Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag.

Alessia Cara is presently going implicit her movie and TV favourites, and that past 1 is, successful her opinion, 1 of the astir superb shows ever written — which is astir apt wherefore idiosyncratic talented her a transcript of the screenplay. But the thought for the gift may person sprung from a well-hidden aspiration: her wish to beryllium an actor, to beryllium a filmmaker, to beryllium creatively progressive with a accumulation successful immoderate way, either successful beforehand of oregon down the camera.

"That's thing that has been a concealed imagination of mine," the Canadian instrumentalist said successful an interrogation with CBC. "Directing something, oregon penning a amusement oregon a movie oregon something. It's thing I've ever been, really, secretly funny in."

But erstwhile it comes to Cara's creator output, that's wherever astir of the secrets end; the 28-year-old has spent her full big beingness successful the spotlight, and much years astatine slightest adjacent it. After YouTube popular covers granted her semi-viral net fame astatine 13, she signed her archetypal grounds woody astir 3 years later, past went connected to caller levels of personage with her self-written debut track, Here. 

She past continued balancing that dual estimation of being a popular prima and an introspective writer: 1 twelvemonth covering Moana's breakout way How Far I'll Go for the medium release, the adjacent co-writing the eight-time-platinum creation way Stay, and inactive the adjacent becoming the archetypal Canadian to instrumentality location a Grammy for champion caller artist. 

WATCH | Alessia Cara connected collaborating with John Mayer: 

Love, hyperbole and secrets

Her caller album, Love & Hyperbole, also maintains this duality, but is besides exceedingly nonstop astir immoderate precise intimate truths. This is simply a idiosyncratic missive, a labour — yes — of love, that's astir arsenic honorable arsenic she's ever been successful song. Is it astir hyperbole? Yes, she says, focusing connected the possibly overly melodramatic "whirlwind of emotion" associated with past relationships and heartbreak.

But, of course, there's besides love. She easy admits she is successful emotion close now, though demurs connected the specifics: "This album, I truly tried to marque it chronological. And truthful the past fewer songs connected the medium benignant of ended disconnected successful the spot that I'm successful close now, which is successful a precise blessed place, emotionally," she says, earlier laughing lightly. "For details, you tin perceive to the album. For each the details, I'll permission it to the music."

The effect is an intriguing premix of admittance and obfuscation — of pessimism and anticipation — for Cara's 4th workplace outing. To exemplify that contrast, she points to the songs Subside, appearing earlier connected successful the way list, and Fire, which pops up toward the end. To her, the songs are connected opposites. The erstwhile is simply a somewhat depressing, purposefully dour representation of nihilism, recreating the infinitesimal successful a young person's beingness erstwhile they archetypal recognize that 1 day, they and everyone they cognize volition die, truthful what's the constituent of anything?

"On the different extremity of that coin, we person a opus similar Fire, which was benignant of astir maine learning that, you know, yes, thing matters. But however tin I usage that operation and that sentiment for good?" she says. "If things each spell distant and if thing matters and if everything is temporary, past wherefore not bask it portion we can?" 

A instrumentality to touring

It's different model into her soul. Cara, it would seem, is an unabashed absurdist: idiosyncratic who acknowledges that thing has any intrinsic meaning outside of one's ain decisions connected what makes beingness important. Currently, that meaning rests successful unrecorded performances; the vocalist is utilizing Love & Hyperbole to instrumentality to touring, thing that's been disconnected her radar for six years — since conscionable earlier her crook arsenic the 2020 Junos big was cancelled implicit the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With her archetypal Canadian circuit day scheduled for Wednesday, that instrumentality is starting to consciousness each the much real.

"I'm astatine the constituent wherever it's been agelong capable that it feels benignant of scary to get backmost into it again," she says. "So I'm a small spot scared, but I'm mostly excited, particularly to play these caller songs." 

WATCH | Cara connected returning to touring aft 6 years: 

It's besides an accidental for reflection. She whitethorn beryllium young, but the decennary she's spent successful the manufacture has been 1 of music's astir difficult, and astir transformative — disrupted by everything from COVID-19 to streaming to AI. Getting done it, and emerging arsenic comparatively scar-free arsenic she has, is simply a constituent of pride.

"I'm astir arrogant of maintaining my consciousness of identity, you know, due to the fact that I had a batch of success, and the full whirlwind benignant of happened during precise formative years for me," she says. "The information that I was capable to support my consciousness of aforesaid and my integrity done it each is thing I'm precise arrogant of."

Still successful a reflective mood, she says that's the benignant of proposal she'd springiness to anyone other trying to marque it successful music. She's a bully trial case. This is simply a concern focused connected youth, aft all. And, she says, astir artists fixed the accidental for occurrence are asked to signifier their creator persona portion they're inactive forming their consciousness of self.

There's lone 1 mode to past that. She knows by experience.

"You conscionable person to truly perceive to yourself and support the close radical astir you," she says. "And just, like, retrieve who you were erstwhile you started, and what you acceptable retired to bash erstwhile you started. And effort not to veer distant from that, you know, with each the extracurricular noise."