Somehow it has already been 10 years since Alessia Cara’s debut album Know-It-All made its mark in the pop world. Cara’s breakout hit “Here” was written when she was only 16, and now at the age of 28, the wise-beyond-her-years singer-songwriter reflects on navigating adulthood and artistic growth after the release of her 70s-inspired fourth album Love & Hyperbole. 

Hearing Alessia Cara reflect on her life means soaking in nuggets of wisdom every few minutes. She always has something enlightening to say in a self-aware way that embraces the highs and lows of growing older. The Brampton, Ontario native has always stayed true to herself, but now she’s exploring a different side as she grows further into her late ‘20s and no longer keeps ideas close to the chest.

The personal breakthrough for this new album was when she tried new ideas in the studio in front of other people. More than ever, Cara allowed herself to feel more confident and not be too precious about the process. 

For the first time, she wrote a love song without any fear or negativity attached to it. “It’s the first time that I’ve written about love in a happy, free way without inhibitions or fear of anything,” she reveals about the single “Fire.” 

Throughout the album, there’s a balance of heartfelt romance and humorous self-doubt that feels all too real. Speaking about the album’s title, Cara explains how love can feel very dramatic and larger than life, and the exaggerations were reflective of what she was really feeling in the moment. “I think hyperbole there is just kind of about the exaggerated emotions I was truthfully feeling. I wasn’t exaggerating just for artistic purposes. It really just felt so exaggerated and dramatic at the time,” Cara admits, adding that using hyperbole was a humorous way to pacify some of the heavier emotions she was feeling.

Love & Hyperbole represents the essence of how she’s approaching life: an affirmation of its dualities, but rooted in trust. The cover features Cara tugging back on two different sides of herself- the push and pull of love and hyperbole. No matter what, she can always be there for herself.

There’s an acceptance of both the powerfully positive emotions that love brings, but also the reality of time’s looming presence. More than ever before, she also explored the topics that made her afraid- like getting older, death, and impermanence. No longer fueled by angst, she’s learned to use negative emotions and harness them to help cope and grow.

Cara laments about wasted time and apathy on humorous album opener “Go Outside,” then as her perspective morphs, she lovingly yearns for honesty and not wasting time on the closing song “Clearly.” The whirlwind of emotions reflect how we’ve all been feeling in the last several years, but there’s a hopefulness and brightness instilled in Love & Hyperbole. 

She acknowledges that it’ll be okay if things don’t work out right now, explaining that “trust in love and in life is actually trust in yourself.”  The softer approach challenged her to write from a different place, and the result is output that feels fresh to the heart and the ears. “It was interesting to find a new voice and a new angle for me, but it was a good exercise. A good exercise to do something that didn’t necessarily feel super intuitive, but was exciting and new for me. It was a good challenge,” she explains.

There’s a tricky balance between writing for yourself by indulging in your own creativity and also understanding that people have to relate to it. “While I like to make my songs very personal and specific, I try to keep them universal enough that if someone’s listening, they’re not just thinking of my life, they’re thinking of their life as well,” Cara says. “I do think it’s the job of the artist- to some degree- to of course speak about their own experience, but to reflect the times and reflect the people that are listening as well.”

She’ll be embarking on a North American tour starting in April- an opportunity to represent all of the facets of her journey from suburban teen singing about being an uncomfortable wallflower at a party to expressing the overwhelming emotions from love and the quandaries of getting older. 

Many of Cara’s fans have grown into adulthood at the same time as her, and she hopes that they can hear the growth. “If you hear all the albums, you can hopefully hear that evolution sonically and lyrically, but also just on a human experience level,” she reflects. “I have definitely grown a ton and I’ve learned a lot in my now 10 ten years of doing this. I hope that you just hear the common thread, but also the growth a little bit.”

Over the years she’s learned how to reshape her pain and instead use it to inform herself of who she is. “Having contrast in life is super important,” she emphasizes. “You cannot have love and joy without really knowing loss and pain, and vise versa.” Just another nugget of wisdom from Alessia Cara.