Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer-songwriter.
Early Life[]
Alessia was born to Italian-Canadian parents in Mississauga, Ontario, and grew up in Brampton, where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School. She used to write poetry and act in plays as a child. She started playing guitar when she was 10 years old and taught herself how to play a variety of songs. She started her own YouTube channel at the age of 13 and posted covers of songs.
Career[]
2014–2017: Career beginnings and Know-It-All[]
Alessia traveled to New York with her father in July 2014, where she signed a management deal with EP Entertainment and began work on her debut studio album later that year. Alessia released her official debut single through Def Jam in April 2015, titled "Here." She released the EP Four Pink Walls, which included five songs, including her debut single. On November 13, 2015, her debut album, Know-It-All, was released.
She embarked on her first headlining tour, the "Know-It-All Tour," from January to April 2016, performing in various US and Canadian cities.
Alessia released a music video for "Wild Things" on March 7, 2016, and Cara was featured in a re-released version of Troye Sivan's song "Wild" on June 23, 2016. On July 22, 2016, the music video was released. On November 3, 2016, Cara's music video for the Disney film Moana's single "How Far I'll Go" was released.
Zedd's music video for "Stay," featuring Cara, was released on April 18, 2017. Cara also appeared on Logic's Everybody album, in the song "1-800-273-8255." The song was released as a single on April 28, 2017 and features American singer-songwriter Khalid. Cara also appeared in the video, which was released on August 17, 2017.
2018–2020: The Pains of Growing and This Summer[]
The song "Growing Pains" was released on June 15, 2018. The music video was released five days later. Cara announced on July 10, 2018, that she would release a song she wrote and produced in her basement the following day as a small gift for her birthday. The single, "A Little More," was released on July 11, 2018, along with the music video.
In October 2018, she collaborated with Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti on the song "Vale per sempre" from the album Vita ce n'è. Cara released a new song titled "Trust My Lonely" on October 5, 2018. On the same day, a music video for the song was released. Kyle's music video for "Babies," featuring Cara, was released on November 8, 2018. Cara released a new song, "Not Today," on November 13, 2018.. The Pains of Growing, Cara's sophomore studio album, was released on November 30, 2018.
In January 2019, "Out of Love" was released to contemporary hit radio as the album's third single. Cara also worked with Alec Benjamin on the song "Let Me Down Slowly," which was released on January 7, 2019.
In May, she headlined "The Pains of Growing Tour," which visited Canadian cities throughout the month.
Cara announced the release of an EP, This Summer, in July 2019, with tracks to be released "every couple of weeks" leading up to its September 6, 2019 release. On July 22, the EP's first single, "Ready," was released. The second single, "Rooting for You," was released on August 9. The third single, "OKAY OKAY," was released on August 23. "October," the fourth single, was released on September 3. The "October" music video was released on October 1, 2019.
Cara was featured in Bastille's song "Another Place," which had a music video released on November 1. Cara collaborated with American singer-songwriter Lauv for the song "Canada" on Lauv's debut album, How I'm Feeling, on March 6, 2020. Cara released "I Choose" on April 3, 2020, for the 2020 Netflix animated film The Willoughbys, in which she made her film debut as the character "Jane Willoughby."
2021–present: In the Meantime[]
Cara announced on July 2, 2021, that her third studio album's lead singles "Sweet Dream" and "Shapeshifter" would be released on July 15, 2021. The announcement came after five days of cryptic posts on Instagram and Twitter, each with images that turned out to be related to the singles' music videos. The music video for "Sweet Dream" was released the same day, while the music video for "Shapeshifter" was released on July 23, 2021.
On August 2, 2021, it was announced that Cara would release "The Use In Trying," an original song for the 2021 animated film Paw Patrol: The Movie, on August 10, 2021. Cara wrote and sang "Feel You Now," the theme song for Blade Runner: Black Lotus, on August 5, 2021.
On August 31, 2021, Cara's emailing list received another clue about the album, this time an image of five clocks all pointing to 9:24. Cara revealed the album's cover on September 2, 2021, and announced that it is titled In the Meantime and will be released on September 24, 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 on September 10, 2021.
Cara's album, In the Meantime, was released on September 24, 2021, along with the music video for the song "Best Days."
Discography[]
Studio albums[]
- Know-It-All (2015)
- The Pains of Growing (2018)
- In the Meantime (2021)
Extended plays[]
- Four Pink Walls (2015)
- This Summer (2019)
Trivia[]
- Cara has dual Canadian and Italian citizenship.
