At first, inspiration didn’t come easy on the musical side, but she soon found “new sonic territory” – and with most of this new record featuring gorgeous live instrumentation, you can tell. In life, her experimentation didn’t take her as far as the dating apps (“I’m not built for it,” she says), but Cara is in a “pretty good place” nonetheless. With earned wisdom and her distinct brand of storytelling, Alessia Cara wrestles with the growing pains once again on Love & Hyperbole. This time, however, she lands safely on the other side.

One thing about Alessia Cara – whether she’s asking God or the boy next door, she’s going to find the answers. But after too many broken expectations and false promises, she finally takes things into her own hands, beginning with the setting of incisive, almost cold boundaries on the album’s opening tracks. “There are some boundaries you have to set and some boundaries you have to let go of,” she says. Easier said than done, of course. As she tried to shed old beliefs and relationships, more questions popped up. “In the past I grappled with being young and not knowing what was happening and now I’m grappling with not being that young and the fact that I don’t get to have that anymore.” The first half of the project is a masterclass in describing this never-ending angst and introspection that we’ve all gone through at some point in our lives. “Flew too close to the sun/Who I was she was made up/Threw a punch, had to take one,” she sings on the wonderful guitar-laden ballad, “Subside.” 

“Sometimes the things we don’t say and the areas that we let breathe are the most impactful.”

— Alessia Cara

Eventually, Cara lets go of some of those boundaries to let the light in. “What felt the most different [about this album] was the place I was at in my life,” she says.” Because of the less than ideal experiences she’s faced, she now knows how to “recognize the happier moments,” which she deliberately chooses to hold close. This new openness is captured in the second half of the album, with lovesick tracks brimming with fresh hope and earnest trust, reflecting her own newfound relationship. It’s a freedom captured not only in the lyrics, but also in the spotlight given to the live instruments and bouncy production. On multiple tracks, there’s ample space for the music to really shine on its own without the lyrics, a choice Cara says was intentional. “Sometimes the things we don’t say and the areas that we let breathe are the most impactful.” Cara might have been open, but she still didn’t see this new love coming as she details on the uncharacteristically cheeky, Doja Cat-inspired track, “Night Time Thing”: “Didn’t see you coming around/I didn’t see you coming/I’m feeling something/Boy, I think I’m feeling something.”

Throughout our interview, Cara reminds me that she’s aware that she’s “stretching emotions” on some of the album’s more dramatic tracks. “When you’re in love and happy, nothing can touch you and then when you’re heartbroken, nothing matters and everything is devastating,” she says. Heightened feelings equal heightened drama; one can’t exist without the other. That’s why love and hyperbole are pictured on the album cover, hands clasped, unable to stand without the other’s support. Both characters are depicted by Cara, further emphasizing these different yet dependent sides of herself. In the past, she’s fought this duality and the inevitable loss and change they bring, but now chooses to accept it. “Contrast can actually make very beautiful things.”

This Valentine’s Day, Love & Hyperbole will be brought into the world – so Cara won’t have much time for the typical festivities – but she has offered to lend her newfound clarity to me at her just announced tour where she promises to “scope out the area” for my next love story. 

Alessia Cara’s new album, Love & Hyperbole, is out Feb. 14

TOUR DATES: 

05/15 Toronto, ON – Roy Thomson Hall
05/21 Edmonton, AB – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
05/26 Vancouver, BC – Centre in Vancouver