Singer-Songwriter Alessia Cara talks about her latest album release ‘Love & Hyperbole’

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter shows no signs of slowing down.

PC: Alex Loucas

Alessia is nothing short of magic! When Alessia Cara announced that her then-upcoming and now released album was coming soon on X in late August 2023, we all thought in unison: ‘She’s so back!’. The Brampton, ON-native undoubtedly has made her mark in the music industry with her hit song, ‘Here’ which found mainstream success holding the #6 spot on Billboard’s 25 Best Songs of 2015, #21 on Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Songs of 2015, and #2 on Pitchfork’s The 100 Best Tracks of 2015. Followed by the release of the equally successful ‘Scars to Your Beautiful’ and collaborations with Zedd, Logic, and Juanes.

It has been over 10 years since her first album release and now almost 4 years since the release of ‘In the Meantime’, the COVID-era album that brought tracks like ‘Sweet Dream’, ‘Drama Queen’, and ‘I Miss You, Don’t Call Me’ into the world. When asked about how she feels hearing her music reimagined by other artists, such as ‘Here’, she notes that the she doesn’t realize how much the “production of a song or the bed underneath the song can change the feeling so much and just change it altogether.” “I encourage people to do different things with the songs. I feel like it gives it a whole new meaning and new lives every time [remixes are made].”

Love and Hyperbole is Cara’s fourth studio album which makes the release all the more special. She humbly remarks that it isn’t all that rewarding to create expectations when making art. “I think having expectations can kind of sabotage your creative process.” “I think it’s strange to compare yourself to things that you’ve done already or to your younger self.” The 14-track album produced by industry familiars, Mike Elizondo, Jake Gosling, and Jon Levine. Released during the month of love, the album comes a great time. To Cara, the tracks ‘(Isn’t It) Obvious’, which features a solo from John Mayer, and ‘Fire’ felt like “they already existed”. The authentic feelings behind each of these songs is evident and are so authentic to her, that they’ll feel familiar to listeners.

The breakout track from this album, ‘Dead Man’ is a song that Cara had described as “Basically, looking at the other person and metaphorically shaking them and saying 'I am really trying my best to hold here, but if you don't want to be held onto then there's nothing left of this'. I feel like I am talking to a dead man." The accompanying music video below is filled with abstract visuals, incredible direction, and evokes a feeling of passion that I haven’t seen in a music video thus far.

Since the album’s release on Feb. 14, critics and fans alike having fallen in love with Love & Hyperbole, which has received widespread acclaim. Cara will be preparing for her third concert tour, the Love & Hyperbole Tour, which will start on Apr. 6, 2025. She’’ll kickoff the tour at the famed Orpheum Theatre in Boston, MA, making stops along the east coast in Brooklyn, NY, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania followed by Atlanta, GA, Chicago, Nashville as well as traveling internationally across multiple countries including Canada, Norway, the UK, and France. However, she returned to the humble beginnings of her career when she was performing in bars, talent shows, as she recently did pop up shows in LA, NYC and Toronto. “You get to see everybody’s faces, hear them singing along. It’s really cool just to have a bunch of people in the room who are there because they love what you do and they’re just ready to hear and be there with you.”

Cara wants her OG fans to know that she’s grown a lot specifically that there’s an “evolution sonically and lyrically but on a human experience-level, I’ve grown a ton and learned a lot in my 10 years of doing this. I hope that [fans] can hear the common thread and the growth. To new fans, I hope they listen to the old stuff and catch up!”

You can follow Alessia Cara on Instagram and YouTube. Want to know if the Love & Hyperbole tour is coming to a city near you? Check out alessiacara.com/tour