Love and Hyperbole: A Conversation with Alessia Cara
On Valentine’s Day Alessia Cara released her third studio album, Love & Hyperbole (don’t worry the irony is not lost on her).
Cara, who won the GRAMMY Award for Best New Artist in 2018, has had a career of success from her debut. Her first single “Here” reached a peak of #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified 5x Platinum in the United States.
Cara also has a massive cultural impact in her music as her collaboration with Khalid and Logic, “1-800-273-8255”, raised awareness around mental health and suicide prevention with calls to the National Suicide Prevention Hot Line rising 27% following the songs release.
With these accolades in mind, I asked Cara what keeps her motivated given the record-breaking success she has had at such a young age.
“I think it’s important no matter how much success you have or early on, to continue to have goals and work towards something,” Cara said.
For her, the goals became more personal. She narrowed in on accomplishments she felt were needed for her artistic growth, and not simply commercial success.
“Make yourself better for yourself. Having expectations can sabotage your creative process.” she added.
Turning to the album itself, the release date and title including love itself gave fans the expectation that romance was in the air. For Cara it was, as she referenced track 12, “Fire”, as a song full of unabashed love.
Cara unapologetically says: “Pick me up and set me free,” revealing this ecstatic nature of love relating to this liberating feeling.
Cara noted this track was her “first time writing a love song without fear attached.” She further explained that most of her love tracks imply a melancholic undertone, whereas fire — and by relation Love & Hyperbole — allow her this freedom to express her unabashed love.
Personally the second and fourth tracks, “Left Alone” and “Subside” respectively, are favorites to me.
In “Subside” Cara writes in the chorus:
Nothing good ever lasts/The girl I was never came back/Staying up, falling off track/So much I wish I knew/Flew too close to the sun/Who I was, she was made of/Threw a punch, had present to take one
While the album does revolve around this romantic ideal, much of it circles back to her growth as an artist. Cara is constantly evolving, and cannot be placed in the box of her past hits.
Her signature rasp and intelligent lyrical ability presents itself as much here as they did a decade ago in “Here.” Still, Cara explores themes of her own challenges with love, loss, and evolving into a new person.
A perfect release date on Valentine’s Day, a holiday that means many different things to many different people and mimics the deep and layered meanings present in the album, Love & Hyperbole is out now.