2018 Grammy-winning Best New Artist, singer/songwriter, Alessia Cara, visited DIME Detroit on October 5th to speak to students and talk about her highly-anticipated album, Growing Pains. Excitement ran high in The Underground as students and guests waited for the “Scars to Your Beautiful” and “Here” singer to arrive. The event kicked off with a screening of Alessia Cara’s music video for the title track of her upcoming album, “Growing Pains.”
Interviewed by Metro Times Music Editor, Jerilyn Jordan, Alessia began the interview by explaining, “I started off like every other artist… aspiring to do this for a living, and kind of being told pretty much my whole life that it wasn’t something that was plausible or possible. Now that I’m on the other side of it, I think it’s so important to talk to a bunch of people that want to do the same thing, and give them any insight into how I got started, or any help that they might need.”
Authenticity, honest songwriting, and independence were major themes of the interview. When discussing writing Growing Pains, Alessia explained, “On this album, I didn’t want to have to rely on anybody.”
“I think that when people see a young woman in the industry, it’s very difficult for them to think that you’re responsible for your own success, unfortunately.” She continued, “That was frustrating and I wanted to prove that (I could do this), not only to myself but to everyone else that was saying that.”
DIME Detroit’s students had an opportunity to ask questions to the and when discussing how best to get started in the music industry, Alessia encouraged the students, “I think the no’s are really helpful, even if it stings in the beginning…”
“It just takes one ‘yes’ that counts and that matters to get you where you need to be.” -Alessia Cara
Alessia was totally surprised to find out that DIME Detroit students had learned a few of her songs, and jumped up to perform “Here” with vocalist, Jamiliah Minter, along with Daedreeon Underwood on drums, Julia Shuren on keys, Donnie Clark on guitar, Donavan Moorehead on bass, and Devin Woodson and Sara Berger on background vocals. Check out the video below, or read the article on Rolling Stone!
DIME would like to thank Alessia Cara, Def Jam Recordings, and Universal Music Group for making this such an incredible experience for our students!
