Alessia Cara performs onstage during the 2026 JUNO Awards at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont., on March 29.Cindy Ord/Getty Images
Alessia Cara has had the passage of time on her mind.
The Brampton, Ont.-raised singer rose to fame at 18, after her song Here became an anthem for anxious outsiders. Four albums, a Grammy and nine platinum singles later, Cara’s far from a teenager – this summer she turns 30.
As she approaches a new decade of life, Cara is looking back on her career thus far with Love Or Lack Thereof, which reimagines her old songs as soul and jazz recordings. It retraces Cara’s steps from her 2015 debut, Know-It-All, through to last year’s Love & Hyperbole.
On a sunny morning in late March, Cara sat down with The Globe and Mail at Noble Street Studios in Toronto, where she recorded her new album with a live band, to talk about leaving her 20s behind, recording her old songs and discovering herself in the process.
Gary Gerard Hamilton/The Associated Press
When you look back now on your early whirlwind of success, what do you think about it?
Looking back now, almost being 30 soon, it’s crazy. I did a lot. It can psychologically be a lot for a teenager. I can understand now, why I had moments of anxiety and confusion and why it was very hard for me to process.
How do you feel about turning 30?
Oh my gosh. I have mixed feelings on it. The thing that’s kind of helping me through it is the fact a lot of people I know who are older than me have said that your 30s are your best years.
You’re in your Saturn return. Do you believe in astrology?
Absolutely yes. Yes!
It’s often a very creative period for creative folks. How has it been for you?
As you get older, you acquire a lot of knowledge, a lot of new things. A lot of my growth has been shedding stuff, to be honest. I know that’s part of your Saturn return as well, shedding things that don’t serve you. Going back to the basics has been important for me.
What did you discover about yourself by re-recording your old material?
I feel like I’m in such a different emotional space than when I made a lot of those songs. It felt really empowering, on the one hand, to feel so removed from things I would never be removed from. That I felt would be part of my identity. There’s something cool about that, getting to re-sing these songs from the place that I’m in now.
What sort of things about your identity?
A lot of the sadness and melancholy that I walked around with all the time. That was so ingrained in who I was as a teenager and in my early 20s. I think it’s a part of who we all are at that age.
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How did you choose which songs to record? You left out a couple crowd-pleasers. We don’t see Scars to Your Beautiful or Here on this record.
I wanted to focus on the love songs and the heartbreak songs. Here and Scars are not those things. … I feel very grateful that I have songs that have stood the test of time, that people still listen to and talk about today, but there are other songs that I personally love that are crowd-pleasers in my little niche of my fan base.
Norah Jones is featured on one of the tracks – she’s someone who has fused together the worlds of pop and more traditional styles. How did that feature come about?
I had the chance to join her podcast and sing with her. She has this really cool show where she sings with all her guests. I found our voices sounded great together. I mean, her voice sounds great with anyone’s. It planted that seed for me. When making this project, you can’t really have a discussion about modern jazz without mentioning Norah Jones. It just felt like a no-brainer.
The album also features Nelly Furtado. Do you have a favourite Nelly song?
Oh my gosh, yes! I have so many. I love Say It Right. It’s not really underrated because everyone loves it, but I still think it’s underrated. Of course I’m Like a Bird, and the one she did with Chris Martin, All Good Things. That one I think is underrated!
This project allowed you to look back on your career thus far. What about the next 10 years? What’s your intent as an artist moving forward?
Expanding even further – trying to take myself to my further potential, whatever that looks like. I don’t feel like I’ve done that yet. I feel like I’ve maybe been a bit more reserved or scared to try different things. I really feel like in the next 10 years I really want to try to expand my creativity.
This interview has been edited and condensed.