Alessia Cara has opened up about her influences, her plans for her sophomore album — and a technical snafu during her performance on Saturday Night Live.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 20-year-old Canadian also admitted that she may have picked the wrong career.
“I've never been one to crave attention, which I know means that this is probably the worst career to pick,” Cara said, referring the “just complete terror” she feels in front of big crowds.
“I get anxious even when people come up to me for pictures, sometimes. That's the one thing that makes me hesitant about my future.
“But I love music too much to not do it.”
Cara said she “got too into” her performance on SNL earlier this season. “I hit my mic pack off. It unplugged my in-ear, so I couldn't hear anything. Which was the scariest thing ever.
“I was like, 'Of course this would happen to me.’"
The Ontario-born star said she was inspired as a child watching YouTube videos of artists like Lauryn Hill and Tracy Chapman — and the late Amy Winehouse.
“She was so different from everyone else I was hearing on radio and stuff. I was only 10 when I saw the video to ‘Rehab,’ which is probably not the best video to see when you're 10,” recalled Cara.
“But I didn't know what it meant – I just saw this crazy-haired, curly-haired girl like me singing. And she didn't sing like she was trying too hard. I was like, ‘This girl's cool. I wanna be like her.’”
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As for the follow-up to her 2015 debut, Know-It-All, Cara said she wants to write “more simply” and create a “kind of grotty pop-soul, R&B thing.”
She added: “That’s where my heart is, and I think that sound kind of got away from me a little bit just because I was young and so unsure of what I wanted to do.”
Cara will be one of the performers at the Juno Awards on April 2 on CTV.
Check out the full Q&A with Rolling Stone here.