[quote]By Ashvini Kartik-Narayan
Features Writer
Photo courtesy of Pitchfork[/quote]

Described by the Daily Californian as a having a blend of Rihanna-esque vocals and Swift style storytelling, the 19-year-old Canadian singer Alessia Cara released an EP this past August that tests the boundaries of R&B and pop music.

Like many up and coming artists today, Alessia started out making covers on YouTube. Four years ago, Def Jam Recordings took notice and signed the singer to its label.

Produced with the help of the duo Pop & Oak and songwriter Sebastian Kole, her EP “Four Pink Walls” has an old school, soulful hip-hop vibe mixed with characteristics of upbeat pop. Songs like “I’m Yours”, “Outlaws”, and “Seventeen” are more carefree and lighthearted – centered around love, and the desire to never grow up.

We learn a lot more about the inner workings of the singer’s brain in songs like “Four Pink Walls” and “Here”, which describe how she felt growing up as a songwriter and her frustration with superficial people. “I’m sorry if I seem uninterested,” Cara writes in her most popular single “Here”. In the song, she describes being at a party but wanting to be anywhere but “here”. Cara is not afraid of calling people out, like “the boy who’s throwing up/cause he can’t take what’s in his cup no more”: her lyrics are simple but honest, and her listeners relate to the way she candidly speaks about going against the crowd.

The EP blends the vintage elements of jazz with the modern elements of a rough hip-hop track, incorporating heavy percussion and synthesizers. Cara is a developing songwriter, and experiments with her use of imagery and figurative language to add authenticity to her songs. Alessia’s debut album “Know It All” is set to release this fall.