Sensitive, strong-minded, and undeniably soulful, Alessia Cara writes songs that speak to the most hidden parts of the heart. Since signing with Def Jam Recordings at just 18-years-old, the Toronto-based singer/songwriter's down-to-earth honesty and larger-than-life talent have earned her massive acclaim and countless accolades, including five Juno Awards and a 2018 GRAMMY for Best New Artist. In the making of her fourth album Love & Hyperbole, Alessia brought her newly emboldened vision to a body of work exploring emotional territory previously uncharted in her music: the beautifully strange thrill of finding true happiness.

"Before this album, I'd never written from a place of feeling content with everything happening in my life," says Alessia. "At first it was challenging to write about love in a positive way, but over time I started digging into the more complicated emotions that come with being in love. As I looked back on all the songs, I realized there's a lot of hyperbole in my lyrics--and whether I'm using that hyperbole in a dramatic or humorous way, the entire project is about feeling very big feelings."

The follow-up to In the Meantime--a 2021 LP hailed as a "mighty pop opera" (Rolling Stone),"a sleek ode to in-between states" (Pitchfork), and "an inspired blend of hard truths and tropical bops" (NME)--Love & Hyperbole marks the latest turn in a dynamic career that kicked off with Alessia's five-times-platinum, chart-topping, record-shattering breakthrough single "Here." In bringing the album to life, Alessia joined forces with A-list producers like Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Joy Oladokun), Greg Kurstin (Paul McCartney, Adele), and Yakob (SZA, Lauv), dreaming up a lush and free-flowing sound informed by her love of timeless rock and pop from the '60s and '70s (e.g., late-career Beatles, Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac). Mainly recorded live--with the help of guest musicians like superstar guitarist John Mayer--Love & Hyperbole endlessly matches its raw emotion and unbridled energy with a newly heightened mastery of her sophisticated musicianship.

"More than anything I've ever done before, this album feels closest to what I actually listen to--it was like I was playing with a whole new canvas where the colors were made up of all the elements I love most in my favorite music," says Alessia. "I was very meticulous about seeing everything through and tweaking every little detail. I think that's the only way you can make your best possible work."

Doubling down on the diary-like candor that's always defined her music, Love & Hyperbole begins with the self-aware reflection of "Go Outside!"--a fitting starting point to the album's journey from isolation and inertia to open-hearted connection. "For a long time I felt so lost and closed-off, to the point where I didn't want to go outside," says Alessia. "That song is me asking how I can ever be happy if I can't even bring myself to be out in the world." From there, Alessia documents her experience in "learning to let the light in," taking care to share the many setbacks on her way to self-fulfillment. To that end, "Dead Man" ruminates on past relationships that left an indelible mark on her heart, unfolding as a hypnotic piece of soul-pop whose gloriously frenzied horn section features famed trombonist Roy Agee (a longtime member of Prince's live band). "I feel like I've learned a lot from dealing with situations where the other person wasn't capable of giving their full self," says Alessia, who co-wrote "Dead Man" with Elizondo. "When we were working on that song Mike played me an instrumental with these eerie little sounds, which led me to the concept of how sometimes in a relationship you feel so alone that it's almost like the other person is a ghost."

Graced with a sublime guitar solo from Mayer, "Obvious" slips into a brighter mood as Alessia offers up a sweetly reassuring portrait of unconditional love (from the first verse: "Fears are only constellations/Only glowing if we make them"). "If 'Dead Man' is about emotional distance, then 'Obvious' is about being physically apart from someone but reminding them how much you love them," says Alessia. "As I was coming up with the lyrics I was pulling a lot of inspiration from singer/songwriters like John Mayer, so it's mind-blowing to me that he ended up actually playing on the song." Meanwhile, on "Fire," moody piano melodies and luminous acoustic guitar merge in a dreamlike ode to the singular beauty of surrendering to love. "For a long time I wasn't letting anyone in on an emotional level, and life felt very lonely and dull," says Alessia, noting that the track arose from a jam session with her longtime collaborator Jon Levine (Suki Waterhouse, grandson). "'Fire' is about finding that person who reignites your internal flame and reshapes your idea of love, so that you see the world in a whole new way and everything feels so exciting again."

Over the course of Love & Hyperbole's 14 spellbinding tracks, Alessia muses on everything from the blissed-out infatuation of new romance (on "Slow Motion") to the excruciating anxiety that often accompanies falling in love (on "Run Run," one of the first songs penned for the album). "'Run Run' is about worrying that the person I love is going to leave me, because I'm not used to things being so good in a relationship," says Alessia. "As soon as I tapped into that concept, I had a much better understanding of what I wanted this album to be." Rooted in her most powerful vocal work to date, Love & Hyperbole closes out with the passionately delivered "Clearly": a gorgeously sprawling celebration of letting go and looking ahead. "'Clearly' is about forgiveness in every sense, whether it's forgiving myself for bad decisions or forgiving people who've hurt me in the past," says Alessia. "I truly believe that you can't get the good without the bad or find love without loss, so it felt right to end the album on a moment of accepting everything that's led me to this point."

As Alessia reveals, Love & Hyperbole surfaced from a profound shift in her songwriting approach. "For the longest time I was a very shy writer--I'd write all alone at home, then bring those ideas to my collaborators and build them up from there," she recalls. "This time I felt unashamed to just grab the mic and work things out in the room, instead of holding back out of some fear of saying a bad idea out loud." Growing up in a Toronto suburb called Brampton, Alessia first started writing songs at the age of seven after forming an all-girl band with her cousins, then took up guitar at ten. By age 15 songwriting had become an obsession, thanks in part to her discovery of formative influences like Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, and Carole King. When her YouTube channel caught label attention, Alessia made her debut with "Here"--a widely lauded wallflower anthem that emerged as Spotify's Most Viral Song of 2015 and landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. After taking home the Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year with her platinum-certified 2015 full-length debut Know-It-All (featuring the five-times-platinum ballad "Scars to Your Beautiful"), Alessia went on to win the Album of the Year prize for her 2018 sophomore LP Pains of Growing, in addition to achieving such triumphs as teaming up with Logic and Khalid on the eight-times-platinum, history-making 2017 smash "1-800-273-8255."

As she reflects on the making of Love & Hyperbole, Alessia notes that the album served as a major turning point in solidifying her identity as an artist. "Every project so far has felt like a step in the right direction, but this album felt more like a leap," she says. But despite bringing a greater level of confidence to every aspect of the process, she remains fully in tune with her more vulnerable side. "One of the things I hear most often from fans is that my music has helped them feel seen in some way," she says. "The whole reason I started making music was that I didn't always feel seen in my own life, so it's really touching to know that expressing myself might help someone else feel understood. That's always the goal with my music: to create something very specific and personal to me, but also open enough so that everyone can see themselves in my songs."