SabrinaFan
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Post by SabrinaFan on Sept 27, 2023 9:23:19 GMT -5
“I’m not Bowie, Prince or Queen, but at least I do what I dream” is an Alessia Cara lyric that perhaps perfectly describes who she is as an artist. If you’re looking for the traditional pop star with a flashy, exciting image, Alessia is most certainly not your girl. Alessia presents herself as down-to-Earth, and takes pride in being seen as your average, everyday girl-next-door who happens to be a famous singer. She is almost like a friend to the listener, through the vulnerability and authenticity she radiates, and the sentiments of empowerment present in most of her songs.
While I’d heard the first album and her more popular singles from the subsequent projects, I had never explored Alessia Cara’s discography until this year. My partner’s favorite artist is Alessia Cara, so at the beginning of this summer, I decided to check out all of Alessia’s albums. I was overwhelmingly impressed by her discography and Alessia has become one of my favorite artists over the past several months. I’ve listened to Alessia so much recently that she is gradually becoming one of my most-listened-to artists this year, so I thought it would be fun to do a discography review of the four projects she’s released.
Alessia’s biggest strength is certainly her lyrics. She’s mostly definitely the queen of poeticism and metaphor, so a lot of these reviews focus a bit heavier on the lyrics than the production. That said, I am ranking her discography purely based on how much I like the songs overall based on the song’s elements as a whole, not solely on profoundness of lyricism. There will sometimes be reviews where I have four to five paragraphs of things to say about a song that is lower-ranked, and other times where songs will be highly-ranked merely because it’s a bop, even if I don’t have a lot to say. Also, I’ve not included a standout lyric in the past few review series, many of Alessia’s lyrics are so beautifully poetic that I decided to once again include the lyric that stood out to me most above each review.
Alessia currently has three studio albums and an EP, comprising 49 songs in total. I am skipping remixes, intros and outros, so “Here (2:00AM Version)” on the deluxe of Know-It-All, “Growing Pains (Reprise)” and “Unboxing Intro” won’t be reviewed here. Also, differently from my other review series, I will not be ranking any non-album singles or songs where she is a featured artist. I will be reviewing all of them separately as bonuses, of which there will be 12 sprinkled throughout these reviews (I won’t be doing a standout lyric for the bonuses). Just like with the other artists I’ve reviewed, I will continue ranking and reviewing any new content Alessia puts out as it’s been released. Since I can’t rearrange post order, a running list of rankings is at the bottom of this post. There are 61 reviews in total, which I will post daily throughout all of October and November, beginning October 1 through November 30. I won’t necessarily have a ton to say for the first several reviews, as Alessia does have a few unmemorable tracks, but I promise after the first few, the reviews will get longer and more in-depth once we get to songs that there’s more to say about. :) I hope you enjoy the reviews!
1. Apartment Song 2. Find My Boy 3. Trust My Lonely 4. Rooting for You 5. Wild Things 6. Out of Love 7. Growing Pains 8. October 9. Somebody Else 10. Girl Next Door 11. Middle Ground (featuring Chika) 12. Bluebird 13. Lie to Me 14. Box in the Ocean 15. Easier Said 16. Scars to Your Beautiful 17. Okay Okay 18. Ready 19. Here 20. Sweet Dream 21. My Kind 22. Four Pink Walls 23. Drama Queen 24. Best Days 25. My Song 26. Wherever I Live 27. Clockwork 28. Nintendo Game 29. Comfortable 30. Seventeen 31. I’m Yours 32. Shapeshifter 33. Not Today 34. Fishbowl 35. What’s On Your Mind? 36. Like You 37. Voice in My Head 38. 7 Days 39. Slow Lie 40. You Let Me Down 41. I Miss You, Don’t Call Me 42. All We Know 43. Overdose 44. Outlaws 45. Stone (featuring Sebastian Kole) 46. I Don’t Want To 47. River of Tears 48. Stars 49. A Little More
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Post by Private Dancer on Sept 27, 2023 10:34:57 GMT -5
Omg I absolutely looooove Alessia Cara! Her music is very nostalgic for me and I look forward to this review!
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SabrinaFan
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 1, 2023 12:48:52 GMT -5
49. "A Little More"
Album: The Pains of Growing (2018)
“Hey Mr. Knock on My Door, sorry I’ve been emotions galore”
This is a cute little ballad, but I don’t find this song to be particularly memorable. Some of the details about things in the person’s past help create a nice story, but otherwise, this song feels quite lethargic, and the lyrics are not exciting enough to save it either. The lyrics talk about craving to get to know a love interest more, but do not go into much further depth. Her soft vocals are pleasant, but this is otherwise easily the most unmemorable song in her discography.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 2, 2023 8:28:05 GMT -5
48. "Stars"
Album: Know-It-All (2015)
“Let down my guard and give you my scars, open up my heart”
I really like the lyrics here, but the production is a bit boring. I feel the song could have been much better had it built up to a dramatic finish of some sort, rather than having the production stay static like it did. The lyrics feature Alessia singing about a beautiful love, and declaring that the relationship is destined for greatness. She commits to this love through the good and the bad, where both parties’ shortcomings are accepted. I honestly don’t really have anything else to say about this one, as while I somewhat appreciate the sweet lyrics, the song as a whole is relatively generic and unmemorable.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 3, 2023 8:31:14 GMT -5
47. "River of Tears"
Album: Know-It-All (2015)
“I realize that sometimes love brings you flowers, then it builds you coffins”
This deluxe track on Know-It-All is decent, and while it's maybe not the best track compared to the album, there is definitely some appeal for it. Alessia sings about questioning why she trusts her love interest so much, despite that all they ever do is lie to her and make her depressed. Lyrically, it feels a bit like a rehash of “Overdose,” which I feel more eloquently expresses the angst of not being able to break away from a toxic lover. There is a difference here, where the listener sees Alessia realize her own worth and acknowledge that “the hurt is for the better,” and the emotions she expresses are a bit more raw than we saw in “Overdose.” Although those small differences are a plus, the track overall feels like a less exciting version of “Overdose,” with subpar production and mostly unmemorable lyrics.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 4, 2023 7:04:21 GMT -5
46. "I Don't Want To"
Album: Growing Pains (2018)
“You went and turned the red flag white, darling, and you waved it”
This is a cute ballad. The lyrics lament the emotional struggle that Alessia finds herself faced with, as she tries to let a lost lover go, but realizes that her heart isn’t ready to ever let them go. One thing I like about this song is the atmosphere that the production creates. Although the production is a soft, guitar melody, the lyrics are quite emotional. Yet, the production and vocals create an atmosphere where it feels like Alessia has her head in the clouds, daydreaming about what she knows she can never have. While this one is towards the bottom of the rankings for the production being a bit flat, I still appreciate the dreamy interpretation of a concept that would usually be presented as sad.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 5, 2023 7:24:25 GMT -5
45. "Stone" (feat. Sebastian Kole)
Album: Know-It-All (2015) “I've never seen forever, but I know we'll remain”
She has stronger than this, but this is a cute ballad! The song lyrically discusses Alessia taking emotional shelter in the profoundness of a relationship, saying that the person is her rock in a frightening and uncertain world. The production is cute, but it feels a bit generic and makes the song not the most memorable. Alessia and Sebastian have good chemistry with one another, and I liked his verse. Another aspect of the song I like is that the type of relationship they’re singing about is open to interpretation - the lyrics never imply that this is specifically about a romantic relationship, so it could also be about a profound friendship or even a relationship with parents/relatives. It is essentially a “support person” anthem, and whilst simple, it has a very cute message.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 6, 2023 8:10:58 GMT -5
Bonus #1: "Wild (Remix)" Troye Sivan / Alessia Cara
We're going to mix things up a little today and do our first bonus! This was already such a cute song even without Alessia, and I think she makes a great addition to the remix. The lyrics discuss a passionate relationship that quickly heats up. I feel Troye and Alessia have really good chemistry here, particularly during the parts when they are both singing in the chorus. Alessia’s verse feels really well incorporated here as well, and doesn’t fall into the trap of some remixes where the verse feels tacked on. It’s one of my favorites that I’ve heard from Troye and I still return to this from time to time.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 7, 2023 8:13:09 GMT -5
44. "Outlaws"
Album: Know-It-All (2015)
“They'll never understand the honor among these thieves”
This is a fun little song! Alessia sings about comparing her love affair to being outlaws, comparing her relationship to Bonnie and Clyde, and using various crime metaphors to explain the strong feelings she has for her love interest. It isn’t anything super memorable and I don't have much to say as a result, but the jazzy, upbeat production makes this really enjoyable.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 8, 2023 10:26:41 GMT -5
43. "Overdose"
Album: Know-It-All (2015)
“We fight, we laugh, detox, rehab”
One of Alessia’s strengths as an artist is definitely metaphor, and I would say she got stronger at the complexity and poeticism of her metaphors in her second and third album. However, this song is still a great use of metaphor, featuring Alessia comparing a tumultuous relationship to a drug overdose. Throughout the song, Alessia questions why she trusts a boy who keeps bringing her on an emotional rollercoaster. Despite that this boy is getting under her skin, she feels unable to control her love for this toxic person. While Alessia’s strongest aspect is usually her lyrics, I would argue that her vocals and delivery are the best aspect of this song. Her fluctuating vocals work really well to further the metaphor of how this love interest continues to bring her heart on a high, before sending it crashing down. The slightly chaotic production also sounds really good combined with the lyrics.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 9, 2023 7:33:34 GMT -5
Bonus #2: "How Far I'll Go" Cover from Moana
We now arrive at the song adult contemporary radio will not let die haha. I still see it pop in and out of the top 50 when I post the Hot AC/AC chart every morning, despite that it started charting seven years ago. I mean, I love the cover too, but omg, just let the poor song rest in peace already lol. I easily like this version better than the original. While the original is also great, Alessia brings a bubbly, upbeat energy to this that I don’t feel the original quite captured. Alessia’s voice fits in so well with this song that it sounds like she was meant to sing it, both vocally and lyric-wise, as the song’s positive message of “there’s no telling how far you’ll go if you set your mind to something” fits pretty well with Alessia’s style. Vocally, Alessia sounds so good here, it sounds like she is very impassioned about this song and is treating it like one of her own songs, rather than some random song she’s just doing for a kids movie. This is a wonderful cover!
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 10, 2023 8:35:13 GMT -5
42. "All We Know"
Album: The Pains of Growing (2018)
“All we know is that we don’t”
Beginning with this song, the quality of the rest of Alessia's discography is a huge step up from #43-49. It was really hard to decide to rank some of these low, but it certainly is not a reflection of the song's quality. In this one's case (as is the case of many of the lower songs from this song forward), I don't return to it often, but it is still very good.
Possibly an unpopular opinion, because it’s more upbeat than the depressing songs she’ll have later on In the Meantime, but this song makes me sad. “All We Know” is an existential crisis and feels like a sister track to “7 Days” in some ways. The lyrics express the pessimism and fear that Alessia feels when she questions the previous things she had faith in. She uses St. Nick and the Wizard of Oz as examples of false idols that children believe in, which also serves as a double metaphor for how childish and naive Alessia feels for placing her beliefs in things that weren’t true. There is a certain helplessness in Alessia’s vocals and lyrics, as she sings about the crushing realization that nothing is really in our control. It is definitely a hard lesson learning that ultimately, nothing external to us is truly in our control, and I remember it being scary for me to learn this as well. Alessia does a great job expressing the sheer panic in this realization through her vocals, as does the fluid, anxious-feeling production.
What makes me saddest about this song is that it has an aura of utter hopelessness, with the lyric “We try to help it, but we won’t” perhaps best expressing this sentiment that nothing we do means anything. As we get older, I feel I have become more comfortable with the fact that nothing’s in our control, and realize that knowledge is subjective and fluid, rather than objective and fixed, but it is still a scary realization to have around the age that Alessia was at this time. Alessia does such a great job expressing how crushing this sentiment feels to her, and it’s admittedly not one I return to often because the song feels so heavy.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 11, 2023 7:36:16 GMT -5
41. "I Miss You, Don't Call Me"
Album: In the Meantime (2021)
“Don’t call me, please call me” This is a tough one to rank. Songs that depress me can be kind of a hard sell for me on wanting to seek out again, no matter how much I appreciate the message. In this song, Alessia expresses raw pining for a former lover. She tries to be emotionally distant when running into this lover again, despite that it is eating her alive inside. During the chorus, Alessia indirectly lets her thoughts spill to the listener. The thoughts she has when running into this person are conflicting, in one beat cooing “don’t call me” and the very next “please call me.” Alessia’s vocal performance in the song excellently portrays the intense struggle she is having, as the listener is forced to hear her heartbreakingly stumble as she is desperately attempting to uphold the emotional walls to prevent this person from getting back into her heart. The peak of this struggle is in the bridge, where Alessia presents herself at her most vulnerable. After significant struggling in the prior two verses, Alessia admits that she can’t let go of her feelings for this person, and that it scares her that this person still means so much to her. Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment in this somber song is that it ends with “I miss you, please call me,” alluding to the fact that Alessia was not able to stop herself from having these feelings she knows are bad for her.
Beginning tomorrow, we will kick off the top 40! We have five the songs from Know-It-All out already, as well as three tracks from The Pains of Growing, and one from In the Meantime. I really like Know It All, but there are definitely quite a few weaker tracks on that album. Alessia really hit her stride with the second album (although there are a couple of duds), and I would argue her third album is near immaculate.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 12, 2023 6:44:38 GMT -5
40. "You Let Me Down"
Album: In the Meantime (2021)
“I will keep it, keep it sacred like it's golden, wish you nothing but an exhale”
For all the relationships gone wrong talked about on "In the Meantime," one thing that is fascinating to me is that Alessia never at any point expresses anger about any of it. Even in “Lie to Me,” though she is agitated about being lied to, it’s more of a manic anxiety about losing who she loves than pure anger. Although there are certainly things that genuinely make us angry in life, I firmly believe that anger also hides a lot of other emotions, and I love that Alessia’s lyricism is vulnerable enough to go beyond that surface level of anger.
“You Let Me Down” perfectly encapsulates this. One of the main lyrics in the chorus is “I love you, but you let me down.” It’s a simple sentiment, but so admirably vulnerable. The lyric is an expression that she cares for this person enough to be honest with them, even though she is hurt on a deep level. The little details in the song also allow the listener to piece together some context, where we grow to understand that Alessia believes this is a lost cause, and that the person is difficult to be with. The second verse is the most heartbreaking, where Alessia admits she still may want to call the person on their birthday, but she envisions the conversation quickly divulging into small talk, which makes it too hard for Alessia to say the words she needs to in order to gain closure.
Later in the song, Alessia does say it is for the best, and that she wishes the person nothing but the best. She also sings that she will keep this relationship safe in her heart, because it is still meaningful to her even though it is over. For me personally, a relationship being special and holding great meaning for you, even though you no longer see the person, is such a hard thing to cope with, especially if you haven’t made your peace about it ending.
The instrumental also works super well with the lyrics, as it is really sludgy-feeling and is almost representative of what it feels like to have your heart slowly sinking. This song is perhaps one of Alessia’s most vulnerable, and its position in these rankings is not a commentary on its quality. It is honestly only this low because I always feel so emotionally heavy after listening to it, so it’s one I rarely return to, unless I’m in need of a good cry or something.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 13, 2023 7:16:41 GMT -5
Bonus #3: "WTSGD" Clay / Alessia Cara
“WTSGD” stands for “When the Sun Goes Down,” and sadly it’s not a hot Selena Gomez cover lol. The song grapples with depression, but gets much deeper and darker than Alessia has ever gotten in her discography. The lyrics discuss being too depressed to go about daily life, because Clay has decided she’s not worth it. She explains the depression is worst at night when she’s alone with her thoughts. Alessia’s verse adds some detail about her own experience with depression, explaining how she feels a constant state of emptiness when she’s depressed. The production is a dark, brooding guitar loop. I can see the appeal for those who like very sad music or need to wallow in the dark emptiness of depression, but it’s not really my thing. Even at my saddest, I tend to only want to listen to songs that are moderately sad, just so I can have a good cry and then hopefully feel better lol. So yeah, I see the vibe here, but I’m not really feeling it.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 14, 2023 9:54:56 GMT -5
Bonus #4: "Stay" Zedd / Alessia Cara
Hey all, so I realized this morning that there are actually 13 bonus songs, not 12. I kinda like how neatly this review series fit into exactly two months, so in order to stay on schedule, I'm going to post both a bonus and a regular review today. This may be one of the hottest takes I have in this review series, but honestly, this one has never quite clicked for me. Alessia is the featured vocalist on this Zedd song, which centers around begging a lover to stay. She professes to know that she can’t change her ex-lover’s mind, but she still relentlessly tries to convince them to not leave her. The production is decent, but it feels a tad incomplete. The ominous production flowing into a more urgent dance beat definitely fits with the lyrics of the verses, but idk, it’s just never clicked with me tbh. The choppy vocal effect popularized by Kygo’s “It Ain’t Me” is also used here, which is very hit-or-miss for me. It works well in “It Ain’t Me,” but I am just sort of indifferent to it here.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 14, 2023 10:01:28 GMT -5
39. "Slow Lie"
Album: In the Meantime (2021) “I guess I'll see you around…I'll see you around”
This one is so sad. Alessia talks about the inevitability that her former lover has changed, despite that they said they never would. Alessia infuses great vulnerability into a number of the song’s lyrics. The lyric “I know I should be caught up with other things” particularly stands out to me. It is essentially an admission that Alessia is facing an internal struggle with herself, about how much thought she is devoting to this person who no longer cares about her. The other one that really stands out to me is “I guess I'll see you around…I'll see you around.” It’s such a simple lyric, but there is so much emotional baggage packed into the lyric. The slow, lonely instrumental helps cement the pain that Alessia is experiencing to the listener, as she copes with the fact that there’s nothing left of this relationship. The listener can feel that this person still means so much to Alessia, causing the empty pleasantry of “I guess I’ll see you around” to feel so much more heartbreaking. Perhaps the most emotional realization of the song is the point where the listener realizes that the title lyric isn’t referring to the former love interest lying to Alessia. Rather, all along, the “slow lie” is referring to the one Alessia had been telling herself about who this person was.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 15, 2023 10:05:44 GMT -5
38. "7 Days"
Album: The Pains of Growing (2018)
“I hope that through the static, you’ll show us the clarity, cause it's hard to find the silver lining in the bittersweet”
Apparently we are reviewing a very intense entry of Alessia’s discography today, because according to the Genius listing for the song, the song is “politically charged” and features Alessia “calling out God” lmao. I don’t really feel either of those things really apply here lol, but it is still a fascinating concept. I view the song as more of an existential crisis, as the lyrics feature Alessia thinking about all the horrible things that happen, such as gender and race discrimination, greed and chaos in our world today. Many religions say the world is made in God’s image, yet Alessia questions this because of how much evil is in the world. The verses feature Alessia questioning various bad aspects of society, and build up to an explosive chorus where Alessia directly engages in dialogue with God, asking if the seven days of creation was worth all the mess. As a brief aside, it amuses me that Alessia refers to God as “Mr. G” at one point. I’d always thought the lyric was “It’s a mystery to me” until looking up the Genius page for the lyrics, but the real lyric (“is it Mr. G to me?”) is much more fun haha.
This song seems to be Alessia’s unique way of expressing her crisis of faith. Alessia is very poetic and a storyteller at heart, and arguably, making it a direct conversation with God makes the song far more memorable and appealing, than if she’d merely sung that all of the bad stuff in the world makes her question her beliefs that the world is inherently good. Although I will admit to not being a particularly religious person, the heartfelt sentiment of the song still feels powerful to me, and feels like it has a broad appeal to anyone who is questioning why so many bad things happen in a world that we are socialized to believe is good.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 16, 2023 8:15:37 GMT -5
37. "Voice in My Head"
Album: In the Meantime (2021) “I'd escape myself if I could, never out of the woods, ‘cause I'm stuck with me after all”
“Voice in My Head” sees Alessia lyrically lament the nagging doubts at the back of her mind that chips away at her self-confidence. The lyrics explore how her insecurities, and the expectations others have of her, lower her self-esteem. The song displays a great amount of self-reflection that takes the message beyond “I’m overwhelmed by my anxiety.” Throughout the song, the listener gets the sense that Alessia is aware that her perseverance is excessive and unhealthy, but she is not feeling confident enough to fully internalize that her thoughts are merely anxiety rather than fact. The chorus is also quite catchy and relatable, and exudes a bit of confidence by dissing the personification of this voice in her head. The angsty, unsettled production works really well with the lyrics here, and increases the song’s relatability for me, as it further helps set the atmosphere to represent Alessia’s experiences with anxiety.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 17, 2023 7:45:37 GMT -5
36. "Like You"
Album: This Summer EP (2019)
“You said, "I've never, ever, ever met a girl like you, and, boy, you never will”
Alessia’s really delivering the sass in this album, and I’m here for it! The song features Alessia recovering from a bad relationship, saying that she almost lost herself. However, she immediately flip-flops and puts the blame on the other person, saying that they should feel lucky to have even been graced with her presence. The way in which the sentiment is expressed exudes great confidence rather than haughtiness, and is essentially a profession of her own self-worth. Perhaps my favorite line is “You say I’ve never, ever, ever met a girl like you, and boy, you never will.” The line delivers such casual sass through wordplay, through reclaiming her own self-worth and saying “joke’s on you, you didn’t know the real me anyway!” I also like the line “I'm too young to care, too old to let it hurt,” as it is a very clever way of expressing that there is so much more of life to live, and she’s too mature to get caught up in the petty stuff. The bouncy, experimental production exudes the confidence in the lyrics well, and adds to the playful atmosphere.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 18, 2023 7:59:45 GMT -5
35. "What's On Your Mind?" Album: This Summer EP (2019)
“Even Juliet and Romeo couldn't outsmart communication”
“What’s On Your Mind?” is the hot question in this song, and while it’s a simple song, it’s still fun and empowering. The storytelling in this one is really nice, as Alessia starts the song by telling us about a relationship that has ended where the feelings were not mutually reciprocated, but the ex-lover suddenly returns and decides they do, in fact, still want this relationship. Alessia questions this unexpected profession of love, arguing that she was honest about her feelings from the start, but they were never verbally reciprocated. The core of this song is basically “be real with me,” and it’s expressed in a very fun, empowering way that is universally relatable if you have ever been in a relationship (or even a friendship) where you have been open and vulnerable with the person, only to be hurt by not having said feelings reciprocated.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 19, 2023 6:56:32 GMT -5
34. "Fishbowl"
Album: In the Meantime (2021) “I wanna cry and I wanna jump, but I need a safety net” “Fishbowl” lyrically discusses Alessia’s feelings of being emotionally trapped, although it is left ambiguous as to why exactly she is feeling trapped. The first verse starts out strong, with Alessia expressing conflicting desires to the audience, saying she feels like having an outburst, but also wants a safety net, in addition to a few other starkly contrasting feelings. While I certainly wish I didn’t, I can relate to this feeling that being anxious can give you, where you’re panicking so much that you don’t know what to do with yourself, and just want someone to ground you. While Alessia never makes this clear, it would appear this song is about a panic attack, where you are so panicked that you feel out of control and out of body.
Throughout the song, Alessia expresses a desire to be calm again, and attempts to find a philosophical reason why she experienced the event that panicked her. This is also something I can relate to, as somebody who has had panic attacks. Even though you know in your heart that you’re overblowing this in your mind, it can be difficult to let yourself internalize this enough to calm down, which is what I believe Alessia is expressing here with her dualistic lyrics. The production doesn’t particularly match the lyrics here, and comes off as being just kind of a generic poppy beat, but it works for what it is and it’s fun.
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SabrinaFan
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 20, 2023 7:17:15 GMT -5
Bonus #5: "Welcome Back" Ali Gatie / Alessia Cara
This one is just alright, and it’s strange to think that this was Alessia’s most recent song on the pop charts. While I thought Alessia’s contribution to the song was good, Ali’s vocals are really lifeless IMO. It honestly sounds like he’d rather be anywhere else than recording this song, which is surprising considering this song is supposed to be about warmly welcoming back a lover who still means a lot to you. The production also doesn’t really work well for me. I feel there should have been some excitement within the production, but instead we get this really dreary instrumental with no energy whatsoever. The one positive aspect of this song is that Alessia’s vocals have some emotion in them, and give off a vibe that she is cautious about letting this meaningful person back into her heart, in fear they will leave again. Alessia is really the only positive part of this song, and she runs circles around the bored-sounding contributions we get from Ali. His vocals sound like he is welcoming back a coworker he only kinda knows at a work-mandated gathering, certainly not the love of his life. Overall, this is a really passionless song that I would not recommend wasting your time with, rant over, next lol.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 21, 2023 8:44:23 GMT -5
33. "Not Today"
Album: The Pains of Growing (2018) “One day I won’t need a PhD, to sit me down and tell me what it all means”
The production is definitely the star of this song, but there is definitely something to be said for the unspoken sentiment of the lyrics. The bass-heavy production sounds great and is the best part of the track, in my opinion. Lyrically, the song is Alessia listing out all of the things she’s confident she’ll have someday after recovering from a relationship, but she acknowledges that this day won’t come anytime soon. It is a simple message that it’s okay to just be sad for a little while, yet Alessia also conveys a lot of hope in her vocal delivery, and the change-up in production during the chorus. I also like the little breakdown in the chorus.
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Post by MissAmericana on Oct 22, 2023 9:22:13 GMT -5
I'm really loving this thread so far! Alessia's one of my favorite artists and it pains me thinking about how underrated she is. She's constantly improving with each album and I honestly think she would be so much better off not being on a major label. I love what AWAL has been doing with Steve Lacy and mxmtoon, she would be a perfect fit there.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 22, 2023 11:08:42 GMT -5
32. "Shapeshifter"
Album: In the Meantime (2021) “Don’t know if I want to get you back, or get you back someday” I don’t particularly feel it’s as quite as strong lyrically some of the other tracks on the album, but I do still really enjoy this one, especially for the production. Many of the other tracks on the album have really clever, complex lyricism, whereas the lyrics of this one are a bit more gimmicky (in example, “did I get fooled or are you a fool?”). That said, I still really like the song overall, and the line “Don’t know if I want to get you back, or get you back someday” is super clever (and is especially relevant now, considering Olivia Rodrigo would go on to use this same play on words for her most recent single, "Get Him Back!"). The lyrics represent Alessia realizing her lover was not the person they presented themselves as. As opposed to other songs on the album, the lyrics aren't quite as strong, but the mysterious production still make this one a lot of fun.
As an anecdotal aside, upon looking up the lyrics for this review, I noticed Google shows the song as being on the album Lo-Fi Cuddling, which I found quite odd. I suppose the song is a bit sensual in how mysterious it is, but considering the lyrics are all about discovering somebody’s not who you thought they were, it doesn’t seem like a song anyone would particularly want to cuddle to lol.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 22, 2023 11:30:34 GMT -5
I'm really loving this thread so far! Alessia's one of my favorite artists and it pains me thinking about how underrated she is. She's constantly improving with each album and I honestly think she would be so much better off not being on a major label. I love what AWAL has been doing with Steve Lacy and mxmtoon, she would be a perfect fit there. Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews! :) I completely agree with you she'd be way better off if she left her current label and went with AWAL (or something similar). It's a crime that her label didn't push anything else off of In the Meantime to Pop other than "Sweet Dream." It's easily Alessia's best album yet and there are so many songs on there that I think could have easily charted if they had gotten better promotion.
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MissAmericana
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Post by MissAmericana on Oct 22, 2023 13:11:06 GMT -5
Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews! :) I completely agree with you she'd be way better off if she left her current label and went with AWAL (or something similar). It's a crime that her label didn't push anything else off of In the Meantime to Pop other than "Sweet Dream." It's easily Alessia's best album yet and there are so many songs on there that I think could have easily charted if they had gotten better promotion. It’ll never not disturb me that “Lie To Me” wasn’t released as the lead single, or as a single at all. That, and “You Let Me Down” (which streamed decently for not having any promo outside the video which I believe she made on a whim since it was directed by her brother) could’ve done really well for her IMO! Plus “Bluebird” and “Apartment Song” also might’ve worked well, those two are career highlights.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 22, 2023 13:53:30 GMT -5
Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews! :) I completely agree with you she'd be way better off if she left her current label and went with AWAL (or something similar). It's a crime that her label didn't push anything else off of In the Meantime to Pop other than "Sweet Dream." It's easily Alessia's best album yet and there are so many songs on there that I think could have easily charted if they had gotten better promotion. It’ll never not disturb me that “Lie To Me” wasn’t released as the lead single, or as a single at all. That, and “You Let Me Down” (which streamed decently for not having any promo outside the video which I believe she made on a whim since it was directed by her brother) could’ve done really well for her IMO! Plus “Bluebird” and “Apartment Song” also might’ve worked well, those two are career highlights. Omg right?!? "Lie to Me" seems like a much more obvious single choice than "Sweet Dream" imo, and I think it would have performed really well for her on both Billboard and radio. "Bluebird" also would have been a great single choice, although I feel it would have struggled on radio (since pop radio seems oddly afraid of anything too slow, with rare exceptions). "Find My Boy" also would have worked well as a radio single IMO.
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Post by SabrinaFan on Oct 23, 2023 7:24:51 GMT -5
31. "I’m Yours"
Album: Know-It-All (2015) “Oh, how rude of you to ruin my miserable, and tell me I'm beautiful”
This is a really fun, unique love song, and is the first instance of Alessia’s writing including dualism, which she uses a lot in her discography. She starts out the song as if she is mad at this person, but her frustrated sentiments quickly become compliments (i.e. “Some nerve you have to break up my lonely”). Without explicitly stating it, the listener can see Alessia’s heart is slowly melting from the hardened state it had been in from a past heartbreak. As the first verse goes on, Alessia becomes increasingly vulnerable, going from contradictory sentiments to accepting that she’s falling in love, and telling the person to be gentle on her. I find her style of writing here to be so cute, and it does such a great job of showing the listener how she feels without explicitly telling them. The production is upbeat and cheery, and works really well with the lyrics’ sentiment of wholeheartedly jumping into a relationship and taking down the walls she’s put up to protect herself. This is perhaps the most cleverly written song on her debut album, and I am here for it.
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