Hi, I'm Alessia Cara

and today I'll be doing the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

[upbeat music]

I think I searched this.

[laughing]

This is probably me looking for answers.

If anyone knows, hit me up.

Was Alessia Cara.

Was Alessia Cara in Moana?

Technically I was not.

I did the end credits song.

But a lot of people, especially kids, when I meet them,

they think that I played Moana,

which is a very rough conversation I have to have

and be like, well, it wasn't me, but thank you.

I think the hair makes people think that I played Moana,

but I did not.

It was played by Auli'l Cravalho who's amazing.

I just sang the song.

Was Alessia Cara on American Idol?

I was not.

I'd be too scared to do something like that.

I'm also Canadian.

So that probably wouldn't even work anyway.

Was Alessia Cara on The Voice?

No, I was not.

I don't know why that's like a commonly asked thing.

I was never on any singing shows or anything like that.

[Woman Off-Camera] What team would you be on

if like everyone turned around their chair?

That's tough.

I love, I love Kelly Clarkson.

I think she's so good, and Gwen.

They're both amazing.

Maybe Gwen.

Does Alessia Cara.

Does Alessia Cara sing How Far I'll Go?

Yes.

I sing the end credits version

of How Far I'll Go from Moana.

Does Alessia Cara have siblings?

Yes, I have a younger brother who is 20 years old now.

So he's not very young anymore.

Well, he's still young, but he's not little anymore.

I'm definitely a protective older sister, yeah.

So yeah, I mean, I always was,

but I feel like now that I'm an adult and not a kid,

I'm like more conscious of like the world.

And I find that I'm like becoming more of a worrier,

which is weird because I never used to be that way.

I was always protective, but now I like worry all the time,

but he's like, leave me alone.

Get off my back.

He's smarter than I am.

So I think he should be more worried about me.

Does Alessia Cara have tattoos?

I have this little sailboat.

I have this smiley face that is pretty much gone.

I have to get that like touched up

and I have this Band-Aid on the back of my arm

that's way too big.

But that's the beauty of decisions on a whim.

Does Alessia Cara speak other languages?

I speak Italian because my family is from there.

And I'm trying to learn Spanish.

And I know like a few sentences in Japanese,

but that doesn't count obviously, but I would love to learn.

Does Alessia Cara write her own music?

Yes, I do.

The first album that I ever put out,

I made with Sebastian Cole who's phenomenal.

But then the second album and everything after that as well,

I've written completely by myself,

which is something that I take a lot of pride in.

'Cause I've always wanted to be a songwriter

and good at what I do.

And I feel like I've not mastered it,

but I'm getting to a place where I think I'm good at it.

And that makes me really happy.

So I hope to continue writing everything myself

in the future too.

It's kinda hard to write when you're in quarantine

because there's like a lack of experiences to write about.

My life is sort of stagnant right now in every aspect,

but it's fun 'cause I get to pull from my imagination more.

Who Alessia Cara.

Who is Alessia Cara married to?

I think I searched this.

[laughing]

This is probably me looking for answers.

If anyone knows, hit me up.

That'd be great to know in advance.

I've never even been in like a public relationship really.

So it's kind of funny

that people associate me with marriage,

but who knows, we'll see.

Who discovered Alessia Cara?

The first person to discover me was Corrine Perez.

I always wanted to be a singer.

And I think I'd always hoped to be discovered in some way,

far in the future.

But when I was posting YouTube videos,

I didn't think I was gonna be discovered from there.

That was just my way of like getting used to singing

in front of people or for like some sort of audience.

But I never thought I'd get discovered off of that at all.

Who is Alessia Cara?

I don't know.

Alessia Cara is just a person who makes music

and writes music.

And I think I'm realizing that I'm multiple things in one.

And that's like what people are, you know,

they're not just one thing.

They're like, there's like so many facets to us.

How Alessia Cara.

How Alessia Cara became famous?

Again, Corrine Perez found a YouTube video of mine

where I was covering the song called Sweater Weather

by The Neighbourhood.

From there, I started making a bunch of songs

with someone named Sebastian Cole who's amazing.

And these two brothers from Toronto

who are a producer duo named Kuya Productions.

And we just got in this little tiny studio.

And every day after school,

I would go in and write a bunch of music.

One of those songs was a song called Here

that I later released

after being signed to Def Jam on SoundCloud.

And then it was one of those things

that just kind of grew naturally.

It took a while for it to get on the radio.

But then once it did, people started knowing about that song

and knowing my name.

And then that's how everything sort of grew from there.

I don't call myself famous.

I don't like to say that.

I just say I do this for a living.

How Alessia Cara was discovered.

Off of my YouTube covers.

How tall is Alessia Cara?

I am, I believe either 5'1 or 5'2.

Everybody is like shocked to see how short I am.

I don't know why people just expect me to be a lot bigger.

But I'm tiny.

I feel like I'm the kid who should be meeting them.

It's so funny.

But one time I met Kim Kardashian

and I expected her to be so tall

and she was shorter than me.

I think she was the first person I met,

first celebrity I met that was shorter than me.

Which was kind of shocking.

She was wearing heels too.

I'm like, Whoa, you're really tiny.

Where Alessia Cara.

Where was Alessia Cara born?

I was born in a place or a city called Mississauga, Ontario.

Which is in Canada.

And then when I was four, I moved to Brampton, Ontario,

which is where I pretty much grew up.

I think Brampton has more of a reputation than Mississauga.

Brampton has like, we kind of get the short end of the stick

all the time.

Like people make fun of Brampton all the time.

It's like, not particularly cool if you're from there.

I think now it's becoming that way,

but it's like a known thing within Toronto

that Brampton is like sort of the underdog.

It's very easy to pick on.

We just have like our own weird culture.

So yeah.

Where does Alessia Cara live now?

Wouldn't you like to know?

I'm not telling you.

[laughing]

Where did Alessia Cara go to school?

I went to school in Brampton.

It was a Catholic school

called Cardinal Ambrozic Secondary School.

And we had to wear blazers and khaki pants.

It was not fun to wear those things

'cause you're always hot.

And you have to like, you couldn't even roll up the sleeves.

You get in trouble for like wearing it the wrong way.

So I have the pants that I got,

like all my friends to sign on the last day.

So there's like all these signatures

on these ugly khaki pants.

And I still have the blazer, too

with the shoulder pads and all.

The girls and boys had to wear the same exact thing.

Like there was no different thing.

Like there was no fun like skirts or like little,

I dunno like sweaters or cardigans.

It was just, it was just blazers.

It was horrible.

Where are Alessia Cara's parents from?

Both my parents are from the South of Italy

in this place called Calabria.

And that's where they met.

Sometimes I wish that I was born there,

but I'm also glad to be from Canada, too.

What Alessia Cara.

What is Alessia Cara doing now?

I am just doing what everyone else is doing.

Just waiting for this whole thing to be over and chilling,

living life and writing a lot.

What is Alessia Cara famous for?

I guess my music.

I hope that's what people know me for.

My songs and the fact that I sing stuff.

What is Alessia Cara's nationality?

This is a funny one because if you go online,

every day, a few times a day actually,

every single day, there's a person that discovers

that I am Italian and basically white.

It makes me laugh

'cause they're in like in shock

that I'm like not Latina or something.

I am pretty racially ambiguous.

I think that's because my family's from the South of Italy

and everyone from the South is like a little bit darker

and more olive skinned.

I got the curls, but I'm Italian through and through.

What is Alessia Cara's social media?

My Twitter is @AlessiaCara

and my Instagram is alessiasmusic.

Is Alessia Cara related to Irene Cara?

I am not.

She is a singer from a little bit before my time.

I believe it was like either in the eighties or nineties.

I'm not exactly sure, but she she's a singer songwriter

and people always think that we're related.

I assume because of our last names.

But maybe because we look alike possibly,

our hair sometimes.

Is Alessia Cara lefthanded?

No, I am, I'm right handed.

Except for when I'm playing like mini golf,

then I'm, for some reason I'm lefthanded.

I don't know why.

I didn't even realize I was doing it

until someone pointed it out.

Is Alessia Cara religious?

I used to be a lot more religious than I am now.

I think now it's sort of turned into like

some sort of like spirituality.

I'll just say I believe in God.

And I believe in just being a good person.