New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter
Alessia Cara raises the curtain on her eagerly awaited upcoming third album with the release of two brand new songs, "
Sweet Dream" and "Shapeshifter," available across all platforms at 2:00 p.m. today via Def Jam Recordings/Universal Music.
"
Sweet Dream" will debut on BBC1's flagship program hosted by
Annie Mac.
"The theme of duality is recurring on this next album, so it made sense to release two songs to introduce both ends of the thread," Alessia explained. "The first side being 'Sweet Dream' which represents the hardship & helplessness surrounding my last couple of years. It's about insomnia and the hoops my brain jumps through at night while I'm supposed to be asleep. Never fun! Then on the flip side, there's 'Shapeshifter' which is witty and sophisticated in a way that I feel represents the more mature and light-hearted parts of the album. I had to go through lots of pain to regain my footing and this song feels unwavering, despite it not being about the happiest of things."
The "
Sweet Dream" video makes its global broadcast premiere today on MTVLive, MTVU and across MTV's global network of channels, as well as on the Viacom Times
Square billboard. The "Shapeshifter" video will premiere next Friday 7/23 on 'CBS This Morning,' along with an exclusive interview with Alessia and CBS' Anthony Mason.
Known for her pitch-perfect, emotionally charged television performances, Alessia will return to the small screen to showcase her new music. She is set to perform "
Sweet Dream" on the 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert' on Monday 7/19 and then again on 'Live with
Kelly & Ryan' on Wednesday 7/21.
Alessia's one-of-a-kind voice and powerful performance chops are in high demand as she launches the first salvos from her forthcoming project. Her previously announced version of Metallica's "
Enter Sandman" is set for their upcoming deluxe 'Black Album' box set, and she will join Metallica, Billie Eilish, Lorde, The Weeknd, BTS and many more for the
September 25th Global Citizen concert.
2018's "Best New Artist" Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter and Def Jam Recordings artist
Alessia Cara emerged onto the music scene with her first release in 2015, "Here," a global anthem that grabbed the world's attention when it garnered over 500,000 streams on Soundcloud in its first week. "Here" went on to become Spotify's Most Viral Song of 2015, selling over 3 million copies. Her five-track EP, Four Pink Walls, soon followed, leading to the release of her RIAA platinum debut album Know-It-All (November 2015). Alessia's multi-platinum #1 hit single of 2016, "Scars to Your Beautiful," was her gut-wrenching take on female identity, on body image and on deleterious behaviors in the name of beauty. "Stay," her #1 hit with Zedd sold over 2 million copies and received Song Of The Summer raves. Also in 2016, Alessia lent her voice to "How Far I'll Go," penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, official song for Disney's animated film Moana. The 4x-platinum "1-800-273-8255," her historic collaboration with fellow Def Jam artist Logic, was one of 2017's landmark singles with over 9 billion streams worldwide, contributing to her being named the most-streamed new female artist of 2017. "
Growing Pains" (June 2018), was the prelude to Alessia's second album, her critically acclaimed The Pains Of Growing (November), which included the follow-up single releases "Trust My Lonely" and "Out Of Love." Alessia spent much of 2019 touring the world alongside fellow Canadian, Shawn Mendes. Between playing sold out stadium shows, Cara flew her producer out on tour to write and record songs inspired by her experiences travelling the world with friends. The six-song EP, This Summer, was released on the final date of the tour,
September 6th. In 2020, Alessia re-recorded and reimagined all six songs with a band in a live studio environment, for This Summer: Live Off The Floor. She won over Latin audiences with her Spanish language debut hit with Juanes, "Querer Mejor," which earned two Latin Grammy nominations and which they performed together on the awards broadcast in November. She went on to make her acting debut in Netflix's original animated film "The Willoughbys," in the lead role of Jane, and recorded an original song for the movie, "I Choose." In December 2020, Alessia surprised fans with the seasonal 4-song EP, Holiday Stuff, that spun off an original single, "Make It To Christmas."
A JUNO award winner for 2016 Breakthrough Artist of the Year in her native Canada, Alessia went on to receive the "Rule Breaker" honor at the BillboardWomen in
Music annual event. She won MTV VMAs in 2017 for Best Electronic Dance Video (for "Stay") and Best Fight Against The
System (her multi-platinum #1 Billboard Pop Song "Scars To Your Beautiful," which she and
Logic performed with
Khalid as the climactic moment of the year's Grammy broadcast). Alessia also won back-to-back ASCAP Pop Awards for "Stay" and "
Scars To Your Beautiful"; along with Dance Song of the Year (for "Stay") at the iHeart
Radio Music Awards. She was awarded an MTV EMA for Best World Stage Performance following the release of her highly anticipated second album The Pains Of Growing. She has earned nominations for Favorite Female Artist - Pop/Rock at the 2017 American
Music Awards, the People's Choice Award for Favorite Breakout Artist, the Billboard
Music Awardfor Top New Artist, the BET Award for Best New Artist, the BBC Award for Song of The Year, and many other top honors. Most recently, Alessia won Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at the 2020 Virtual Juno Awards.
