Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara has recorded songs for three studio albums, three extended plays (EP), one live album, and several guest features. She bought her first guitar at age 10 and taught herself how to play by ear. Three years later, Cara started a YouTube channel where she would post cover versions of popular music.^[1] Aged 16, she hired EP Entertainment as her management team and signed with Def Jam Recordings. Cara began writing songs for her debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015), with Sebastian Kole and its producers Pop & Oak.^[2] She released the four-track R&B and pop extended play (EP) Four Pink Walls in August 2015, followed by the album three months later.^[3][4] The latter, an "album about youth and teenage life" according to Cara, included 10 songs co-written by her; Billboard's Clover Hope thought it displayed "a strong sense of adolescent idealism and a spoonful of smart cynicism".^[5][6][7]

Cara co-wrote all 15 songs featured on her second studio album, The Pains of Growing (2018), and was the sole credited songwriter on 5 of them.^[8] Inspired by her solitude while conceiving the album, she penned songs about fighting her insecurities over writing music alone.^[9] NME's Nick Levine described its sound as "salty pop-R&B, (Amy) Winehouse-esque retro-pop, and stripped-down acoustic tunes".^[10] Cara created her second EP, This Summer (2019), with Jon Levine.^[11] The Christmas EP Holiday Stuff was released the following year.^[12] Her third studio album, In the Meantime (2021), included 18 songs co-written by her; Rolling Stone's Sarah Grant described it as "a mighty pop opera" that guides listeners through the five stages of grief.^[13][14]

Cara has contributed songs to film soundtracks: "How Far I'll Go" (2016) to Moana, "The Other Side" (2017) to The Get Down Part II, and "Feel You Now" and "Last Goodbye" (both 2021) to Blade Runner: Black Lotus. She has been featured as a guest artist on songs by several other artists, including Logic's "1-800-273-8255" and Zedd's "Stay" in 2017. In 2021, Cara was among more than 40 artists who recorded "Himno a La Alegria" as "a voice of harmony and hope" to promote "a kinder and more humane world".^[15]

• Alessia Cara on AllMusic