Alessia Cara, teen singer of viral hit Here, is Canada's latest music star

With Canadianmusicians TheWeeknd, JustinBieber andDraketopping the Billboard charts this fall andShawn Mendes shifting from social media darlingto bonafidepop star, another homegrown singer is rising to the occasion: teen singer-songwriterAlessiaCara.

Cara, a 19-year-old fromBrampton, Ont.,hasn't yet released her full-length debutalbum, buthasalready garnered somehigh-profile coverage, including TV appearanceson The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonand The Today Show,as well as flatteringwrite-ups in the New YorkTimes andEllemagazine.

It's been a meteoric rise.

Like Bieber and Mendes, she started off recording at home andputting her cover versions of other people's songs onto YouTube. After her rendition of Sweater Weathergot noticed by a record executive's daughter, she was quickly signed to Def Jam Recordings.

Cara's take on Taylor Swift's smash singleBad Blood, recorded at BBC Radio 1 in July, earned a rave review in a tweet from the superstar herself: "You're AMAZING, @alessiacara. Love this."

Cara was awestruck by Swift's reaction. "That was amazing," she told CBC News.

"When you see artists like Taylor Swift on TV, you just think they're so unreachable and so out there that they would never hear your stuff as a new artist. Younever think that that connection would be made. And then when it is, and not only have they heard your stuff, they're fans of it? That's just like so crazy. It'smindblowing."

Outcast pop

Cara's debut single, Here, was based on her experience of feeling social anxiety at a house party.

The songdeftly captures what it's like to be at a party when you feel that you just don't fit in.

"But really I would rather be at home all by myself/Not in this room with people who don't even care about my well being/I don't dance, don't ask, I don't need a boyfriend/So you can, go back, please enjoy your party/I'll be here, somewhere in the corner."

Here hit a nerve when it was released in April.

When we made [Here] I didn't really think that it wasgonnaturn into this anthem for shy people.- Alessia Cara

"When we made the song, I didn't really think that it was gonna turn into this anthem for shy people," Cara said, "but I think with the release of the song, it made me realize how many people feel the same way and how many people appreciate someone speaking out for them.

"I just want to show people that there's alternatives. And just be who you are, whatever the hell that is."

Here has already won Caraa Streamy Award for best original song. Its accompanying music video, released in May, has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube. This week, the trackbroke into the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart,placing at No.47 and rising fast.

Cara'sdebut EP Four Pink Walls, released inAugust,contains five songsincluding Here. She debuted one of the new tracks,Scars To Your Beautiful,ata Las Vegas concert this month, with the song's positive message encouraging young women to love and appreciate themselves.

Despite her young age, Cara seems to already have a mature perspective on her songwriting craft, which she discusses in the video below.

"Initially, I think when you make a song it's therapy for yourself or it's just you trying to get out something that you want to say. But thenas soon as they're released, they're not yours any more. They'relike the emotions of everyone that hears them," she said.

Music sensation Alessia Cara

9 years ago

Duration 1:43

The teen sensation behind the hit track Here discusses songwriting craft with CBC's Eli Glasner

Cara'sfull-length studio album, Know It All, was released Nov. 13.