Arts & Culture

Think of all the great Canadian singer/songwriters. None of them until now has ever won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Not Shania Twain, not the BNL, not Alanis Morissette, not Bryan Adams, or Sloan, or Nickleback, not even Avril Lavigne, Hedley, Drake or The Weeknd. Not even Paul Anka. Yes, there have been some comments made that the work of Alessia Cara is not that new. Certainly she has been a radio staple in Canada since 2015. Also evident is that this young woman reads and is paying attention. "Where the Wild Things Are" is a famous children's title by Maurice Sendak and Cara's song by the same name is thoroughly stuck in my head.

If you look up the lyrics to Cara's music, you will see the themes of place, location and being. These themes are resonating not just with the rhythm and blues fans, but all of society. An 808, mentioned occasionally in her music, refers to a type of police disturbance call; loud music would be an example. In her acceptance of the award, Cara asked us to "support music and real artists," including those who did not win. Below are the albums of other nominees you can take home or download and turn up the volume for.     

Khalid

Lil Uzi Vert

SZA

       Julia Michaels                   

Congratulations to Alessia Cara, and I will definitely look up these other musicians too. Hopefully there will be many more Canadian albums and books for young artists to read in the coming years.