Do you still remember Alessia Cara's first single, "Here" from 2015? Even though she's been relatively quiet since releasing her debut album, the Canadian singer-songwriter has been busy in the previous several years. "The Pains of Growing" and "This Summer" are two examples of these endeavors. "In The Meantime," her new album, is a collection of 18 songs on grief, comfort, and overcoming adversity.
Alessia Cara is a talented songwriter with a knack for creating intricate melodies. "In the Meantime," her new album, deals with post-breakup ambiguity, seeking to strike a balance between loneliness and isolation, as well as contentious relationships. The album's music tends to be retro, with influences like neo-soul and reggae, as well as bossa nova and bossa nova. Cara says, "Got no lover/but the hue of the sky tonight's so lovely I don't mind," in the album's last tune, "Apartment Song." For her, pure musicianship is the only path ahead. She starts out with a drumbeat that sounds like "Genius of Love," and then switches into a wordless chorus of her own compositions.
Alessia Cara's In The Meantime is the title of her third studio album. It came out on Def Jam Recordings' 24th of September, 2021. Cara confirmed the release of the album's first two singles on June 2: Sweet Dream and Shapeshifter. A music video for Sweet Dream was also published the same day as the tracks, which were all released on July 15. Shapeshifter, Cara's latest single, was released on July 23rd along with a music video that hinted the album's title.
On September 2, a release date and pre-order information for the album were made public. On the 13th of September, the album's tracklist was unveiled. Cara planned to create anticipation for the album's release by releasing a teaser for each song every day between September 18 and September 23.
While You're Waiting by Alessia Cara.
"Middle moments are what make up life's true substance. Anything and everything we go through between conception and death, agony and joy, heavy and light, old and new, stuck and unstuck, point A to B, and as of last year: global doom and not worldwide doom. All of these things. The peaks and valleys of our current circumstances are accentuated when we're forced to look in the mirror for an extended period of time. Even while time never stops passing, having an excessive amount of it might make you feel trapped. It's like staring into a huge magnifying mirror, which isn't always pleasant to do, but it does reveal what's beneath the surface. When I eventually looked back 2 years later and saw all the layers I'd shed to find comfort, it seemed like a stifling experience for me, as it was for everyone else.
Alessia Cara has made a profession out of capturing the pains of being an outcast as a young woman. She sung hymns to the lonely, the worried, and the self-described social outcasts. Some of her songs were razor-sharp, like her breakthrough single "Here," which depicted a party from the perspective of a loner sitting in front of the TV with a beanie covering her eyes. When she signed with Def Jam Records, the song became a massive hit and launched her into the pop machine. She then released an album of clean pop songs with Big Messages, including the cloying "Scars to Your Beautiful" about a girl who cuts herself and the earnest "Trust My Lonely" about trusting one's intuition. Between the tracks on her CDs, she showed off her great ear for detail as well as tunes better suited to Disney film scores (Cara eventually was featured on the Moana soundtrack). Cara, despite her inability to decide what kind of pop star she wants to be, has an unmistakable voice and a great eye for detail that have made her a captivating character in the industry.
With In the Meantime, Cara explores the liminal space between two worlds. The data is organized into a set of predetermined categories: After a breakup, she takes care of herself while keeping an eye out for the next possible relationship. A 25-year-old could have written this album, and Cara's lyrics are profound when she addresses her fears about growing older: "You live and then you die," she sings on the track "Best Days," but the toughest part is having to deal with the time in between. The song's progression resembles that of Lorde's "Stoned at the Nail Salon," another track from her album about going through a midlife crisis and becoming lost. As a time capsule for fleeting youth, 25 by Adele serves as an obvious comparison to the album's other standout parallel.
Unlike Adele, Cara doesn't shy away from expressing conflicting feelings. Cara's new album is about experiencing everything at once, and she does so with razor-sharp lyrics. One of her catchphrases is, "I miss you, don't call me," which is punctuated with sparkling one-liners. The phrase "I'm all by myself, you're somebody else" comes to mind. "I care for you, yet I'm disappointed in you." The greatest writing on the album occurs when Cara names her uncertainty and illusion. She does not let herself off the hook either. On "Somebody Else," she sings, "I fill up the holes with my own pride/I tell myself you're sad without me." Throughout the album, her layered vocals blossom into beautiful harmonies, enhancing the overall atmosphere.
