Alessia Cara’s “Love and Hyperbole:”

By Arnashia Gray

February 28, 2025

Alessia Cara poses for “Love and Hyperbole” (curtesy of Universal Music Group’s 1824)

Alessia Cara’s latest record  “Love & Hyperbole” is a far cry from the young artist we once knew. 

It is typical in any artist's journey to see their music  grow and develop just as one does through life  — “Love and Hyperbole” is no exception.

The album opens with “Go Outside,”  a complete 360 from the final track of her previous album “In The Meantime” titled “Apartment Song.” “Go Outside” takes itself literally with fun harmonies and instrumentation that truly feel rays of sunlight. 

This feeling remains consistent throughout the entire album with a variety of upbeat tracks that were able to stem from the clarity that getting older provides, specifically in love. 

The visual aspects of the album with mixtures of wine red and black are reflective of that maturity and growth as well. 

“I think red, especially that specific wine color we see on the album just feels really sophisticated and rich,” says Cara in a recent press conference with Universal Music Group’s 1824. “It just feels like how the album feels to me, this more rich sophisticated version of myself that has warm and cool in it as well.” 

Unlike her past work, Cara takes on concepts on love from a different approach — a more positive one. It’s been 4 years since her last album and it is clear and present on the new record that she has spent time growing seeing love from a different perspective. She's made it a point on this album to make it a “step up” from what she’s done in the past. 

“On one side I feel like the exact same person, the DNA of the album [“The Pains of Growing”] and who I was at the time is still very much there. That person could look at me now and recognize exactly who this is. But on the other side I feel like I’ve also changed so much too,” says Cara. “I think now when I look back, I just feel a lot softer than I used to be, in a good way. I feel a lot more expanded in so many ways and that stubbornness is still there and that default melancholy is still there but I just feel like I have a different view of the world and of life.” 

This growth is not only present in her storytelling and lyricism on the album but also sonically. 

Heavier tracks on the album like “Dead Man” feature a groovy bassline with percussion to accompany it. Cara takes on a more intense – almost RnB like – richness to her vocals, which makes this track stand out from others. 

But she doesn’t always stay in this heavier place. Cara has no trouble implementing a variety of instruments and sounds on this album that come together to create an immersive listening experience – aided by the fact that most of the album was recorded live. A true testament to her attention to detail and intention when creating this record. 

The twelfth track on the record “Fire” features a change in character both vocally and sonically. Cara approaches this song with a softer tone, reinforced by the soft strings of the guitar and percussion that drives the bridge of the song forward. 

On this track Cara writes “I wanna take you places, I wanna keep you safe, and I wanna be where you are.” It is just one of the many examples on the album of her writing about love from a happier, more positive place. But she doesn’t completely dismiss the darker side of love on this record either. 

She embraces all of the different sides of love, good and bad with open arms and it resonates all throughout this record. 

“To find inspiration in happiness can be challenging especially when you’ve done things a certain way for so long. I’ve always gathered my inspiration from pain and things that didn’t feel so good. And I think that’s because, you know, we don’t need to really vent when we’re happy. We usually vent and complain when there are things going on that we don’t like, that we want kind of out of our bodies. It was a good exercise to do something that didn’t necessarily feel super intuitive but was exciting and new for me. It was a good challenge. And I feel like it’s a lot easier to write from that place because I’ve trained that muscle a little bit but it was really nice,” says Cara. 

Of course not every track on the album is happy and Cara has her fair share of  “sadder” tracks. Her ability to write from places of happiness and sadness is admirable and it truly makes “Love and Hyperbole” a testament of her growth and musical ability.