Singing star Alessia Cara

The Growing Pains songbird is one of 2018’s rising stars

On Growing Pains She wrote the song about the challenges of being a young adult. “I think being 21 in general is a confusing time because it’s almost, or at least for me anyway, an in-between phase in your life where you’re not quite an adult and not quite settled in who you are and what you want to be, but you’re also not a kid anymore,” she told Billboard.

“I wanted to write a song about it but give it [a] slight silver lining by calling it Growing Pains because I think all pain is something we can grow through.”

Her road to success Like fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, Alessia – who’s of Italian descent – was discovered on YouTube singing covers.

She was 13 when she posted her first one, Jessie J’s Price Tag. She was noticed by EP Entertainment, who gave her her first record deal at 16. She released her debut album, Know It All, in 2015, which spawned the radio hits Wild Things and Scars to Your Beautiful. She was also featured on Zedd’s track Stay.

Grammy drama She won her first Grammy this year for best new artist but received flak as critics reckoned she wasn’t new enough, having broken out in 2015 with her hit Here.

She addressed the haters on Instagram: “I had no control over it. I didn’t ask to be submitted . . . but I was nominated and I won and I’m not going to be upset about something I’ve wanted since I was a kid.”

New album Her second album, The Pains of Growing, is due out this month.

“My previous album was very much about rebelling against my problems, but this album is a lot more about facing them head-on and accepting them fully instead of suppressing them,” Alessia says.