Alessia Cara

“We all act like we know everything in life, but nobody really does. That's what I want people to realize. For me, I know that I'm the same person. Nothing has changed. My family and friends know that.”

“We all just need to love ourselves and believe in ourselves.”

“I don't wear a lot of makeup ever, even when I do interviews or when I'm on TV. I just keep it me, and I think it's important to show people I'm a regular person and regular people are beautiful, too.”

“I'm unpolished, I guess.”

“I would love to host 'Saturday Night Live.' That's one of my goals in life - just putting that out there. I don't know if I'm funny enough, but we'll see.”

“I first picked up a guitar when I was ten years old; my parents surprised me with it for my tenth birthday. I started taking lessons when I was thirteen, but only for a few months, and then I just kept teaching myself.”

“I was always told that music isn't a 'realistic' path to take, and like a normal human being, I doubted myself over and over because I was afraid of failure.”

“Every time I sing, it it's a reminder to myself that I have to be confident.”

“I barely have time to think. But the best way to stay grounded is to take it one day at a time.”

“I love experimenting with clothes for photo shoots, but when I'm onstage, I want to show people that there are other options. You can just be yourself and still make good music.”

“It's hard to consider myself one when a lot of my fans and people who are calling me a role model are people my age and sometimes older than me. I feel like they're at the same walk of life that I'm in right now, and they can probably teach me things about life, too.”

“Other than the 'Sesame Street' soundtrack, which I was obsessed with, the first artist I really felt I'd discovered on my own was Amy Winehouse. She was the first female artist I wanted to write like and sing like and be like.”

“I do feel pressure from the outside world a little bit just because everybody wants new music, which is really nice. It just proves that everybody likes what I'm doing. But at the same time, I feel like it's important to just chill and experience things and really make the songs true to me.”

“As a kid, my parents would always listen to a lot of Beatles, Queen, Elvis. My mom was born and raised in Italy, and my dad was born in Canada and moved back and forth between Canada and Italy, so they would also listen to all the big Italian stars like Eros Ramazzotti, Gigi D'Alessio, Tiziano Ferro, Laura Pausini.”

“For some reason, I'm constantly attacked on social media in terms of how I dress. I've never understood that. That's been very hard.”

“I like to mimic accents. I don't even know if that's a talent. That's just a weird thing that I do.”

“I had a fairly regular childhood. I was a pretty boring kid. I didn't do much. I was always thinking, but I didn't really say a lot.”

“I don't think a lot of artists have the freedom that I have when it comes to dressing in general.”

“I wanted to get through high school anonymously.”

“I don't really dance. I don't drink or smoke. Being at parties is very awkward.”