Alessia Cara opened up about her childhood in a new interview, revealing how her family’s love of music paved the way to her becoming a global superstar.
Speaking with Billboard, the “Sweet Dreams” singer, born Alessia Caracciolo, reminisced about growing up in a traditional Italian household in Ontario, Canada. Her parents were on the stricter side, banning sleepovers and stressing the importance of school.
However, Alessia recalls a childhood filled with music.
“Italians love our music and we love to dance and we love to be loud. So that was always kind of around my life,” the singer grinned. “My mom would play the tambourine when we were kids, and we would dance around.”
Alessia was given her first guitar when she turned 10 and the rest was history.
“I feel like I learned manifestation before I knew what manifestation was, because I really would just pretend that I was already successful. I would do fake interviews in my shower and in my room and talk to no one, fake acceptance speeches — the whole thing,” she confessed. “All of the fake acceptance speeches I had done in my room as a kid had just totally come full circle.”
Alessia won the 2017 Grammy for Best New Artist, and took home trophies at the Juno Awards, the VMAs and more.
However, the biggest award came in 2015: It was her dad’s reaction after she performed on TV for the first time, singing “Here” on The Tonight Show.
She tells Billboard, “I remember going backstage after it was done, and he had tears in his eyes… He didn’t want to say it, but I know he cried a little bit. It was really sweet.”
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.