Do we like Alessia Cara?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record, a Pride headline slot and years of giving to charity, marked down only because we found little on her own views on trans rights.
Alessia Cara is best known for winning the 2018 Grammy for Best New Artist. The win copped a pile of online backlash, and some of it was aimed squarely at her. She didn't grovel. She posted that she wouldn't let her hard work be “diminished by people taking offence” at her accomplishments.
If you're after scandals, the cupboard is bare. The closest thing is the cancelled Latin American tour in September 2025. She said the local promoter “simply lost faith and pulled out”, and she apologised to fans, saying she understood if they were upset. That's a messy touring business story, not a character one.
On the harm check, we found no harmful words or acts from her. In 2018 she headlined the free Capital Pride Concert in Washington alongside Troye Sivan and MAX, and she was a partner of the young women's nonprofit I Am That Girl. We found nothing from her on trans rights in either direction, so that's a gap, not a tick. On company, her recent album features guests like Nelly Furtado, and nothing in the reporting points to anyone dodgy.
The recent chapter is Love or Lack Thereof, a live-off-the-floor jazz-soul rework of her back catalogue to mark ten years in music. She says she's opposed to AI in art and told the Canadian Press she's “all for human creation”. She also said sky-high ticket prices and resellers make it hard for fans to get to shows.
The good stuff is real. In 2020 she pledged the net royalties from her live EP This Summer to Save the Children for 21 years. In 2019 Canada's Walk of Fame announced her for its Slaight Music Impact honour. It cited her songwriting and her I Am That Girl campaign for young women.
So: a talented, low-drama artist with a tidy record and a habit of putting her money and platform behind young people. The only real caveat is that the record is thin on her views about trans people, rather than showing anything bad. We'd happily put her on the playlist.