Sarah Warsi

So last night I attended my first concert of 2016. Alessia Cara, a Canadian singer from Toronto, performed her first show in her hometown at the Danforth Music Hall – and what a great show it was!

Alessia Cara has been rising in popularity ever since her hit single ‘Here‘ came out about a year ago. When I first heard the single, I was completely blown away by the originality of the song. How often do you hear about people singing about a party they did not enjoy? I was immediately hooked. It’s not often that I become a fan of an artist right away – usually it takes some time for me to get a good feel of their music before I start to really notice and appreciate their talents, but in Alessia’s case, the attraction was immediate! I snagged Four Pink Walls, her debut EP, as soon as it was released, and soon after, then the full-length album, Know It All .

The show last night featured all my favourite tracks, including “I’m Yours”, “Scars To Your Beautiful”, “Seventeen” and of course, “Here”. An added bonus was the cover of Rihanna‘s single “Diamonds” which Alessia did justice to by adding her own flavour to it.

One of the highlights of the night was when we unexpectedly met some of Alessia’s family members! Unbeknownst to us, we were sitting in the same section as her relatives. I was pleasantly surprised when the lady next to me introduced herself as Alessia’s aunt. How cool is that?! The next thing I knew, her father, and uncle all came by and were kind enough to stop for a quick photo. It was truly heart-warming to see how much genuine love and support was around for Alessia.

At the tender age of 19, Alessia Cara has already shown so much maturity beyond her years in the quality of her music. It’s quite refreshing because you don’t see that very often at all in today’s cookie cutter age of mainstream music. And it doesn’t hurt that she happens to be a fellow Torontonian! I also admire the fact that in spite of all the growing fame and popularity, she maintains her sense of youthfulness, humility and genuine self, no matter what.

This recent tweet on the success of “Here” is evident of that:

Alessia is performing at the Danforth Music Hall again tonight so I don’t want to give too much more away. If you’re attending, you definitely won’t be disappointed. I am looking forward to more great music from this very talented young lady. It’s only the beginning!