Alessia Cara Was The Top Female Artist On Radio In 2017
January 04, 2018
Its tough to think of an artist who has had as much mainstream success with as little pomp and circumstance as Alessia Cara.
If you had one guess as to who the only female artist in 2017 to have one of the ten most played songs on the radio was, who would you have guessed? Taylor Swift? Beyonce? Selena Gomez, perhaps? Nope, it was Alessia Cara.She might not be in the headlines every day or have a litany of mainstream endorsements, but when it comes to making music, Cara is running with the big time players, and beating them:
Alessia Cara was the only female artist with a track among the top 10 most heard songs on radio in 2017 (both "Stay" and "Scars to Your Beautiful").
Cara is two years removed from her debut album, but Scars To Your Beautiful was released as a single at the end of 2016. The song quickly became an empowering anthem about body positivity, a welcome message on mainstream radio. She then provided the vocals on Zedds Stay, which became equally as inescapable not just on terrestrial radio, but on streaming services as well. Spotify in particular caters well to the EDM crowd, which gobbled up the new Zedd single en masseenough for a double platinum record. The RIAA named Stay the EDM song of the year, and it earned both performers Grammy nominations this year.Heres what Zedd told Variety about how the track came about:
The collaboration came about by way of his genuine fandom and a dash of fate. I was thinking of who could be a good fit for a vocal, and I was in the car and I heard an Alessia Cara song on the radio, he recalls. I thought her voice was really close in terms of vocal color and expression to the demo vocal. A day later, the duo was asked out of the blue to perform at the 2016 Halo Awards together. Thirty minutes into meeting her I asked if she wanted to be on the track, he says. I didnt know her, so it was the perfect moment to be like hey (laughs) I have this song I want you to sing.Fortunately, Alessia was an instant fan of the track. Were the same type of person. Theres obviously people in the industry who change and who arent as pleasant to be around, and shes just the perfect example of a good human being who works hard and is genuine, he gushes. Even after Stay the next song I was producing was a female vocalist as well, and my first thought was man it was so nice to work with Alessia, why cant I just make another song with her?After recording her vocal during one of her press weeks in Los Angeles, Zedd tinkered with the mix until sharing a semi-final version with her, citing the now-hits signature vocal-only hook. She was like, Are you not planning on putting anything in the chorus? he recalls with a laugh, opting to go for the shock factor. I was hoping that everybody would feel the same way, that it was bold. He says the early demo even gave him goosebumps while listening back (at an uncharacteristically high volume) solo in the studio. I was trying to get the bounce right for the verse, which has a lot of reverb and delay, when it goes into the chorus which is just the vocal, everything goes pretty dry just to be shocking, he adds. That is a real-life example where I turned it up, went back on the sofa where theres a lot of bass, and I just said this is perfect, this is exactly how I want it to feel.
Cara wrapped up the year with more chart success, teaming up with Logic and Khalid on 1-800-273-8255, a song which confronts depression and suicide prevention head-on. After the trip performed the track at the MTV Awards, it jumped all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard charts, and currently sits as a double platinum record as well.Cara both optically and sonically is different from other pop artists on the market right now, and according to several reports, will continue to work with producers such as Pop & Oak and Ricky Reed, ensuring that her signature sound remains true.
Ive been writing new music, and its almost done, and I have a bunch of songs that keep those topics in mind. When you make your first album, youre not sure who is going to listen, but now Im aware that I have a platform. Im always going to offer an escape or some sort of light for people. Im trying to do all of that on this album, Cara told Entertainment Weekly. For a while, pop music was really stagnant. There was a moment where it felt like everyone wanted fluff and they didnt want a message. And I know there are people who still dont, but there has been a new wave of music that has meaning. Its a good time to be positive and help each other.
Buy Alessia Cara tickets and see the pride of Brampton on stage in the new year!