Alessia Caracciolo (Italian pronunciation: [aˈlɛssja kaˈrattʃolo]; born July 11, 1996), professionally known as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter.[2] She is signed to EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings and is best known for "Here", her debut single from the debut album, Know-It-All, released November 13, 2015.[3] A sleeper hit, the song reached the top 5 in the United States and the top 20 in Canada.[4] Prior to her work for Def Jam, she produced acoustic covers on YouTube. Alessia Caracciolo, known as Alessia Cara, was born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, then later moved to Brampton, Ontario, Canada where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School. She is of Italian descent from Calabria; her father was born in Canada, to Italian parents, and her mother is an Italian immigrant.[6][7] As a child, she wrote poetry and did theatre.[8] At the age of 10 she began playing guitar and taught herself how to play various songs.[8] At the age of 13 she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed. Cara's singing style has compared to singers such as Farrah Franklin, Adina Howard and Norah Jones.[9][10] She also appeared on various radio stations; including 15 Seconds of Fame on Mix 104.1 Boston.[11] In 2015, at the age of 18, she signed a deal with EP Entertainment imprint, along the distribution of Def Jam Recordings.[12][13] In April 2015, Cara released her official debut single, through Def Jam.[14] Titled "Here", it was described as a "song for everyone who secretly hates parties" by MTV.[12] Produced by Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole, the song is her personal experience with going to a party before realizing how much she hated parties.[5] On May 5, 2015, the song was chosen as the "can't-miss" track by Spin,[2] as well as being listed as a "must hear song" by Cosmopolitan.[10] The song was also named one of the best Canadian songs of April by Complex[15] and included on Billboard's "20 Pop Songs You Need For Your Summer Playlist" in June 2015.[16] Rolling Stone later ranked "Here" at number 21 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015.[17] On July 29, 2015, Cara made her first-televised debut performing her single, "Here" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[18] "Here" then received a nomination for the "Original Song" at the Streamy Award.[19] She released the EP Four Pink Walls, containing five songs; including her debut single, "Here".[20] Her debut album Know-It-All was released on November 13, 2015.[21][22] She was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of... award for 2016 and finished as the runner-up.[23] Alessia Cara was awarded as Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards.[24] On March 7, 2016, the official video for "Wild Things" was released.