Alessia Cara Is NOT Our Best New Artist

To the surprise of none, the Grammys this year was glad to look over some of the greatest artists of the year for something subpar. Best New Artist is one of the most highly anticipated awards every year, because it’s one of few opportunities to celebrate artists who have made their way to the top that year. Disappointment was spread all around, but none more than hearing Alessia Cara won Best New Artist.

Let’s start with the fact Alessia Cara is in no way new. Her debut album, Know-It-All came out in 2015, but wasn’t drawing in an audience. In 2016, the album blew up, playing hits like “Scars To Your Beautiful” and “Here” all over the radio. But that was 2016, and this is 2017. The Academy had their opportunity to give Cara an award last year, but didn’t. Giving her one a year later, does not make up for it and also takes away from all the great artists who actually did make music in 2017.

Speaking of those artists, Cara was competing against the best of the best for this award. Julia Michaels, Lil Uzi Vert, Khalid, and Sza were all competitors for Best New Artist but had the opportunity taken away from them. Realistically, many speculated that the competitors for the Grammy were Sza and Khalid, both of whom made groundbreaking albums in 2017. Michaels unfortunately only broke the surface of stardom with her song “Issues” and Lil Uzi Vert just didn’t have a large enough fanbase.

19-year-old Khalid Robinson released his debut album American Teen in April 2017 and became a pop star overnight. Anyone with a radio has heard “Young, Dumb, and Broke” and “Location” and cannot deny that this young phenomenon had one of the most original and relatable albums for today’s youth.

On the other side was SZA, whose sophomore album Ctrl took the world by storm. Through songs like “Love Galore” and “The Weekend”, she explored the trials of being in a modern situationship and how that affected the way she saw herself. Her song “The Weekend” became known as the anthem to side chicks across the nation, but told the ugly truth of what it was like to always be someone’s second choice.

Between these two artists’ albums being released in the same year, it is almost comedic that Alessia Cara was mentioned. Although her album was great, it was past its time and this was the time to give someone else their due mention. The Grammy’s definitely did not get this one right, but there’s always next year (we hope).