02 | SINGLE OF THE YEAR | Alessia Cara | | The JUNO Awards

There’s a new breed of pop star seizing hold of the world's airwaves and online—more accurately, a conscious-pop star who’s set to subversively top charts and sway hearts and minds. This enigma embodied is 18-year-old Alessia Cara. Powerful stuff from a teenage voice; in fact, that’s powerful stuff from anyone who’s ever put pen to pad in name of art. And her mature pen game is matched by her larger-than-life voice; she’s dazzlingly chameleon-like, boasting the kind of versatility that will make her a force. In short, Cara has cause to be confident. But she’s still the bashful, small-town girl even in the big city: “I want my music to be cool and reflective of my influences –Drake, Amy Winehouse, Ed Sheeran– but still new. Def Jam gave me the opportunity to say something meaningful and positive without being preachy. I didn’t expect everything to feel so natural and organic. And I can’t believe how quickly it’s going.”