Alessia Cara won't let naysayers get her down — not after she just checked one of her biggest dreams off of her bucket list.
On Sunday, Alessia Cara won the Grammy for Best New Artist, beating out fellows nominees SZA, Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert, and Julia Michaels. When Cara took the stage to accept her award, she thanked the Recording Academy, while also imploring them not to make the Grammys a "popularity contest."
"I just want to encourage everyone to support real music and real artists," the Canadian singer told the crowd. "Everyone deserves the same shot."
Despite Cara's plea for inclusivity in the music industry, some people weren't too happy about the fact that she won the Grammy in the first place. Certain fans saw it as a little late: The "Here" singer dropped her album Know-It-All in 2015, and has had multiple hit songs since. Others felt that fellow nominee SZA was unfairly snubbed.
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While some artists would stay quiet about such negativity, Cara took to Instagram to confront the backlash against her win head-on.
"to address the apparent backlash regarding winning something I had no control over: I didn’t log onto grammy.com and submit myself. that’s not how it works. I didn’t ask to be submitted either because there are other artists that deserve the acknowledgment. but I was nominated and won and I am not going to be upset about something I’ve wanted since I was a kid, not to mention have worked really hard for," Cara wrote on the social media platform.
She added:
"I meant everything I said about everyone deserving the same shot. there is a big issue in the industry that perpetuates the idea that an artist’s talent and hard work should take a back seat to popularity and numbers. and I’m aware that my music wasn’t released yesterday, I’m aware that, yes, my music has become fairly popular in the last year. but I’m trying very hard to use the platform I’ve been given to talk about these things and bring light to issues that aren’t fair, all while trying to make the most of the weird, amazing success I’ve been lucky enough to have. I will not let everything I’ve worked for be diminished by people taking offence to my accomplishments and feeling the need to tell me how much I suck. here’s something fun! I’ve been thinking I suck since I was old enough to know what sucking meant. I’ve beat u to it. And that’s why this means a lot to me."
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She also reminded her fans that they, too, can go on to create beautiful things, even if they don't always feel the most self-confident:
"despite my 183625 insecurities, I’ve been shown that what I’ve created is worth something and that people actually give a shit. all of the years feeling like I wasn’t good at anything or that I was naive for dreaming about something improbable have paid off in a way that I have yet to process. I know it sounds cheesy and dumb but it’s the honest truth. thanks to everyone who’s shown me kindness and support along the way. I’ll stop talking now."
It's worth remembering that award snubs, and the anger one feels over them, have a lot less to do with the actual artist's work and more to do with the system in which it exists. When Adele won Album of the Year over Beyoncé in 2017, no one was saying that Adele didn't make a great album as well — only that Bey's Lemonade was a culturally important work that deserved recognition.
Still, Cara deserves to celebrate her Grammy win without naysayers shutting her down. Here's hoping that her next Grammy win brings only smiles — and ecstatic Instagram captions.