Before being signed to Def Jam Recordings, Alessia Cara featured her work on YouTube. As a teenager, the Canadian singer created a YouTube channel and uploaded acoustic covers, using the platform to share her voice beyond her local community.
Cara began playing guitar at age 10 and started posting cover performances at 13. Her videos included songs associated with artists such as Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber, and The Neighbourhood. A cover of The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather” became especially important in attracting professional attention.
Her online performances helped lead to a relationship with EP Entertainment in 2014. She subsequently signed with Def Jam Recordings and released “Here” in 2015. The song became a breakout hit, reaching the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The story is sometimes confused with SoundCloud because Cara has discussed online discovery in multiple interviews, but YouTube was the platform where she originally built a public audience through cover videos.