CARA IS HERE TO STAY

Last night at the Troubadour, Def Jam's EVP Dion "No I.D." Wilson took the stage to introduce the label's Alessia Cara by telling a story her signing by label scout Tab Nkhereanye. "I've never heard him be more passionate," Wilson said, "but the second I heard the music, I understood why. And once you see this you will too. Alessia is a superstar."

In her short but powerful showcase Cara performed several new songs from her upcoming EP, Four Pink Walls, and bantered in a sweet, endearing way with the enthusiastic crowd about everything from what inspired her to write certain songs to having her fans in the room pick a cover to sing — they chose Amy Winehouse's classic, "Valerie," but she also covered The Neighborhood's "Sweater Weather," one of her earliest YouTube covers and a record she credited with "getting me where I am today."

But the real moment was undeniably "Here," which had the entire room singing along. Cara's hit just debuted on the Top 40 chart this week, and by the sound of some of the new material she debuted (the song "17" is amazing), expect great things from this 19 year-old, who will surely continue the exciting movement of artists emerging from Toronto.