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Alessia Cara: The Pains of Growing review – unsteady steps to maturity

(Virgin EMI)

This Canadian pop-R&B star was in her teens when she broke through in 2015 and, per the title of her second album, has had to do some growing up in public, winning best new artist at this year’s Grammys then being castigated online for not being new enough. But while the constant emotional drama sketched out here suggests her innocence is long gone, there is still plenty of maturing left to do.

Very few artists are so conspicuously signed to a major label: the professionalism and market-readiness of this product are extremely high. This means the songwriting is often strong: Growing Pains gets two great chorus melodies, while I Don’t Want To resolves very satisfyingly. But there is some production that sounds suspiciously like focus-grouping, from post-Winehouse soul to xx guitars, and the ersatz digital instrumentation is as featureless as an overly filtered Instagram post.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Pf321a
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