Alessia Cara’s latest album In the Meantime reflects on three years of growth, healing, and how to fill the time with music.

After rising to fame in 2015 with the hit “Here,” Cara has consistently kept her fanbase alive by regularly putting out music, including her sophomore album The Pains of Growing in 2018 and the EP This Summer in 2019. This new album keeps to the sound we all love while showing the maturity of Cara growing up from a young 18-year-old to a now 25-year-old veteran.

With 18 new songs and just under an hour of catchy melodies, the album delivers a mixture of R&B, indie pop, and jazz. Cara’s confidence in her voice and lyrics has grown and it shows on this record. Surprisingly vulnerable and relevant, the album takes its time going through the tracks and keeps a steady pace throughout.

From a post on Instagram after the album’s release, Cara wrote, “It’s a strange thing to be alive. All we really know for sure is where we’ve been, where we are, and where we hope to go. This record is the long-overdue clarity of my relationship with myself, others, and the world where it once stood, to where it stands now. This is what’s unfolded in the meantime.”

The two singles released in mid-July, “Shapeshifter” and “Sweet Dream,” blend right into the album. “Shapeshifter” has a prominent R&B feel reminiscent of Amy Winehouse that especially feels appropriate when the producer, Saalam Remi, was a frequent collaborator of the late singer.

This is only the second time Cara has included a feature on one of her albums. CHIKA is an amazing addition to the song “Middle Ground,” both bringing amazing vocals to a beat to bounce along to.

Cara is also known for one or two heartbreakers (“River of Tears” from Know-It-All, “Out Of Love” from The Pains of Growing); this album is no exception. Right from the intro of “Best Days” I knew that I had to take a second to prepare myself. Was I actually prepared? Absolutely not. Reminiscing over the past couple of years and the unexpected twists and turns, the song captures the exact feeling of being terrified that the best moments are gone. The central theme of the album lies in the lyric sang in the chorus: “You live and then you die, but the hardest pill to swallow is the meantime.”

“You Let Me Down” and “Apartment Song” allows the album to end on a strong note. With Cara having written every song with names such as collaborator and friend Jon Levine and Mike Wise, there was no doubt that this album would deliver. In the Meantime brings forward a new era of matured music from Cara that everyone should be excited to see in the future.

Rating: 4.5/5

Release Date: September 24th, 2021

Record Label: Def Jam Records / UMG

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