With artists such as Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes, it seems the music world is spilling over with young Canadian artists who became popular off of social media websites. Now to add to that list is 19-year-old Alessia Cara, an up-and-coming teen from Ontario who received incredible feedback after posting videos of her singing covers on her YouTube channel.

Cara began singing and playing guitar at a young age. During her early teenage years, she began recording herself performing original covers of songs such as “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse. However, her cover of “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood is what served as her big break. After receiving over 80,000 views on the video, Cara was discovered and signed to Def Jam Records. Upon being signed, she immediately began to put out music.

Her first single “Here” was released in early 2015. The song was first played on an online radio known as The Fader, and was streamed 500,000 times in the first week, proving there to be an instant internet buzz over Cara.

Cara says “Here” is a true story.

“It’s a party song,” Cara wrote on her blog. “But really it’s the complete opposite of a party song. It’s absolutely me; it shouts out the person in the corner of the party, looking around uncomfortably. I feel like this song narrates what the wallflower is thinking.”

Having a bold voice, it seems Cara would be completely confident. However, she wrote “Here” for all of the introverts of high school who don’t typically enjoy being in a rowdy, crowded area, such as a house party. Lyrics of “Here” consist of Cara saying “Really I would rather be at home all by myself/ Not in this room with people who don’t care about my well being.”

The song goes further to describe the setting of Cara’s environment and the people around her. There’s the boy who is constantly nagging her to dance with him and the preppy girl in the kitchen who is gossiping about her best friend. Cara continues singing about how uninterested she is in the immaturity that surrounds her while at this high school kick-back, reminding her listeners that it is okay to not enjoy stereotypical teenager shenanigans.

In fact, Cara told ComplexMusic that she didn’t have many friends in her early middle school years, which caused her to resort to music for entertainment. Everyday after school she would sneak into her closet where she would belt out notes for hours until her parents got home from work. After being caught singing by her mom, her family encouraged her to start up a YouTube channel where she could receive feedback on her singing.

So whether it is the positive message “Here” tells or Cara’s silky vocals backed up with the soft-sounding R&B beats, the song quickly became a hit single. Since being released, “Here” won a Steamy Award for best original song and was also performed by Cara at the event, increasing the positive talk about her even more.

With recently releasing her first EP, Four Pink Walls, Cara seems to have hit the ground running. Between her original sounding voice, passion for performing, and strive to produce music–there is no doubt that Cara could soon take the world by storm.