Album Review: Alessia Cara - Love & Hyperbole

After taking a while to grow into her assured self, Alessia Cara returns with her most strident showcase of her career thus far. ‘Love & Hyperbole’ may still not hit a great homerun, but the refinement towards the overall compositions, production, writing, and performances leads the album to flourish more than it doesn’t.

Every album that Alessia Cara has put together always tends to be reaching for growth, but always ends up becoming frustrated at the end. Despite there being indeed a step forward in how she becomes introspective towards herself and the relationships that swirl in and out of control, the eventual execution doesn’t always land for the most part, with a lot of her records being a little bit bloated, full of shrugs in the compositions, production, and writing. Her last record, ‘In The Meantime’ especially, may find more space for Alessia Cara’s emotions and vocals to explore upon, but the sense of progression just ends up being slight pivots rather than showcasing some drastic refinement in the overall set of melodies, production, and lyricism that has been a consistent headache all throughout her discography.

After taking a creative break for 4 years to fine-tune her musical energy, Alessia Cara comes back swinging on her newest record ‘Love & Hyperbole’, showing more energy and growth as an artist than ever before. Bringing along Mike Elizondo to effectively produce these 2000s pop R&B songs that have lots of organic textures and vibrant melodic punch, something that does manage to flatter Alessia Cara's vocal presence for once. It’s also worth noting just how her vocalizations have been richer and strident, carrying a sense of confidence that only shows more of her charisma as she belts out a bit more with ease, allowing so many of the songs to just burst through with delight. The supple grooves and soothing vocals that come up on ‘Left Alone’, the punchy low-end that leads to the buoyant hook on ‘Dead Man’, the shuffling drums that accompany the sweet strings on ‘Subside’, the gleaming pop rock melody on ‘Run Run’, the trip-hop rhythms that build up to the blasts of guitars on ‘Get To You’, the dynamic melodic swells that really allow the chorus to sound even more vibrant on ‘Slow Motion’, and the bright acoustic guitars that sparks on ‘Clearly’, allowing the album to end up on an affirming note.

This is where the changes in Alessia Cara’s writing do manifest, where even despite the themes of going through post-breakup pang that eventually leads to her finding a sense of clarity within newfound romance, she doesn’t have the amount of hesitation and confusion that she tends to bring through her past records. Embracing that newfound assurance does mean that she’s able to easily pick herself back up whilst acknowledging the pain and grief that stems from that breakup, eventually leading to the second half where her yearning doesn’t come with any setbacks at all.

While it’s not exactly terrific all the way through, as there are still moments that do keep it from really hitting a home run. Part of it is still Alessia Cara’s lyricism that could’ve offered to intensify some of that yearning on the back half, bringing more creative detail instead of keeping things mildly simple. The other part that is a bit frustrating comes from certain production and melodic quibbles, where some vocal effects don’t really add up to Alessia Cara’s already refined vocal style and some songs where the compositions don’t add up to the entirety of the record.

After going through the pains of growing up across her entire discography, ‘Love & Hyperbole’ is the album where Alessia Cara has shown the most refinement and growth as a vocalist and as a writer. Singing joyously on the organic set of instrumentation and production that only flatters her assured singing and lyricism to a tee, amplifying the sense of passion that’s clearly on display. The presence of love can overflow one’s perspective around their surroundings, but when it feels so assuring, may as well hold onto that positive presence.

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Favorite Tracks: ‘Left Alone, ‘Dead Man’, ‘Subside’, ‘Run Run’, ‘Get To You’, ‘Slow Motion’, ‘Clearly’

Least Favorite Track: ‘Nighttime Thing’