The Pains of Growing

## ***The Pains Of Growing***Studio album by Alessia Cara

### Producer(s)

Pop & Oak, Ricky Reed, Trevor Brown, Zaire Koalo, ClickNPress, Jon Levine, No I.D., Steve Wyreman, Rick Nowels, Dean Reid, Nate Mercureau

## Singles

1. "Growing Pains"
Released: June 15, 2018
2. "Trust My Lonely"
Released: October 5, 2018
3. "Out of Love"
Released: January 29, 2019

***The Pains of Growing*** is Alessia Cara's sophomore studio album. It was released on November 30, 2018 through Def Jam Recordings. Its songs were mostly written by Cara herself, with co-writing from producers Pop & Oak. Musically. *The Pains of Growing* is a "coming of age" record, inspired by three years of the singer's life that led up to its release. Critics named Cara and her sound as "the big-sister of pop", and praised Cara's songwriting ability. The album would eventually win a Juno Award for Album of the Year at the The Juno Awards, and would also receive accolades on other categories that same year.

The album debuted at 71 on the *Billboard* 200 and at number 21 in Canada. *The Pains of Growing* generated three singles. "Growing Pains", released as the album's lead single on June 15, 2018, charted at number 65 on the *Billboard* Hot 100 and at number 36 in Canada. "Trust My Lonely" and "Out of Love" were respectively released as its second and third singles. Cara promoted the album through a series of public appearances and televised live performances, and later, on May 11, 2019, began embarking on 'The Pains of Growing Tour', in Ottawa, Ontario. In addition to her own tour, Cara opened for Shawn Mendes' tour during his American, Canadian & some European dates.

## Background and release

According to Cara, *The Pains of Growing* explores "the nuance and mentality of what it's like to age out of your teen years", as she was 21 during the writing and recording of it. She added that the album is "a little bit more mature, and a little bit more cohesive. It just feels more like a full album. And then conceptually, I know I already touched on it before, but just life experiences and just a lot more transparency". Steven J. Horowitz of *Billboard* called the album a "more mature, radio-ready body of work". From December 2018 to April 2021, Cara uploaded videos to her YouTube channel as a part of a series called "The Making Of: The Pains of Growing", in the videos she puts together a collection of behind the scenes for her songs, giving fans a look at how the songs came together in short summaries. She has created videos for nine songs from her album: “Comfortable” “Out of Love” “All We Know", "I Don't Want To", "Trust My Lonely", "Wherever I Live", "7 Days", "Not Today" and "Growing Pains".

### Singles

* "Growing Pains" was released on June 15, 2018 as her first single, and serviced to hot adult contemporary radio on June 25, 2018. The song peaked at number 36 in Canada, number 65 in the United States, and number 87 in Australia.

* "Trust My Lonely" was released on October 5, 2018 and became her second single.

* "Out of Love" was released to US contemporary hit radio on January 29, 2019, as the album's third single.

Growing PainsTrust My LonelyOut of Love

#### Promotional singles

* "A Little More" was released on July 11, 2018 on Alessia's birthday.
* "Not Today" was released on November 13.

A Little MoreNot Today

## Live Performances

Cara first performed "Growing Pains" on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* on June 18, 2018. The singer played most of *The Pains of Growing* for a media gathering at a Los Angeles studio in June 2018. On July 11, Cara performed "Growing Pains" on *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert*. "Growing Pains" was also performed at the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs. "Trust My Lonely" has been performed live at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards and "Out of Love" was performed at *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*. Cara shared the cover art and track listing on Twitter on October 26.

## Commercial performance

In Canada, *The Pains of Growing* debuted at number 21 In the United States the album debuted at number 71 on the Billboard 200. Elsewhere, it charted at number 165 on the Belgium Ultratop Flanders chart, number 76 in Australia and number 78 on the Dutch Albums Chart.

## Critical reception

Upon its release, *The Pains of Growing* received generally favorable reviews from music critics. On the review aggregator site Metacritic, the album holds a score of 72/100, based on 13 reviews. Rob Sheffield, writing for *Rolling Stone*, awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, commending Cara's songwriting and vocals and noting her growth from her previous record; Sheffield ends his review by commenting that "all over *The Pains of Growing*, she’s got a style that’s all her own." *NME* likewise gave the album 4 stars out of five and commended "The Girl Next Door" as "the most revealing song" on the album, calling the album "impressive and winningly authentic."

Some critics were more mixed in their assessments of the album. Ben Beaumont-Thomas, writing for *The Guardian*, criticized "some production that sounds suspiciously like focus-grouping" and also deemed the lyrics a "mixed bag", but commended "7 Days" and "A Little More" as "much more affecting." He gave the album 3 stars out of 5. *Pitchfork* critic Jayson Greene scored the album 6.8 out of 10; he opined that "a few songs here feel like homework assignments done en route to arrive at a better song." However, he also wrote that, unlike its predecessor, the album "has the tinge of a project made with love and devotion" and singled out "Not Today", "Trust My Lonely", "Nintendo Game", "Wherever I Live", and "Girl Next Door" as highlights. In the review for AllMusic, Andy Kellman compared the album to Cara's previous release, stating that "The Pains of Growing is consequently more fragmented and less consistent than *Know-It-All*, but Cara makes the best of it, generally writing in a slightly wiser and sharper manner from the same introverted homebody perspective."

## References

1. ↑ Alessia Cara Discusses New Single 'Growing Pains,' Grammy Backlash & Sophomore Album 'The Pains of Growing'
2. ↑ *YouTube*- the making of: growing pains
3. ↑ *Consequence Of Sound*- Alessia Cara reveals new song 'Trust My Lonely'
4. ↑ *Pitchfork*- Alessia Cara Details New Album The Pains of Growing
5. ↑ *All Access*- Top 40/M Future Releases - Mainstream Hit Songs Being Released and Their Release Dates
6. ↑ *Billboard*- Alessia Cara Releases New Song 'A Little More' For Her 22nd Birthday: Listen
7. ↑ *Billboard*- Alessia Cara Debuts 'Not Today,' Shares the Lesson She Learned From John Mayer
8. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8461720/alessia-cara-performs-growing-pains-tonight-show-video
9. ↑ https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/07/alessia-cara-growing-pains-colbert/
10. ↑ https://torontosun.com/entertainment/music/shawn-mendes-big-winner-at-2018-iheartradio-mmvas
11. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8483114/2018-mtv-emas-alessia-cara-trust-my-lonely-performance
12. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/watch-alessia-cara-out-of-love-fallon-763351/
13. ↑ https://www.spin.com/2018/10/alessia-cara-unveils-the-pains-of-growing-album-art-tracklist/
14. ↑ *Billboard*- Billboard Canadian Albums: Top Albums Chart December 15, 2018
15. ↑ *Billboard*- Top 200 Albums: December 15, 2018
16. ↑ https://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Alessia+Cara&titel=The+Pains+of+Growing&cat=a
17. ↑ https://www.auspop.com.au/2018/12/aria-chart-watch-502/
18. ↑ https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Alessia+Cara&titel=The+Pains+of+Growing&cat=a
19. ↑ *Metacritic* - Reviews for The Pains of Growing by Alessia Cara
20. ↑ *AllMusic* - The Pains of Growing - Alessia Cara
21. ↑ *Exclaim!* - Alessia Cara – The Pains of Growing
22. ↑ *The Guardian* - Alessia Cara: The Pains of Growing review – unsteady steps to maturity
23. ↑ *The Line of Best Fit* - Alessia Cara's latest embraces both sorrow and self-awareness
24. ↑ *NME* - Alessia Cara – 'The Pains Of Growing' review
25. ↑ *The Observer* - Alessia Cara: The Pains of Growing review – big-sister pop
26. ↑ *Rolling Stone* - Alessia Cara Never Runs Out of Eloquent Coming-of-Age Complaints on 'The Pains of Growing'
27. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-pains-of-growing-mw0003219343
28. ↑ *Amazon*- ペインズ・オブ・グローイング