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Alessia Cara took a trophy home from the Grammys 2018 for the Best New Artist. While Alessia has poured in a lot of efforts into creating music that has won several hearts she faced severe backlash by a segment of the audience that felt that the title should have been awarded to someone else. They were of the view that SZA or Khalid deserved it more than Cara.

After maintaining a bit quiet, the 21-year-old songstress took to Instagram to speak her heart out. She started with discussing how she wasn’t the one who had submitted her name to the Grammys and then proceeded to say that she was not going to be upset for achieving something that she had worked so hard for, something that she had dreamt for since her childhood.

to address the apparent backlash regarding winning something I had no control over: I didn’t log onto grammy.com and submit myself. that’s not how it works. I didn’t ask to be submitted either because there are other artists that deserve the acknowledgment. but I was nominated and won and I am not going to be upset about something I’ve wanted since I was a kid, not to mention have worked really hard for. I meant everything I said about everyone deserving the same shot. there is a big issue in the industry that perpetuates the idea that an artist’s talent and hard work should take a back seat to popularity and numbers. and I’m aware that my music wasn’t released yesterday, I’m aware that, yes, my music has become fairly popular in the last year. but I’m trying very hard to use the platform I’ve been given to talk about these things and bring light to issues that aren’t fair, all while trying to make the most of the weird, amazing success I’ve been lucky enough to have. I will not let everything I’ve worked for be diminished by people taking offence to my accomplishments and feeling the need to tell me how much I suck. here’s something fun! I’ve been thinking I suck since I was old enough to know what sucking meant. I’ve beat u to it. And that’s why this means a lot to me. despite my 183625 insecurities, I’ve been shown that what I’ve created is worth something and that people actually give a shit. all of the years feeling like I wasn’t good at anything or that I was naive for dreaming about something improbable have paid off in a way that I have yet to process. I know it sounds cheesy and dumb but it’s the honest truth. thanks to everyone who’s shown me kindness and support along the way. I’ll stop talking now.

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People who were unhappy with the win felt that the Canadian singer was not exactly new to the industry. However, it must be noted that she was not nominated in Grammys 2017 despite her being one of the top artists even then. Since her entry, she has become a darling of music lovers around the world.

In her Instagram speech, Cara didn’t just talk about herself and her win, but she also urged people to support and acknowledge other musicians. “There are some incredible artists out there that are making incredible music that deserve to be acknowledged that don’t always get acknowledge because of popularity contests or numbers games. And that’s kind of unfortunate,” she wrote. “So I just want to encourage everyone to support real music and real artists because everyone deserves the same shot.”

Like the previous Grammys, this year as well, there were a lot of factors that had music junkies disappointed. However, instead of pulling other artists down because of whatever reasons, the focus should lie on uplifting those who win and even those who don’t.