Love & Hyperbole Enhanced Booklet

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FIRE

Written by Alessia Cara, Jonathan Levine & Jake Torrey Lyrics by Alessia Cara

Produced by Mike Elizondo & Jon Levine

Recorded by Justin Francis at Phantom Studios, Gallatin, TN Assistant engineers: Erica Block & Alex Wilder

Programming, drum programming, bass & keyboards by Mike Elizondo

Drums & percussion by Trevor Lawrence Jr.

Electric guitar, acoustic guitar & piano by Max Townsley Background vocals by Alessia Cara

PUBLISHED BY ALCARA SONGS (SOCAN/BMI)//JON LEVINE (SOCAN)/ANTHEMS OF PRIMARY WAVE (ASCAP). ALL RIGHTS ADMINISTERED BY KOBALT MUSIC SERVICES ON BEHALF OF PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC//TORREY SONGS (BMI)/KOBALT MUSIC SERVICES AMERICA INC, ADMINISTERED BY SONGS OF KOBALT MUSIC PUBLISHING

(BMI)

SLOW MOTION

Written by Alessia Cara, Mike Elizondo, Jake Gosling & Matt Brettle

• Lyrics by Alessia Cara
• Produced by Mike Elizondo
• Co-Produced by Jake Gosling

Recorded by Justin Francis at Phantom Studios, Gallatin, TN

Assistant engineers: Erica Block & Alex Wilder

Additional engineering by Alex Wilder

Drums & percussion by Trevor Lawrence Jr.

Bass & keyboards by Mike Elizondo

Rhodes & electric guitar by Max Townsley

Strings arranged by Yuli

Strings by Yuli

Group vocals by Alessia Cara, Mike Elizondo, Erica Block, Alex Wilder & Victoria Westfall

Background vocals by Alessia Cara

PUBLISHED BY ALCARA SONGS (SOCAN/BMI)//MIGUELOTE MUSIC (ADMINISTERED BY SONY/ATV TUNES LLC) (ASCAP)//CONCORD MUSIC (PRS)//MATT BRETTLE/STAR

STREAM PUBLISHING LTD.

CLEARLY

Written by Alessia Cara, Dan Farber & Jon Levine

Lyrics by Alessia Cara

Produced by Jon Levine & Dan Farber

Recorded by Dan Farber & Jon Levine at The Synagogue, Los Angeles, CA

Bass & guitar by Dan Farber

Keyboards, Rhodes & piano by Jon Levine

Programming, drums & percussion by Dan Farber & Jon Levine

PUBLISHED BY ALCARA SONGS (SOCAN/BMI)/JON LEVINE (SOCAN)/ANTHEMS OF PRIMARY WAVE (ASCAP). ALL RIGHTS ADMINISTERED BY KOBALT MUSIC SERVICES ON BEHALF OF PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC//PULSE MUSIC PUBLISHING

Mixed by Tom Elmhirst

Mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound A&R: Caitlin Harriford & Tunji Balogun

A&R Coordinator: Justin Scott & Evan Peters

A&R Administration: Shay Young

A&R Operations: Jason Peerless & Liza Corsey

• Marketing: Kanique Swinson
• Publicity: Lauren Ceradini
• Management: Chris Smith/21 Entertainment
• Creative: Mark Bridges
• Photography: Alex Loucas
• Additional Images: Tylre Wilcox

Design, Layout, & Typography: Jackson D. Green

Legal: Darian Schwartz for Sedlmayr & Associates, P.C.

Package Production: Andy Proctor

Business Affairs: Nari Roye, Odell Nails, Antoinette Trotman, lan Allen, Scott Sherman, Niya Fleming & Julia Nagar

⚫ 2024 DEF JAM RECORDINGS, A DIVISION OF UMG RECORDINGS, INC. 1755 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10019, 602465793529

• GO OUTSIDE!
• When I can't even go
• When I can't even go outside

Can't even go, when I cant even go out

I've been caring less and staring at my ceiling

I've been numb just give me something with some feeling

Tapping out, just take me down and call it even

(Call it even)

(Pre)

Paint some life on my face Lonely in LA, I'm such a cliché

(Chorus)

Is it worse, or is it me?

(Sky is falling)

Is there something I don't see (Swear I'm watching)

I can try's but nothing works How can I come back to earth When I cant go outside? When I can't even go

When I can't even go outside

Can't even go, when I cant even go out I've been staying, I'm a broken wristwatch Taking chances but I'm only throwing rim-shots

Tapping out, just take me down and call the game off

• (Call the game off)
• (Pre)
• (Chorus)
• A moth to a flame
• As I am to shame

But what's out of sight's not out of mind.

I know the rain but how do i let in the light?

• (Break)
• (Chorus)
• (Outro)
• LEFT ALONE
• I planted a garden

You walked all over it

You hung me to dry like a T-shirt in the win Well, you're lost in yourself

Really hope you can find a way out There's a hole where your heart should be No longer holding me down

(Pre)

No room for you on my plate

I need some energy to save Got no time to give you time of day No need for what you gotta say

(Chorus)

So it don't matter, we're both grown

I'm much better on my own

Ahhhh, some things are better left alone Some things are better left alone

I'm learning my lesson

I'll find what I deserve You pulled on my heart strings Now you're just on my nerves There's a blade in your honesty

Dodging your constant attacks

There's a space where your brain should be No, I'm not calling you back

(Pre)

(Chorus) (Outro)

FIRE

Pick me up and take me home

Reaching through my skin and bones Changing my DNA

Inch by inch

Minute by minute

All the time i used to waste Always falling by mistake But you're rushing to my brain Like it's nothing

I'm jumping in headfirst and (Chorus)

Ooo, I'm on fire Ooo, I'm on fire

Pick me up and set me free Golden boy in dirty jeans Painting me in your light Wonder why I couldn't see it All the time I used to waste Always falling on my face But you're rushing to my brain Like it's nothing!

I'm jumping in headfirst and (Chorus) x2

I wanna be where you are Anywhere else is too far

I wanna be where you are Be where you are Be where you are, yeah I wanna take you places

I wanna keep you safe and I wanna be where you are Be where you are Be where you are (Chorus)

Alessia Cara - Fire

Watch on YouTube

SLOW MOTION

Dreaming 'bout you sinking into my bed. Dizzy i see stars all around my head. Lifting me up to the moon and back again You're my lucky penny, yeah. You just make sens

I like to keep my cool but you're divine Mother Nature must've taken her time Come on, take me away I'll let you drive You're water and lemon over ice

(Pre)

It's late but i wanna stay A feeling i can't explain My ego's melting away

(Chorus)

I see everything in slow motion. (Like a movie scene)

All the heavens suddenly opened. (Hear the angels sing)

Heard you say it's me or its no one

No one gets through to me quite like you do So imma bet it all on you

Now i got you I'm lighter on my feet

We flow like Badu, just two fish in the seal I'm missing you before you even leave Wishing there were more days in a week

• (Pre) (Chorus)
• I wanna stay
• I can't explain Melting away
• Share

CLEARLY

A million years later, here's you and me A million pages worth of all our history We were roaming in the desert, found an olive tree

No use in going back, deciding who was wrong

And toss the blame between us like a basket ball

I've learned that it takes two to tango, after all

• (Pre)
• Smoke cleared, we healed
• And no I don't hate you

We're on borrowed time and I don't wanna waste it

(Chorus)

I feel the ocean

Between us closing in Now were closer

And i see the fences mending slowly Can we be open

Forget about the rest

And start over?

For the first time I can see you clearly

I visit the beginning and we've really grown I've analyzed the ending through a telescope

Some things can work out until they just don't

GO OUTSIDE

I wrote this one while in LA for writing trip. I was jamming with Buddy Ross and thinking about how it was rainy and gloomy and how if the session ended earlier in the evening I would have no one to hang out with after so I'd probably just spend another night in my room eating bad food and wasting away. Lonely in LA is a weirder, sadder kind of lonely for some reason. Everyone is cooler than you and has more to do than you, it seems. So that's where this one stemmed from. It's about the realization that you've sheltered yourself to the point of complete withdrawal and kind of kicking yourself for it. Seclusion is fine for a while until you realize you have no one or nowhere to turn to and that's when you have to start letting some light in. I thought this would be a good place to start the record as a nod to the last song on my last album "apartment song" which is literally about finding comfort in seclusion. Now it's time to go outside girly! we're onto new things.

LEFT ALONE

I made this one with Greg Kurstin early in the album process. It's about finally feeling removed from a past relationship and having a "tables have turned' moment where they're in the emotional place you were in before them. But now that they've finally met you there, you've already left. It's a sad feeling on one end to realize you're not aligned and that something just can't work anymore, but it's also kind of awesome to be like "I'm actually fine and you can't hurt me like you used to". It's about regaining control of your energy and just accepting what is. This is also the first garden reference on the album. There are a few. I used the garden motif a lot to reference emotional growth or regression.

This is sort of the prequel to left alone in a sense. It's about the period of emotional turmoil you experience when you can feel a relationship falling apart in front of you. Not yet removed, still in the quicksand. There's no worse feeling than grasping at straws desperately trying to keep something from failing, especially when it feels like you're the only one. we've all done it in some way! It sucks. Mike elizondo showed me the bones of the track and it immediately made me think of this sort of macabre, witchy, campy world. That's how I thought of dead man as the title and then pulled from that.

SUBSIDE

I'm very bad with the passing of time, death, and change, and my anxiety around those things has been a huge part of my personal life for years. I've touched on it loosely in some of my music but I was feeling a particular kind of melancholy the day I wrote this one. Some days I'll get hit with a scent or taste or image that sends me into this state of hyper-nostalgia and it becomes a little crippling. I know it sounds dramatic but it's really something I get plagued by often. What do you mean I'll never be a kid splitting a tangerine 4 ways with my family every dinner again? What do you mean my 20s are almost over? How do you swallow the bitter pill of impermanence? Being a person is too hard sometimes. Who signed us up for this? It's an ache that won't subside.

I'm poking fun at myself a little bit in this one. it's the first song I wrote for the album and it's always been one of my favourites. I was thinking about developing feelings for someone really cool and sweet and wondering if my mental state at the time was going to ruin it or not, so I figured maybe I'll just tell them to run from me so that if they do, it'll be because I told them to, not because they wanted to. you can't fire me because I quit.

DRIVE

I was freshly 25 and having a quarter life crisis of sorts, if you can't already tell. I just felt stuck in so many aspects. Emotionally, mentally, creatively, physically. I really had this urge to turn my life upside down like a piggy bank and shake it to see what came out. It felt like the only way I could find some purpose or change was to vigorously launch myself into it. I remember I was going on lots of aimless drives to clear my head and would sometimes imagine an alternate reality where I'd maybe keep driving and start my life over. That didn't happen but I got this song. Also second garden reference.

This one's about when everything about a relationship or person reads well on paper but you can't connect with them no matter how much you want to. It's supposed to work but it doesn't and you don't know why. You're supposed to really see them, but you don't. They're supposed to really see you, but they don't. Maybe you feel a bit of guilt around that, maybe just frustration. It sucks to dig and dig and dig and not be able to reach what you're looking for. I wrote it for a friend but I think deep down it was sort of for me too.

(ISN'T IT) OBVIOUS

One of my favourite songs I've ever written! I love it so much. it's about reassuring someone that you're not going anywhere and in a sense reassuring yourself that love is only as scary as you allow it to be. giving up control is not something we always feel safe doing, but I do feel like a heart really is safe in the right hands, some things are just right and obvious. also John mayer guitar solo. One of the best moments of my life.

Third garden reference! this one was so fun to make. Me and Jack Rochon made this one in his studio after going through a box of random percussion instruments and playing them randomly into a mic. he compiled all the best sounds and made the track out of that as a base, it's definitely the turning point of the album in a more sonic sense (it brightens after this point) and also a thematic sense. The letting in of light I was talking about on track one begins in this song and continues for the rest of the album. I love that you can feel the shift. going from "how do I let in the light?" To "You light me up inside".

NIGHTTIME THING

This is one I did not think I was even going to keep let alone put on the album! I wrote it with a pop diva in mind and I think that's why I allowed myself to be more frivolous and fun with the lyrics. I'm glad I kept it though because I wouldn't have explored writing this way had I known I was writing for myself. It was a fun exercise and made for a really fun boppy tune. it's about the moment of realization that you actually have a crush on someone and they've taken up more space in your mind than you anticipated. It took a few versions to nail it but we finally got it and it feels like belongs in the L&H world now. It's crept up as one of my favourites to perform live too.

My underrated child! always loved this song too. It's about the philosophy that contextualizing and analyzing in some cases can overcomplicate situations and since this thing is going so great, maybe let's not jinx it with too much examination. I'm a big overthinker and I've rarely allowed myself to just ride things out without attempting to predict or prepare for outcomes, especially with relationships. It's a defence mechanism to avoid surprises, ultimately it's really none of our business how this ends or what this is. let's just enjoy it.

CLEARLY

Another one of my favourites I've ever written. Me, Jon Levine & Jake Torrey put a mic in the middle of the room and jammed for over an hour until the song was written. It's one of those that felt like it existed already and we just dug it up again. it kind of wrote itself. I wanted to encapsulate the rare feeling of jumping into something with no inhibitions or fears, in large part because someone makes you feel safe enough to do that, but also because you've allowed yourself the space and time to learn how to be okay regardless. it comes with growing into yourself and accepting things for what they've been, what they are, and what they might be. I felt really at peace for the first time in a while and in a way I felt like I'd earned that. It's also just a plain and simple love letter. It's a privilege to write about love and experience it from a happy place, so it was nice. The vocals from that day we wrote it are the same ones you hear on the record. We didn't want to mess with the alchemy of it because it felt perfect as it was.

SLOW MOTION

This one was so fun! took on many forms as well but I'm so happy with where it ended up. I love how rich and groovy and soulful it is. re-recorded my vocals a few times to get the right pocket (Im annoying). I was really playing into the 'hyperbole' aspect of the album with the lyrics here. It's this idea that love can make you feel like the universe is slowing down just so you and that person can have more time together. Because they're the only thing that matters and the only thing you see ever. it's that sappy thing where your feet aren't touching the ground and you hear angels singing everywhere and everything is blurred but them. I wanted to capture that all or nothing aspect of being in love. That initial intensity of it. I got everyone who was part of making this record in the booth with me and had them sing background vocals. Hear the real life angels sing!

The last song on the album and in my opinion the thesis statement of the whole project. I wanted the arc of this album to be tension into levity. dissonance vs acceptance. 'Go outside' is so emotionally tethered and sonically sharp, and clearly is so free and open. I wanted it to fulfill the promise of track one and let in the light by the last song and 'clearly' encapsulates that. I remember seeing someone I was mad at for a while for the first time in a long time and everything I expected to feel went out the window. What I actually felt was this unspoken sense of understanding between us that everything is okay. I finally saw them and I think they saw me. it inspired this song about forgiveness of others, forgiveness of yourself, of situations, of outcomes. It's about releasing anger and allowing time to show you the objective truth about life: everyone is a little bit the good guy and a little bit the bad guy. Things need to fall apart so that things more suited for us can fall into place. Not everything is personal. Things happen and that's okay. I wouldn't change anything about the way my life has gone because it has brought me to a life I'm proud of. I've earned this sense of self through pain and I've found this joy through loss. And once we understand that on a deep level, all we can really feel about heartbreak is gratitude. I wanted to end the album on an open, free, untethered outro. Hopefully leaving room for some reflection or at the very least a little exhale.

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01. GO OUTSIDE!

02. LEFT ALONE

05. RUN RUN 06. DRIVE 09. GARDEN INTERLUDE

• 04. SUBSIDE
• 08. OBVIOUS
• 12. ARE 11. FEELS RIGHT

BO2024 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. 1755 Broadway, New York, New York 10019. Distributed by UMG Commercial Services FRI Anti.Piracy Wamine Unauthorized eneinn is renishable under federal law All rights reserved

• 03. DEAD MAN
• 07. GET TO YOU
• 10. NIGHTTIME THING
• 13. SLOW MOTION 14. CLEARLY