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36 C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
the lyrics more focused; as Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene
wrote, the songs feel “grounded in a perspective,” and
that perspective is obviously hers, expertly swaying from
cynicism to idealism without cheapening either’s eff ect.
Her latest off ering is “I Choose,” the main theme from
The Willoughbys, and while she’s no stranger to writing
relatable pop songs with deeply personal lyrics or record-
ing for a movie soundtrack, this was her fi rst time doing
both at once. It was actually Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel
Miranda that wrote “How Far I’ll Go” (and won a Grammy
for the eff ort), but Cara was able to extract some lessons
from the experience.
“I think that defi nitely prepared me for doing
something like this. While they gave me a lot of creative
freedom, there was kind of a template to keep in mind,”
she acknowledges. Of course, that pertains to it being
a family movie with well-defi ned characters and an
elaborate storyline. “I tried to think of it as writing a song
from the perspective of [my character] Jane, rather than
myself, and when I was writing the lyrics, I had to fi gure
out if I wanted to talk down to kids and simplify every-
thing, or give them something real to hold onto.”
It’s not just the simultaneous critical and commercial
success that the movie and her music have in common;
both also take relatively weighty emotional themes and
package them in a way that’s palatable for the masses
without robbing them of their power.
“Because the movie kind of pushes those bound-
aries and really touches on the reality of family and the
way that people are, it doesn’t sugar-coat anything,” she
says. “I think that gave me the go-ahead to portray that
in the song, too, and say some real things rather than
sugar-coat everything.”
Speaking with Canadian Musician amidst the global
COVID-19 crisis in early May, Cara explains that self-
isolation is starting to seep into her songwriting for what
will eventually be LP number three. She was supposed to
be in L.A. for much of the spring, workshopping, record-
ing, and maybe most signifi cantly, actually doing things
that could inspire new songs; instead, while she’s not
short on inspiration, it’s coming from a diff erent place.
“All I have to pull from now is self-refl ection and
looking inward, but that’s been good; I’ve had to force
myself to look really deep into myself and explore those
feelings, rather than the distractions of the outside world,”
she shares.
In a way, the self-isolation is bringing her right back
to her pre-Four Pink Walls days, holed up in a bedroom
bunker with a guitar, some basic recording gear, and little
to focus on but music.
“It’s nice to be back there,” she admits. “I think
you can get good stuff out of being alone and forcing
yourself to think about things you wouldn’t normally be
thinking about.”