''Know-It-All'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by Canadian singer and songwriter

Alessia Cara Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...

. It was released on November 13, 2015 through

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. The album followed the release of her debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) '' Four Pink Walls'' (2015), which Cara regarded as a preview of the album. ''Know-It-All'' contains the five original songs from '' Four Pink Walls'' as well as five new songs recording for the album. Cara co-wrote all the tracks and worked closely with

Pop & Oak Pop & Oak is a songwriting and production duo consisting of Andrew "Pop" Wansel and Warren "Oak" Felder. Wansel is the son of Dexter Wansel, staff songwriter, producer and session musician of Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International Records ...

and

Sebastian Kole Coleridge Gardner Tillman (born January 17, 1989), who goes by the stage name Sebastian Kole, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Birmingham, Alabama. He is currently signed to EP Entertainment and Motown Records. Prior ...

amongst others. The album led Cara to receive the

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

in 2018.

Writing and recording

Preliminary work on the album began in 2013, with recording taking place in 2014 in New York into 2015. Cara worked with several producers including Kuya, Malay, Alan Nglish, Fredro,

and

. The latter helped in the conception of the opening track "Seventeen". The song was written when Cara was about eighteen: "It was a whole bunch of feelings. We got to talking in the studio with my dad and Sebastian — we all came up with this thing, like, let’s write about how life goes by really fast. My dad brought up that idea, and that’s why the first line is, ’My daddy says that life comes at you fast’.".

Singles

Here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a ...

" was released on April 30, 2015, as the lead single from Cara's

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) '' Four Pink Walls''. The song became Cara's first top-5 single on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, upon reaching the peak position of five for the week of January 27, 2016 and Cara performed the song on ''

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' with their house band

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

. The song received an official video, which was directed by Aaron A. " Wild Things" was initially released on October 27, 2015 as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

but the song was later sent to US

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

on February 2, 2016, as the album's second single, and has since achieved moderate success peaking at number 50 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Cara announced that " Scars to Your Beautiful" would be released as the third single. It was sent to

on July 26, 2016. It peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Critical reception

''Know-It-All'' received generally positive reviews from music critics, receiving a 70 out of 100 on the review aggregate website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

reacted positively towards the album, writing "Going by the level of potential shown here, it's evident that Cara will eventually need a lot less creative assistance." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' was also positive in its review of the album: "As first impressions go, ''Know-It-All'' is a charismatic balance between dreams and reality that makes its author stick out in the most impressive way." ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

s, Ryan B. Patrick wrote that "while 'Know-It-All''is a tad formulaic, it's terrifically executed and solidly produced...Cara's debut is a striking standout pop record that portends career longevity."

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

was more mixed: "Writing from the heart does not automatically imbue lyrics with depth. Never is it more apparent that the factory approach is not allowing Cara to fulfill her potential than on 'Scars to Your Beautiful.'"

Commercial performance

''Know-It-All'' debuted at number nine on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with first week sales of 36,000 equivalent album units (22,000 pure album sales). On May 22, 2017, the album was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA) for combined sales and

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

s of over a million units in the United States.

Tour

To promote the album, Cara embarked on her first headlining concert tour, the ''Know-It-All Tour''. Tickets went on sale and quickly sold-out, with the first leg running from January 15 through April 1, 2016. A second leg was scheduled for September 29 through November 2, 2016.

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co- producer * "Seventeen" contains an interpolation of " My Girl" by

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

, written by William Robinson, Jr. and Ronald White. * "Here" contains a sample from " Ike's Rap II", written and performed by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2015 debut albums Alessia Cara albums Def Jam Recordings albums Albums produced by Malay (record producer) Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year albums Albums produced by Oak Felder