Alessia Cara has released the video for her Portishead-sampling debut single “Here“. Directed and produced by Aaron A, it re-creates the party that inspired the 18-year old Canadian singer-songwriter to write the song

Alessia Cara is riding the refrains ironic anthem “Here“ which garnered over 500,000 total streams in its first week. Here is unapologetically autobiographical: “Here is a true story,” Alessia confesses, its absolutely me; it shouts out the person the corner of the party, looking around uncomfortably. I feel like this song narrates what the wallflower is thinking.”

“It’s something that I always knew I would be 100 percent happy doing, and I knew that if I were to do anything else, I’d be settling.”

She bolstered her self-assurance by posting YouTube videos and taking drama classes at her Brampton, Ontario, high school, where she graduated last year. After choosing to take a gap year before college to work on her music, Cara found herself in the middle of a whirlwind: She was discovered on YouTube and soon swept up by Tab Nkhereanye, the music exec who signed her to Def Jam, which will drop her album this year.