Award winning singer and songwriter Alessia Cara recently got candid about the impact of her strict Italian upbringing has had on her musical journey.

The singer wore her heart on her sleeve during an interview with Billboard and was even quoted saying, “Italians love our music and we love to dance and we love to be loud.”

“So that was always kind of around my life. My mom would play the tambourine when we were kids, and we would dance around.”

She also added, “I feel like I learned manifestation before I knew what manifestation was, because I really would just pretend that I was already successful.”

Cara concluded by saying, “I would do fake interviews in my shower and in my room and talk to no one, fake acceptance speeches -- the whole thing. All of the fake acceptance speeches I had done in my room as a kid had just totally come full circle.”