Growing Pains

General information

Artist

Alessia Cara

Release date

June 15, 2018

Recorded

May 18, 2017

Genre

Pop

Length

3:13

Album

The Pains of Growing

Singles chronology
← Previous	Current	Next →
"1-800-273-8255"	"Growing Pains"	"Trust My Lonely"

*The Pains of Growing* chronology
"Growing Pains"	"Not Today"

Music video

Music Video
Lyric Video

"Growing Pains" is the lead single and the first track from Alessia Cara's sophomore studio album, The Pains of Growing. Written solely by Cara and produced by Pop & Oak, the track explores the challenges of entering adulthood.^[1] It was released to digital retailers on June 15, 2018 through Def Jam Recordings and serviced to American hot adult contemporary radio on June 25, 2018. Its official music video received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.

Background and Release[]

On June 1, 2018, Cara posted a teaser video after an entire week of vague and cryptic tweets. Following this, she posted lyrics of the song in different social media posts for her fans to piece together. The song's cover and the title were announced by Cara on June 11, four days before its release as a prize to her fans for piecing together the lyrics. It discusses the struggle of growing up and a loss of innocence.

Composition[]

"Growing Pains" is a pop song with influences of R&B.^[2]^[3] Lyrically, the song discusses a loss of innocence and the "inevitable struggle of growing up."

Lyrics[]

You're on your own, kid
You are

Make my way through the motions, I try to ignore it
But home's looking farther the closer I get
Don't know why I can't see the end
Is it over yet? Hmm
A short leash and a short fuse don't match
They tell me it ain't that bad, now don't you overreact
So I just hold my breath, don't know why
I can't see the sun when young should be fun

And I guess the bad can get better
Gotta be wrong before it's right
Every happy phrase engraved in my mind
And I've always been a go-getter
There's truth in every word I write
But still, the growing pains, growing pains
They're keeping me up at night

Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
And I can't hide 'cause growing pains are keeping me up at night
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey
And I can't hide 'cause growing pains are keeping me up at night

Try to mend what's left of my content incomprehension
As I take on the stress of the mess that I've made
Don’t know if I even care for "grown" if it's just alone, yeah

And I guess the bad can get better
Gotta be wrong before it's right
Every happy phrase engraved in my mind
I've always been a go-getter
There's truth in every word I write
But still, the growing pains, growing pains
They're keeping me up at night

Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
And I can't hide 'cause growing pains are keeping me up at night
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey, yeah
Hey, hey, hey, yeah, hey
And I can't hide 'cause growing pains are keeping me up at night

Starting to look like Ms. Know-it-all
Can't take her own advice
Can't find pieces of my peace of mind
I cry more than I want to admit
But I can't lie to myself, to anyone
'Cause phoning it in isn't any fun
Can't run back to my youth the way I want to
The days my brother was quicker to fool
AM radio, not much to do
Used monsters as an excuse to lie awake
Now the monsters are the ones that I have to face
No band-aids for the growing pains

Hey, hey, hey yeah, hey yeah (oh yeah)
Hey, hey, hey yeah, hey yeah
Hey, hey, hey yeah, hey yeah (no, no)
Hey (no band-aids for the growing pains)

Music video[]

An accompanying music video directed by Alan Masferrer premiered June 20, 2018.^[4] It is set in a dystopian environment meant to represent the oppression of others' influences.^[5] Cara begins the video in an oversized shirt before being pushed around by suit- and mask-wearing adult figures and being forced into an oversized grey suit herself. Lilly Milman of Billboard wrote that the video finds Cara "navigating an obstacle course of adulthood."

Live performances[]

Cara debuted the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 18, 2018.^[6] An acoustic version of the song was released via Cara's YouTube channel on June 27.