Trust My Lonely

Album: The Pains of Growing (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Alessia Cara found herself caught up in a toxic relationship where her partner poked fun at her and used her. It affected the singer's health, but now she's free of the dude.

    Don't you know that you're bad for me
    I gotta trust my lonely


    Cara realizes she's better off alone.
  • Cara wrote the song with "Oak" Felder and "Pop" Wansel. The production duo collaborated with the Canadian songstress on her breakthrough hits "Here" and "Scars to Your Beautiful."
  • Cara explained the song is about the "human instinct to hold onto things that aren't good for us" as at times we're scared of being without them and they become a comfort blanket. It could be a toxic relationship or a bad friendship, but in her case it was "internal black clouds and voices of doubt," both her own and other peoples.
  • Cara told Billboard that she initially wrote the song because of her insecurities. "I think a lot of people, we become comfortable in our misery or comfortable in a relationship that may be bad for us," she explained. "This song was just a reminder for me and for everyone to just trust yourself and let go of things don't serve you in a positive way, especially your heart and your soul."
  • The video shows Cara dressed in the same oversized suit she wore in her "Growing Pains" visual as well as several live appearances. We see her dancing in front of a large series of differently colored backdrops. "It's like an artistic way of symbolizing the idea of growing up," she explained. "Sometimes you kind of feel like you're drowning and you feel like you're not ready for the roles life throws at you, so this was my way of symbolizing it in an artistic way."
  • Alessia Cara purposely chose to write the empowering lyrics for this song by herself. She explained in a video interview:

    "In the very beginning stages, I decided that I wanted to write this by myself, and so I was having a lot of insecurities about that. I was feeling like a lot of voices of doubt around me that maybe didn't want to say that they were doubting me but I could feel it and... in turn, I started doubting myself.

    And then I came up with the concept or the title 'Trust My Lonely' because initially, it was, I gotta trust myself to write this thing by myself. And then, I decided to just take all of my insecurities and all of those voices of doubt from others and within myself, and just pretend I was talking to somebody and breaking up with them. Like a reminder to trust myself and not think too hard, and, you know, that I can be okay on my own - whether that's with writing an album, or just living life."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.