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Alessia Cara Admits Grammy Win Allows Her 'More Leverage': 'It's Very Hard to Prove Yourself'

Alessia Cara is happy about her Grammy win earlier this year — but she doesn’t think it’s fair that the award holds so much sway in the music industry.

Speaking to PEOPLE at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball lineup announcement event at Macy’s Herald Square in New York City on Tuesday, Cara, 22, says, “It’s very hard to prove yourself as a young woman in the industry. It’s dumb because it shouldn’t be that way, but having that title has helped me gain some leverage and have people trust me more.”

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Cara won the Grammy for best new artist back in January.

“As much as it shouldn’t validate success,” Cara continues, “when you have that to your name it allows for me to be like, ‘You know what, I have this success in my past, I’ve achieved this, so maybe now you guys can trust me with more.'”

“Other than that,” the singer says, “[winning the Grammy] was just a really cool thing that I’ve gotten to achieve!”

Image zoom Alessia Cara performing in August Hanna Lassen/WireImage

Cara notes that her upcoming album wasn’t affected by her Grammy win. “I had pretty much finished writing my new album before I won the Grammy, so I don’t think it affected it that way because the album was pretty much done.”

Cara’s new album is expected later in 2018. Though the disc doesn’t have an official release date or title yet, Cara just dropped a new single and music video called “Trust My Lonely.”

“I think fans can expect not only some insight into the last three years of my life,” the singer tells PEOPLE of the new album, “but hopefully some insight into their own lives and maybe something that allows them to look inward and think about things in their life that they’ve gone through and relate my experience to their own experiences.”

Image zoom Alessia Cara. Sara Jaye Weiss

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“It’s an album about growth and change and transition,” she continues. “[Transitions are] something that we are always going through. I used to think that growing was a short period of time and then you’re an adult, but it’s such an ever-changing thing. So hopefully anybody of all ages can associate with that.”

This winter, Cara, along with a group of other artists, will be performing in the annual iHeartRadio Jingle Ball.

“Jingle Ball is so amazing,” Cara says. “I’m really excited to do it again this year. It’s really fun to see how it progresses every year and how many new fans come each year. And I love Christmas! It’s my favorite holiday, so to feel the Christmas spirit and see all these other artists perform, it’s awesome.”

Image zoom Alessia Cara Roy Rochlin/Getty