Back in 2016, Alessia Cara released the music video for “Seventeen,” in which she grows up in front of our eyes, and, in one scene, clutches a pretend Grammy trophy. On Sunday night (January 28), that scene finally became a reality, as the 21-year-old won the Grammy for Best New Artist over SZA, Khalid, Julia Michaels, and Lil Uzi Vert.

Beaming as she accepted her award onstage, Cara said, “Holy cow. I’ve been pretend-winning Grammys since I was a kid, like, in my shower. So you’d think I’d have the speech thing down, but I don’t.”

Even so, Cara gave a beautiful and thoughtful speech, thanking her family, her team, and her fans. She also took the opportunity to encourage aspiring and under-acknowledged artists.

“There are some incredible artists out there that are making incredible music that deserve to be acknowledged that don’t always get acknowledged because of popularity contests or number games,” she said. “And that’s kind of unfortunate, so I just wanted to encourage everyone to support real music and real artists. Everyone deserves the same shot.”

Cara was also nominated this year for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Zedd's “Stay,” as well as Best Music Video and Song of the Year for Logic's “1-800-273-8255.” Not a bad start to her Grammy freshman year!