After graduating high school in 2014, Alessia Cara took a gap year during which she became Youtube-famous, signed with Def Jam Records, and released a single that became the eighth-most-streamed song in Canada and a top-ten song on the U.S. R&B charts. If that wasn’t enough to put whatever “totally eye-opening” experiences we had before college to shame, she’s just released her first EP, Four Pink Walls.

Fans of “Here,” Cara’s viral summer jam, might be surprised by the EP’s more commercial sound. “Here” makes use of a heavy bassline and a somewhat limited vocal range, suiting the lyrics that resonate with any introverts not feeling the scene at a party. By contrast, Four Pink Walls’ peppier melodies showcase Cara’s truly impressive vocal abilities in songs about young love and impatience to grow up, themes that are more expected on a young artist’s breakout attempt.

But though her subject material may be a bit less hip and her melodies a little more pop than R&B, Cara restrains her choruses before they veer toward a big-budget, formulaic sound. The catchy hook on “Seventeen” makes it the track most likely to blow up on a Spotify playlist near you, but the laid-back percussion-and-synth sequence that follows is more unexpected. Drawing on multiple genres, the EP’s other four songs include the doo-wop-influenced “Outlaws” and a smooth, jazzy title track, as well as her previously released R&B single.

Alessia Cara has been compared to Lorde, Amy Winehouse, and some of her Def Jam contemporaries by big names like Rolling Stone and The New York Times. With the release of her full album later this year, Cara might start to piece together a more succinct identity, but she’s in no rush to establish herself as a brand—still just 19, Alessia Cara writes with a fresh voice that doesn’t need to grow up just yet.

—Lea Rice