WENN

Alessia Cara has defended her Best New Artist Grammy award after receiving backlash online from those who no longer consider her new.

The Stay singer was named the recipient of the award over the likes of SZA, Julia Michaels, Khalid and Lil Uzi Vert at the ceremony on Sunday, and a number of online users took issue with her win, citing the fact that she's been on the scene since her 2015 debut album Know-It-All as proof she isn't "new".

In response to the criticism, Alessia wrote a lengthy Instagram post, insisting she had no had nothing to do with the categories she was submitted for, but isn't going to let the backlash ruin her excitement at winning a coveted Grammy.

"To address the apparent backlash regarding winning something I had no control over: I didn't log onto grammy.com and submit myself," she wrote. "That's not how it works. I didn't ask to be submitted either because there are other artists that deserve the acknowledgment.

"But I was nominated and won and I am not going to be upset about something I've wanted since I was a kid, not to mention have worked really hard for. I'm aware that my music wasn't released yesterday, I'm aware that, yes, my music has become fairly popular in the last year… I will not let everything I've worked for be diminished by people taking offence to my accomplishments and feeling the need to tell me how much I suck."

The 21-year-old, who was the only female artist to win a major prize at the awards, continued by admitting she has low self-esteem and has been suffering from "183625 insecurities" for most of her life – which is why the win meant so much to her.

"I've been shown that what I've created is worth something and that people actually give a s**t," she wrote. "All of the years feeling like I wasn't good at anything or that I was naive for dreaming about something improbable have paid off in a way that I have yet to process. I know it sounds cheesy and dumb but it's the honest truth."