Carly Rae Jepsen may have reached peak popularity with her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe,” but despite the lack of radio play, her subsequent work is far superior.
Two months ago, when I reached a musical drought, I decided to listen to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Emotion” after hearing someone express that it is one of the best pop albums of all time. When I was 10 years old, I owned and regularly played Jepsen’s “Kiss,” the album that features “Call Me Maybe.” I am no longer a fan of the majority of the album, but I still wanted to unravel Jepsen’s musical evolution. So I listened to “Emotion,” and I ended up loving it.
While I recognized “I Really Like You” and “Run Away With Me,” they were far from the best tracks on “Emotion,” or even the following albums she released. To me, a new fan, these are three of Jepsen’s best songs:
“Boy Problems”
One of my favorite of Jepsen’s songs, “Boy Problems,” opens with a line from Sia, telling Jepsen that she is done listening to her relationship issues. This song has one of the best quality productions that I have recently heard. The lyrics are paced perfectly, and the backing tracks are layered with precise intention. The background vocals are well placed — they fill in the break between the main lyrics without feeling overwhelming. The bridge drops the heavy instrumentation, instead implementing a much simpler backing track. This decision pulls you out of Jepsen’s intense boy problems and indicates the epiphany when she questions, “What’s worse, losing a lover or losing your best friend?”
“LA Hallucinations”
In another “Emotion” song, “LA Hallucinations,” Jepsen copes with her newfound fame. She sings about how money can’t buy happiness and how easy it is to lose yourself in all the attention. One of my favorite features is the beat drop in the middle of the pre-chorus and then the ascent into the chorus; it propels the song forward. I am obsessed with the bridge when Jespsen sings, “BuzzFeed buzzards and TMZ crows/What can I say that you don’t already know?” She sings the line twice in a row — the first time with minimal percussion, the second time with the addition of synth. The song closes with a combination of the chorus and bridge — a perfect mashup.
“Want You in My Room”
“Want You in My Room,” a song from Jepsen’s 2019 album “Dedicated,” reveals a sexier side of Jepsen as she alludes to an intimate relationship. This song’s instrumentation is one of my favorites of Jepsen’s. I was not surprised to learn that Jack Antonoff, one of my favorite producers, both wrote and produced this track. His style is distinct — from the pitch of the notes to the guitar and drums, it sounds like a song Antonoff himself would sing with his band and I wouldn’t question it. I’m not a huge fan of intentional highly auto-tuned vocals, but it works for this song’s background lyrics. My favorite part of the song is the intro, but I can’t help when Jepsen sings the pre-chorus, “Don’t go, no (Hey), the night’s not over/I just wanna get a little bit closer.”
I don’t even consider myself a fan of dance-pop, but the catchy hooks and 80s influence were hard to hate. When I listen to Jepsen, I can’t help but want to dance. After exploring Jepsen’s music further, it is safe to say that she has a new fan. I highly recommend listening to that artist that you keep getting recommended or finding new music by one of your previous favorite artists.
