Why Carly Rae Jepsen?

The glittery charm of Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen’s knack for creating fresh pop music.  With charm, wit, and plenty of emotion she continues to cement her status as one of music critics and Twitter stans’ favorite pop girls.  Aside from the inescapable success of 2012’s Call Me Maybe (10x platinum) Jepsen keeps creating perfectly-pop music.  She does so without the need for mainstream acknowledgment.  This cult following of Jepsen is one she maneuvers with grace.  Not every pop star has the ability to keep their craft unique to them. Jepsen does so without not completely selling out to a label’s demands. However, even if you haven’t heard of CRJ since her blowup in 2012, it is her brilliantly calibrated music that keeps her name alive within the realm of the internet and music buffs alike.

“the best things that work are what comes from the heart”

Perhaps the authenticity of her relationship with her oh-so-dedicated Jepsies can be accredited to the truthfulness of her work.  In an interview with Time Jepsen states, “I’ve learned that the best things that work are what comes from the heart, really.”  She elaborates by saying she is dedicated to the hustle.  That hustle is one that her fans see, or more so, hear.  Through Twitter and Reddit threads alike the fans of Jepsen agree that the perfectly-pop music that she makes is deserving of more than, say, a 7.4 by Pitchfork.  A sense of injustice for the Canadian singer’s art rings throughout the fandom.  Despite this, the music speaks for itself.  Jepson’s trademark is her ability to combine absurdly charming lyricism with one-of-a-kind melodies onto a track that exudes emotion.  It’s music that you can feel.  Lyrics like “Who gave you eyes like that/said you could keep them” from the exhilarating I Really Like You matched with the obsessively catchy chorus manifests big grins and the urge to just dance with joy.  It’s cleverly cheesy and yet limitlessly entertaining.

Ready for more CRJ

Since her last album, Dedicated Side B, there hasn’t been much noise from Jepsen.  After that album, there have only been a few collaborations and a cutesy Christmas song in 2020.  However, as we have seen from her previous work, the girl creates loads of music with each era.  Both E.MO.TION and Dedicated were followed up with “side b’s” filled with songs that were left on the cutting room floor for their original albums.  This means when she is working on an album she is WORKING on an album.  Nevertheless, whatever Jepsen’s next era brings it is hopefully coming soon.  Recently on Instagram, she said, “Changing the lyrics at the last second as I do.” with a picture of her in the studio. This came around the same time as she was announced as an act at Coachella – with a font on the poster that was suspiciously small.

Now, Jepsen’s list of collaborators includes the likes of Dev Hynes, SIA, Jack Antonoff, and Rostam Batmanglij.  That’s no one-hit-wonder artist. Keep your eyes on Carly Rae Jepsen, because she’s more than just synth, disco, or pop.  She is endlessly-playable synth and disco-pop.  It is music within the pop blueprint that’s still conceptual, dynamic, and more than danceable.