Throughout the 2010s there were many pop artists that defined the decade, from Taylor Swift to Adele and Beyonce to Rhianna. All were important to the pop pantheon for sure, but there is one pop star who doesn’t get enough praise, and that is Carly Rae Jepsen. Everyone likely will know Carly Rae Jepsen from two or three songs: “Call Me Maybe,” “Good Time” featuring Owl City or “I Really Like You.” Although these are great songs, Jepsen has a much fuller and richer discography with interesting interpretations of many different styles of pop music.
One of the main styles that was popular through the 2020s is synthpop, and Carly Rae Jepsen is an unsung hero in that field. Her songs “This Is What They Say,” “Summer Love” and “Higher” are three examples of Jepsen taking this genre and making it her own. While they are simple in their approach, they’re also automatically catchy and get stuck in your head very easily. She also explores other genres such as dance-pop and R&B, in a way that sounds authentic. Her songs “All That” and “Heartbeat” are great examples of her exploring R&B. They show how open Jepsen is to experimenting with different styles, while still retaining her personal sound. She then has her two albums, The Loneliest Time and The Loveliest Time, which both delve further into different styles of dance-pop through songs like “Psychedelic Switch,” “Anything To Be With You,” “Talking To Yourself” and “Kamikaze.” Jepsen has a good ear for production which balances out her so-so singing.
Jepsen also makes up for her singing with great lyrical ability. Her lyrics that are simple but effective. Her song “Let’s Get Lost” has the great chorus: “Let’s go get lost, I like that you’re driving slow, keeping my fingers crossed, that maybe you’ll take the long way home.” The lyrics are so simple but portray a vivid image of what Carly Rae Jepsen wants to say in the song. There’s also “Bends,” a song about the death of a close family member, which repeats the line “how can this be life ” throughout the song. The repetition of this phrase expresses how losing someone close can mess up the flow of your everyday life. Out of all of the impressive aspects of her music, Jepsen’s lyrics are definitely one of the best, and have stayed consistent throughout all of her writing since the beginning. This consistency has made her a good alternative when it comes to songwriting, especially if you’re feeling burned out on mainstream music.
Carly Rae Jepsen has come a long way from “Call Me Maybe” and her critically acclaimed album Emotion. While both are still great, she has a whole catalogue waiting to be explored. Her songwriting, chorus writing, and ear for production has improved so much more since these came out. Her albums The Loveliest Time and Dedicated Side A and B, both prove that she has plenty of years to release even more quality pop music, so tap in and stop sleeping on her, because she has a varied world of pop waiting to be discovered.
