Carly Rae Jepsen • Kiss

"Hurt So Good" is supposed to be an Amy Grant rewrite, right? (This album is awesome sans "Call Me Maybe," "Good Time," and "Beautiful" with "Drive," "I Know You Have a Girlfriend," and "Sweetie" instead.)

sans "Call Me Maybe,"

what the hell no

picture me trollin

I can't even see why you'd listen to this album if you didn't like "Call Me Maybe". I mean, I love that song and everyone is saying this is great and I'm still having a hard time mustering up any enthusiasm to check it out.

i felt the same - before i was actually commissioned to review it i didn't really have any interest in it. it keeps on giving though.

i liked 'call me maybe' fine but this album p much just got on my nerves tbh

I didn't get rid of "Call Me Maybe" because I didn't like it, just that it's jarring to listen to with a bunch of songs I haven't heard a million times. It should have been the last track. Album sounds better with the bonus tracks at the front anyway.

kinda agree with rtc, this album feels p tedious first time through

this is a great lp, but it's sort of depressing that even after CMM was SO massive, the label still think she needs to have some really shitty crossover collabs on there. it doesn't need them.

i will never forgive gibbard for this owl city bullshit

^^^^

the more i hear it i think there are some good bits - some really good bits - on this album but i very much sympathise with finding it problematic in relation to 'call me maybe'. consider what makes that record pop out so much on the radio, the kinda classic sturdier sound feeding into latent nostalgia, the whole angle on her being a tad older, and it's basically a microcosm for how it sits on the album - even while most of the songs as written and performed mine a complementary cyndi lauper/cars vibe (whatever man let's not get picky) the production on pretty much all of them tap back into that shriller modern all-american katy perry lmfao max martin rictus that in its eagerness to press home the good times becomes kinda gruelling, claustrophobic, relentless. and in the end feels like a tide crj has to swim against

whereas without 'cmm' on there you would feel idk, a little more braced for the whole thing i guess?

but lol albums anyway as ever, this'll have a bunch of fun singles so

relentlessLY FUN

we have a thread now!

yeah, this is great. first listen was ok but it's pretty much amazing all the time now that i've deleted owl city and bieber.

bonus tracks are uniformly great - should be integrated into the album as a whole. the house-y remix of curiosity seemed kind of unnecessary, but the mellow electropop o.g. fit in on the EP but wouldn't have belonged on this. and yeah, Call Me Maybe, while amazing, doesn't fit in with the vibe of the rest of the album. sticking it at the end gives a sort of release.

i dig the tracklist that cr4bdbgs posted somewhere, although part of me really enjoys the fact that the album opens with that awesome sam cooke sample:

Drive
Tiny Little Bows
This Kiss
I Know You Have a Girlfriend
Sweetie
Curiosity
More Than a Memory
Turn Me Up
Hurt So Good
Wrong Feels So Right
Tonight I'm Getting Over You
Guitar String/Wedding Ring
Your Heart Is a Muscle
Call Me Maybe

Anyway, the main lesson from this album is that more pop albums should feature disco strings + slap bass.

and idk, i've never been a huge fan of the forced rictus of fun Katy Perry steez and I don't get that vibe here, no matter how up tempo it is?

also, while there are definitely a lot of the usual suspects on here about a quarter of the non bieber/owlcity stuff is co-written by her boyfriend, who's some random nyc musician i guess? and at least one or two other tracks that were done by canadian industry folks

even while most of the songs as written and performed mine a complementary cyndi lauper/cars vibe (whatever man let's not get picky) the production on pretty much all of them tap back into that shriller modern all-american katy perry lmfao max martin rictus that in its eagerness to press home the good times becomes kinda gruelling

Yeah that makes sense to me, only the CRJ album has made me realise I actually like that sound when it's called into the service of an actually decent set of songs and a singer with a bit of charm.

i think it was indeed the disco string and slap bass that did it for me. if it had been turned up to chic/level 42 levels this would be the best album ever made.

i kinda disagree completely about the modern shrillness thing - CRJ doesn't have the persona(lity) to be all up in your face being obnoxious and personality-heavy like katy perry et al, even on the album's most obvious nod to the guettadrop there's something completely lite and weightless about it (plus it works because it's the only one)

He's not really talking about the vocals though. The production is pretty in-your-face throughout really, bar two or three songs.

also, for those of you who do find that production in your face *and those who don't* apparently no one outside canada got the Curiosity EP that originally contained Call Me Maybe?

It was supposed to be her 2nd LP and then got reduced to an EP. Call Me Maybe aside it's charming midtempo electropop, including the original mix of Curiosity and a cover of Both Sides Now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDk7clnihs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMlUaxBp33U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASZXZDIyPz8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPWWSmXhc50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=migIuRMadOk

I remember seeing that EP in stores, but I think they pulled it back out once "Call Me Maybe" started to blow up. That or it sold out really, really quickly, since I could never find it again once I was interested.

Anyway, if you like her and/or her song but don't like the super-aggressive thump, this might be more to your taste.

Her first album is super folky in a Mraz sort of way, with the exception of the title track, 'Tug of War', which is sort of folk-trance and is pretty lovely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IoedEgydRo

Tug of War is pretty nice.

Where did she place in Canadian Idol? Did she win?

iirc, they let everyone on Canadian Idol finish first, because, well, it would just be rude to let so many people down, you know?

you forgot "eh"

too obvious

The "eh" is regional anyway, right? "Soooory" is nationwide, though.

In 2007, she placed third in the fifth season of Canadian Idol, and was a part of the Canadian Idol Top 3 concert tour.

Canada only has a top 3 tour? Nice. I think American Idol tour sales are in the garbage can because no one wants to sit through 10 singers, half of whom they hate.

was all prepared to hate this, but find myself unable to do anything but smile and bop my head

She lost to this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIySPt2D0zI

And this guy, who was the winner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeoTQ9Z2i_g

the overall sound is a lot gentler than what i think of as the "shriller modern all-american katy perry lmfao max martin rictus" style. it's clear and bright, pops where it should, but i don't feel at all battered by the production. it's more inviting than insistent.

agree that the sequencing of "call me maybe" feels jarring, though i'm not sure why.

i think "call me maybe" sits kind of perfectly in its spot! provides a context for the rest of the record. also, impossibly, hearing it in album context totally reenlivened it for me

also i think a lot of the appeal of the sound of this record is the push and pull between the guetta/dr. luke/max martin/lmfao elements and, you know, the pure disco, which i think are the clear and bright elements that contenderizer highlights. even max martin's big dubstep number is grounded by carly's voice and lyrics, the whole "drop" mirroring the release of the lyric "tonight i'm getting over you," like being released from a line, the sudden preponderance of weight, etc.

how the fuck is "drive" a bonus track?

haha. so say we all.

also, 'i know you have a girlfriend'. also, 'sweetie'.

otm. three of the best songs on the album. would happily cut the owl city and beiber tracks for those, though i don't really hate either. on the first pass, i'm not a big fan of "tonight i'm getting over you" or "GS/WR" either, but i need a few more listens.

"GS/WR"

favorite song

a surprise b/c that's a real awful title

it verges on the willfully abrasive pop sound discussed upthread, but that's not necessarily a bad thing

"tonight i'm getting over you" and "turn me up" are the only ones i thought nodded explicitly at current guettapop rather than the golden age of teenpop thing

the whistling melody throughout "i know you have a girlfriend" <3

"hurt so good" is def my fav non-CMM song

pains me to admit it, but i think i love this album

tonight i'm getting over you grew on me really quickly.

it took a day and then when it clicked, it CLICKED.

the half-spoken bits on 'i know you have a girlfriend' are great.

especially 'cuts me like a knife / gonna be your wife'

okay, i take it back, i flat fucking hate the owl city parts of "good time", dude fucking ruins a potentially decent song

yeah owl city is a...low point

the bieber duet isn't even that awful just a bit boring

i have no complaints about the sequencing or the presence of CMM fwiw - it's been one of those mad busy weeks where i've had too much to listen to and also do so i haven't had any time left over to thinking about how it could be better in that respect

these songs are really nice, looking forward to the album even though i doubt it'll feel anywhere near as exciting as Emotion did

if she mentioned a release window, that's something at least, though it's a shame it's still a while away then.

none of these songs have completely ruled my life like say the night the title track of emotion leaked but i'm hopeful

yeah that's my feeling as well. pretty solid but no eurekas yet.

I thought it was very bold of Popjustice to point out that these songs aren't exceptional and that "Cut To The Feeling" being left of Emotion and B-Side suggests that Jepsen and her camp don't really know what they're doing

doesn’t seem v bold of popjustice to be wrong, seems like their normal thing

finally heard these and am board with them except for one thing -- between "no drug like me" and "party for one" what the hell is going on with her vocals? her voice used to be so clear and bright, and now it's like listening to '10s vs. '90s Mariah Carey. did she get a new and terrible vocal producer? is she trying to make her vocals breathy in some ill-advised R&B pivot? (which wouldn't even make sense, since there are plenty of R&B vocalists with that same brightness of tone -- Kehlani comes to mind)? is this a casualty of The New Chill in pop (who the hell listened to Carly Rae Jepsen for chill songs?) did she blow out her voice on the "Cut to the Feeling" chorus?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnGjfxJqf6I

video is perfect

That's ace

I wasn't sold on the song itself but the video has totally won me over.

her best ever video surely

odds that the director saw russian doll

https://shop.604records.com/shop/carly-rae-jepsen-dedicated-pre-order/

New thred

Carly Rae Jepsen • Dedicated

Oh fuck, is this an April Fools Day thing?

i don't think so

wouldn't love to be proven wrong here

Real; ticketmaster has tour pre-order going up tomorrow

xp that pre-order will take you all the way through the cart where you enter your credit card info, so if it's a prank it's also probably illegal.

art direction taking a lot of cues from poppy I see

I don't think I can recall spotting a release date on an album cover before. (the art's on Apple Music now, so it seems to be official)

https://img.discogs.com/E_v5GS49BYXO9nPXy41U2PwRr80=/fit-in/600x595/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-413829-1362846581-6111.jpeg.jpg

that feels like cheating since it's actually *named* for the release date, but sure, fair point.

i made that joke in the other thread

it is possible to change a cover before release date it’s called metadata

though if i get a record with a date on the cover i guess i’ll eat my words here

Usher was in '87? Holy crap I'm old!

call me maybe just came on the radio and it’s still absolutely perfect

hard to overstate the giddy euphoria this song generated in 2012 - and that energy still flows on like some law of thermodynamics

a tune I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard it and knew immediately it would be a smash