"Call Me Maybe" is THE song of 2012. I absolutely love it. It's so happy and exciting and fresh sounding. It makes me feel so good. The lyrics are cute but true to life, Ms. Jepsen sings well and the production is great, especially the orchestral swells that fill in the space during the chorus. It's an instant classic pop single, something we need more of so badly in this cultural dry well of the new millennium. A lot of other people like it too: so far it has spent 9 weeks at no.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It also seems like it came out of nowhere. Who is Carly Rae Jepsen? Well, she's from Canada. And she actually released a whole album in 2008 called Tug of War, a collection of gentle folk rock songs. In short, absolutely nothing like "Call Me Maybe". Skip forward to September of 2011, when "Call Me Maybe" is released as a single for her extended play album Curiosity. The song is immediately a hit, and has become an even bigger hit since then.
I'm going to ignore her associations with Justin Bieber, and just focus on something positive, like her clean cut image and good sense of personal style.
The Curiosity EP is pretty good. Of course nothing else on it is as good as "Call Me Maybe", but I like "Curiosity" and "Picture". Both of them have two things that Ms. Jepsen needs to do more of: good hooks, dance beats, and electronics. Ditch the acoustic guitar, turn up the Yamaha keyboard and digital processors.
"Call Me Maybe" was also released with a bunch of remixes, only one of which (the Almighty Club Mix) really stands out. Honestly, what "Call Me Maybe" really needs is a hardcore techno disco reworking by, ehum maybe some of the neo electro artists I've spotlighted here. Imagine it in the hands of Grum or Adeyhawke? Just give me credit after.
Fortunately, Carly has a new album coming out this fall called Kiss. It's make or break. If Lady Gaga is our new Madonna, Carly Rae Jepsen can be the next Kylie Minogue if she wants to. In other words, just as entertaining, but way less pretentious and bitchy. There is a void for uplifting disco queens she can fill. Go Carly!
