Tug of War – Carly Rae Jepsen: The pop star has more for her than asking the kids to call
Everyone has heard Jepsen’s infectious number one hit, “Call Me Maybe.” I bought, listened to it over and over again and got tired of the single, like a lot of people. Then I received their album Kiss as a gift, and found it to be a crazy catchy album, great to work with. Honestly, I was a little sad because I thought there was more to his music than that. As always, I liked it and found out that she had released another album, her debut album.
Fresh off Canadian Idol, Jepsen released her debut album, filled with songs that she wrote herself. With this album, Jepsen took influences from many musical genres, making this album a collage of different types of music. She draws on typical pop rock and adds a folk flair, and even brings in some country vibes in spots. It makes his sound sound unique, which he lost after he decided to catch on with “Call Me Maybe”. This album sounds like his personality and it sounds different.
The first song on the album is “Bucket”. In this song, Jepsen samples a children’s song and fuses acoustic pop, reggae, and some kind of Hawaiian music. She uses the metaphor of building a sand castle to talk about her problems with her boyfriend and life in general. This is the first look listeners really get at Jepsen’s songwriting skills. She is capable of taking a childhood pastime and turning it into a suitable song for a young couple. Another song on the album that really shows Jepsen as a songwriter is “Money and the Ego.” Along with “Bucket” and “Tug of War”, Jepsen was nominated as the Juno Awards Songwriter of the Year for this song. Jepsen debates the meaning of life, but makes the heavy track more radio-friendly with a light acoustic production.
Two songs with an interesting production are the main theme and “Heavy Lifting”. The main track has many different parts of the song that play over each other until the end, where they all play at the same time, making the track really challenging on your ears, trying to hear each part. It becomes an experience for your ears. “Lifting” is my favorite track on the album. Describe the story of your first love and your first time. He’s innocent and naive in songwriting, making it a truly joyous love song that radio misses these days. The song has a strong country pop influence with an acoustic production and a great bridge and chorus that fills the track and makes for a pleasant listening.
The only bass on this album is “Sunshine on My Shoulders”. It’s a cover of the classic John Denver song. A song like this is so difficult to cover because of the beauty of the original track. Jepsen tries to make it more poppy and it really doesn’t work in his favor. This was her debut single on radio and it doesn’t reflect her as an artist like the rest of her album does.
Ending the review on a positive note, here’s a song that Jepsen should have based his entire career and sound on. “Tell Me” is a short ballad with acoustic folk influences, which only arrives at 2:21. It tells the story of a breakup and the need for her lover to tell her directly and not try to make fun of her feelings, because she cannot understand him. Jepsen’s voice shines through, and his little imperfections turn into positives on this revealing track.
It is easy to see why Jepsen did not continue to make these types of records. This album didn’t sell well, it only sold 10,000 copies today and came out in 2008. But this is the kind of music that Carly Rae Jepsen makes Carly Rae Jepsen, and not just another Katy Perry / Britney Spears clone. I hope that with his new album, Jepsen decides to go back a bit to his roots and create another album as incredible as this one.
Best clues: Money and ego, tug of war, heavy lifting, tell me
Disposable tracks: Sun on my shoulders
General rating: 4 and a half crowns