Call Me Always: Turning to Carly Rae Jepsen in Painful Times

She was there to soften my grief, and I only realized how much softening I needed when my Spotify Wrapped listed me in the top 0.1 percent of her listeners.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In 2015, an album review changed my life. 

I just left my dream job and I felt regret sinking in. I spent years being an integral part of Revue, a monthly print entertainment guide serving 100,000 locations across West Michigan. By 24 years old, I achieved my dream to become a music reporter. By 26, I was appointed managing editor, another dream.  

The role not only helped me reach my dreams, it also established deep friendships, trustworthy acquaintances and supportive connections within my community. And I left it. 

I was, however, much more financially comfortable. I knew I was severely underpaid at the magazine and my boss was not eager to budge with pay increases. So, I began that lifetime search for The Next Best Thing. 

While I didn’t find the next best thing, I found the next thing: a creative content consultant position for a public policy firm in Michigan’s capital. It felt grown up, something to properly establish my next phase as a professional writer. 

Unfortunately, it was boring. 

Thanks to a casual, open-office, regular visitors and a boys-club environment soundtracked by F-bombs (and my eagerness to lean into it), typical office life was drab. I was the most bored I’d ever been. So, I’d fill my time scrolling online.

During one scroll marathon, Pitchfork, the music publication that wants you to know it’s better than you, posted an album review that caught my attention. Carly Rae Jepsen released her third full-length album. 

Jepsen was three years out from “Call Me Maybe,” one of pop’s most memorable songs. The single spent nine consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was crowned Song of the Summer in 2012. Not only was “Call Me Maybe” a commercial success, the track was adored by critics. 

During this time, I was CRJ agnostic. I was quick to recognize “Call Me Maybe” as an incredibly clever and well-produced pop song but I can’t recall a time I’ve played it for myself, then and now. Still, I was impressed with Jepsen’s meteoric rise and, like many music fans, was quick to assume she’d fail trying to recreate her Grammy-nominated song’s success. 

Pitchfork slapped me across the face and pulled me back down to Earth. Writer Corban Goble gave Jepsen a 7.4 rating for E·MO·TION. I was surprised. Pitchfork has always been notoriously critical toward artists, especially if they’re associated with commercial pop. With my curiosity piqued and nothing better to do, I clicked.

Thank you, Justin Bieber

Carly Rae Jepsen was born in November 1985. I’ve always loved this fact about Jepsen, that she’s older than people think. She has young features, is petite at 5’2” and her music has a youthful, first-love feeling. As someone who—at 39—is still mistaken for a child, I enjoyed this sort of representation. 

As I became more familiar with Jepsen, I also enjoyed her songwriting roots. Jepsen’s family encouraged music during her childhood—her mother played Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, she listened to jazz with her grandmother and her father let her choose three songs for him to play on his guitar before bedtime.

What makes Jepsen such an interesting pop star is that pop isn’t her preference. Her first single was a John Denver cover from her 2008 debut album, Tug of War. While the listener can hear a future pop star on that album, its influences are more acoustic guitar than synthesizer. 

It was Justin Bieber who elevated Jepsen’s star. In 2011, Jepsen pivoted toward pop with her song, “Call Me Maybe.” Bieber heard the song on a Canadian radio station and immediately tweeted its praises. A few months later, he posted a video where he lip-synced to the song with fellow influential celebrities, Ashley Tisdale and Selena Gomez.  

The video went viral, and so did Jepsen.

In September, three months after “Call Me Maybe” went to No.1, she graced the charts once more with “Good Time,” a track off Owl City’s The Midsummer Station. 

Knowing these CJR statistics, I get pretty peeved when she’s dismissed as a ‘one-hit wonder.’ Six tracks—arguably some of her weaker material—have charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Each album since Kiss, which features “Call Me Maybe,” debuted within the top 20, which technically makes her a consistent Top 40 artist. 

Between “Call Me Maybe” and now, Jepsen has grown significantly. With this growth, she has gained a modest, yet powerful, fanbase and a reputation as pop’s critical darling. She also has had other viral moments since her No. 1 single. 

In January 2018, a tumblr post went viral. It simply said 

“petition to give carly rae jepsen a sword

“i like her and think she should have one’

That’s it. 

The idea moved from tumblr to Twitter and gained even more steam. Fans were determined to give Carly Rae Jepsen a sword. 

After manifesting it for months, Jepsen received her sword when she performed at Lollapalooza on Aug. 4. Since then, swords have become a regular part of Jepsen’s shows. The meme is even still consistently referenced on Twitter. 

More recently, though, Jepsen was on the receiving end of TikTok’s power. Leading up to her 2022 album, The Loneliest Time, Jepsen released the album’s title track, a duet with Rufus Wainwright. She uploaded a music video clip with the song’s unique bridge to TikTok and users went wild with it. 

To date, Jepsen’s clip boasts 15.1 million views on TikTok and the sound was used in a myriad ways. And, even more recently, Pitchfork Music Festival announced Jepsen as a 2024 headliner—her second time on the festival’s bill since 2016. 

Proving she only gets better with age, Jepsen released The Loveliest Time, her third B-Side album and a companion to The Loneliest Time. The album was a surprise for fans for two reasons: only nine months passed between the two albums, and it is highly agreed upon that this is her best work yet. Pitchfork, an early CRJ ally, chose "Psychedelic Switch" as its best new track and gave the album a 7.4 rating—just like it did for E MO TION.

Call Me Always

Around 2017, I noticed a trend: I turned to hip-hop and pop during stressful times. 

Typically partial to glam and alternative rock, my playlists began evolving. Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, Dua Lipa, Kendrick Lamar, Halsey, Vince Staples, 2 Chainz, Fergie and, of course, Carly Rae Jepsen got heavy rotation.

I eventually learned my job was the trend’s catalyst. Stressed and depressed, I turned to new genres as a Hail Mary mood booster. And you know what? It worked. 

It worked because it is SO INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT to stay sad during the right Carly Rae Jepsen song. I’ll even go out on a limb and say it’s impossible. Nearly all her songs are up-tempo, she’s one of the most clever songwriters in the game and she has a history of great music video cameos, starting with Tom Hanks in “I Really Like You.”

And more recently, the splendidly perfect Jane Krakowski.

It’s interesting, comparing these playlists to the ones I made during my dream job.

While writing this piece, I scrolled back to the first playlist I made on Spotify for reference. It included all my favorite women in alternative rock. Liz Phair, Fiona Apple, Sharon Van Etten, Hole, Bikini Kill, PJ Harvey, The Kills and Sleater-Kinney are all well represented. The second playlist I made is a classic rock menagerie, ranging from Iggy Pop and The Rolling Stones to The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Talking Heads, David Bowie and more. 

Not exactly a lot of crossover. 

This drastic change is because I needed a coping mechanism. And, as life’s stressors grew, I became addicted. 

Coping with Carly

In late 2020, I needed Carly Rae more than ever. With careful consideration, I made the near-unthinkable decision to cut communication with my father. After a decade of repressing my pain toward his actions, I decided I couldn’t take more hurt. My attempt to communicate my pain was consistently met with aggression, so I sought peace in silence. 

I still had consequences, though. The decision wreaked havoc on my body. My chronic pain only increased and I started every morning with nausea and tears. My weight dropped to 102 pounds, numbers I hadn’t seen in 22 years. 

My choice also triggered an in-depth childhood analysis, and it hurt. I realized the family joke that my father never wanted children was just a silly way to make the truth easier to digest. Even with a good therapist and my brother’s solidarity, each morning felt like a battle. During this time, I relied on three things: support from loved ones, TikTok and Carly Rae Jepsen. 

She was there to soften my grief, and I only realized how much softening I needed when my Spotify Wrapped listed me in the top 0.1 percent of her listeners. Silly as it was to me, it still felt like ice water to the face. My coping mechanism now had a number attached to it and numbers never lie. 

While she may be a relatively safe coping mechanism, she is still a coping mechanism nonetheless. In prioritizing Jepsen, I’ve pushed other artists aside. I don’t listen to hip-hop as much anymore and my tastes are stuck in 2019 for the genre overall. I also don’t search for new music as much as I used to (which is still a lot, let’s be honest). I still love recommending current albums, however, they no longer come with a side of deep cuts. 

That loss, though, is manageable.

So what? I won’t be the cool music girl anymore? OooOOOOooooOo. Compared to what I was up against, letting go of my reputation as a new music fairy was far too easy. 

In the four years since I stopped speaking to my father, Jepsen has released three albums. All gifts, honestly. I feel fortunate that an artist I enjoy has increased their music output without sacrificing quality. I don’t usually get that luxury with other favorites like Fiona Apple, who notoriously takes time between albums, and David Bowie, who is dead.

During a time when I didn’t have much giving me excitement (like, you know, the pandemic that was also happening), Jepsen gave me something to look forward to and kept me present in the moment. 

When people hear I love Carly Rae Jepsen, their minds immediately go to "Call Me Maybe," even though she’s released her best work within the last year. As a fan, it's frustrating to come across people who do not see what you see in an artist, however, it just makes the connection to the artist more special. 

I live with chronic migraine, which affects how much work I can take on. On average, I lose one workweek a month to migraine attacks. Not a Fit for Our Publication is my way to raise funds to manage my disease while offering something in return. You can help me out by subscribing to Not a Fit for Our Publication, sharing the website, sharing a free blog post and gifting a subscription.