Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION

[Dammn Baby]

Queen Carly's third album was first released in June 2015 in Japan and rightly heralded as the second coming of Christ one of the best pop albums of the year/decade.

Let's discuss this masterpiece.

Videos:

"I Really Like You"



"Run Away With Me"



"Your Type"



"Boy Problems"

[Linnethia Monique]

I-CON-IC!

Still in rotation as if it was just released yesterday.

[Deleted]

Very strong album. Warm Blood, When I Needed You and Let's Get Lost are the 3 album tracks that I gravitated to most. though honestly the whole album is great. Even All That grew on me.

[Harx]

"I Really Like You" is trash. Seeing it become the only song from the album to have some success on the charts was like seeing "Bitch I'm Madonna" become the only song from "Rebel Heart" to chart on Hot 100. Ew.

I have listened to the full album once and I remember really liking it just like everybody did. RAWM and YT were both amazing singles.

[Caviar]

Love every single song.

[Dreams]

This is far and away the best pop album of the 2010's decade, so far. Every single song is an A+. Music and lyric wise it's like Carly was touched by the Gods of pop when she went in the studio to create this record. I love that, albeit fairly unsuccessful commercially, it's got such high acclaim and status. Very well deserved.

The title track, "All That," "Run Away With Me," "Boy Problems," "Let's Get Lost," "Making The Most Of The Night," "Love Again" are my personal favorites, but like I said every track is pretty much killer. I think she delivered a throwback to the best era of music much more effectively than others' records that scored ten times the sales E•MO•TION did.

[Deleted]

I grouped this up with Side B, some unreleased tracks, Supernatural, and Cut To The Feeling as one whole package
Easily one of the best albums of the decade thus far

[Unhinged]

Boy did I ever sleep on this album and her. Recently gave it a full listen and it deserves all the praise. I did love "Run Away With Me" at the time but never listened to the album. Shame on me.

[Zeebz]

100% the best pop album of the decade. This should've been massive. "Run Away With Me", "Gimmie Love", "Lets Get Lost", "Never Get To Hold You", "Making The Most Of The Night", and "I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance" are the standouts for me, but really every track is amazing.

[Ling-Ling]

On it's face, this is one of the finest crafted pop albums of my lifetime. Period. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but to make an album of 17 pop songs and for every single one to be an absolute stonecold winner in terms of production, in terms of mood, in terms of hooks, melody, I could go on and on... it's a massive feat. Then to have the GALL to take scraps and leftovers from those album sessions and release another amazing pop album from it? This entire era was an embarrassment of riches. The kicker is, I usually don't go for such upbeat, happy pop. I usually like my pop with more sex, edge and darkness. But she pulls it off so well. And the fact that most artists aren't releasing music like this makes it doubly refreshing. Like an oasis in a damn desert to be frank.

Is it a classic? I don't know if I can say that, but I think it certainly deserves to be just based on craft. When I think of all of the great pop icons of my time and all of their classic albums, there was a certain dynamism in themes, in performance, in visual, in persona. And that's something Carly lacks, she just isn't dynamic in any way, shape or form when it comes to her persona. But that's also part of her charm. That she makes these huge anthemic pop songs, but manages to bring a level of regular girl intimacy to them? I dunno know exactly what I'm trying to say, haha. I just feel like that will always hold her and her music back, no matter how much I love it or no matter how good it is.

Either way, I love this album so much. It's pure joy to me and I still play the hell out of it. And I have NEVER been to a concert where people were so happy. I know that sounds cheesy as f**k, but the VIBE at her show, it was nothing but love and celebration for her entire show. I would see her again in a heartbeat.

[dbhmr]

Jun 9, 2017 17:34:58 GMT -5 Ling-Ling said:

On it's face, this is one of the finest crafted pop albums of my lifetime. Period. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but to make an album of 17 pop songs and for every single one to be an absolute stonecold winner in terms of production, in terms of mood, in terms of hooks, melody, I could go on and on... it's a massive feat. Then to have the GALL to take scraps and leftovers from those album sessions and release another amazing pop album from it? This entire era was an embarrassment of riches. The kicker is, I usually don't go for such upbeat, happy pop. I usually like my pop with more sex, edge and darkness. But she pulls it off so well. And the fact that most artists aren't releasing music like this makes it doubly refreshing. Like an oasis in a damn desert to be frank.

Is it a classic? I don't know if I can say that, but I think it certainly deserves to be just based on craft. When I think of all of the great pop icons of my time and all of their classic albums, there was a certain dynamism in themes, in performance, in visual, in persona. And that's something Carly lacks, she just isn't dynamic in any way, shape or form when it comes to her persona. But that's also part of her charm. That she makes these huge anthemic pop songs, but manages to bring a level of regular girl intimacy to them? I dunno know exactly what I'm trying to say, haha. I just feel like that will always hold her and her music back, no matter how much I love it or no matter how good it is.

Either way, I love this album so much. It's pure joy to me and I still play the hell out of it. And I have NEVER been to a concert where people were so happy. I know that sounds cheesy as f**k, but the VIBE at her show, it was nothing was nothing but love and celebration for her entire show. I would see her again in a heartbeat.

ffs I'm just going to have to listen to this again aren't I?

[Ling-Ling]

Jun 9, 2017 17:37:24 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

ffs I'm just going to have to listen to this again aren't I?

Let me tell you something, this album was not instant for me at all. I fought it. I tend to gravitate towards edgier pop music in general, so the first several times I listened to this, I was put off by how damn sugary it was (even her darker songs are still sparkling). I eventually just gave the f**k in. It's just so catchy and well crafted.

It's almost summer, roll the damn car windows down and sing along to "Boy Problems" like a middle schooler. YOU WANT TO GIVE IN TO CARLY.

[Hurricane Lee]

There is literally NOTHING to dislike about this album.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Jun 9, 2017 17:54:44 GMT -5 Ling-Ling said:

this album was not instant for me at all. I fought it.

I was the same tbh. It took about 4 or 5 listens for the songs to even start doing something for me. There were a few that stood out immediately (Emotion and I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance mainly) but the others blended together but with each listen, it was like the package was slowly unwrapping to reveal each individual juicy morsel of song over and over again. It was a magical experience but one that took some time.

[dbhmr]

Jun 10, 2017 10:23:28 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

Jun 9, 2017 17:54:44 GMT -5 Ling-Ling said:

this album was not instant for me at all. I fought it.

I was the same tbh. It took about 4 or 5 listens for the songs to even start doing something for me. There were a few that stood out immediately (Emotion and I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance mainly) but the others blended together but with each listen, it was like the package was slowly unwrapping to reveal each individual juicy morsel of song over and over again. It was a magical experience but one that took some time.

This seems consistent with my experience. I just listened to all of EMOTION and the B Sides album, and while I wasn't really dying to skip anything (except maybe "Store" and "Making the Most of the Night," especially the former--awful), but also not a lot was really...landing. I kept having to remind myself to look at what song was playing. It all flowed really well, and the production is slick af, and the music is mostly pretty cute...but I don't know, there's a disconnect for me somewhere. A few songs really jumped out--"Run Away With Me" (doesn't really count as I already knew/liked that one), "Emotion," "I Didn't Just Come Here To Dance," and especially the phenom "Cry"--but otherwise it all just sort of ran together as a pleasant, but also very preteen, set of pop songs.

I feel on the fence. On one hand, I can totally see how these albums receive such adoration as undiscovered-esque, criminally underrated pop gems; but I also totally see why none of it took off. It's almost as if these songs came out of a science lab--they're so meticulously crafted that everything feels very purposeful. There's nothing organic to be found, no personality to take away. Which shouldn't alone disqualify it if you look at what has been and continues to see radio success, but I can see how "Call Me Maybe" was sort of this perfect song for the time that was so big it eclipsed the artist herself, because she herself adds virtually nothing to the scene (or to her music, frankly). She's a vessel for 80s nostalgia and sugary sweet pop melodies, and they're enjoyable, but also entirely without weight.

Torn. (Also, without having listened to a single Natalie Imbruglia song besides that massive hit, she reminds me of CRJ's situation--huge, easy pop song with a killer melody by a pretty woman with a pretty, youngish voice that doesn't get any other hits).

There might be something to listening more, though, because I definitely prefer B Sides to EMOTION...but maybe that's just because I listened to it second.

[Ling-Ling]

That's kind of what I hit on in my previous post. She doesn't have a dynamic persona. It's her biggest weakness as an artist and I think it will always hold her back. She makes very earnest pop songs about love and heartbreak (she has other notes too... naive, clingy, messy, haha). But on the flip side, that's kind of her biggest strength and why she works for me. If she sells anything to me, it's f**king EARNESTNESS. I don't doubt anything she sings, I really do believe she's a woman in her 30's that is still approaching relationships like a damn teenager. It could just be the quality of her voice, it's eternally young. Or her looks, she still looks 21. But she reminds me of way too many women and gay men in my life that have NO IDEA how to maturely approach a relationship at our age. That's certainly not a persona that's gonna make you a superstar, but it's very genuine. So I disagree that she doesn't bring anything to her music, outside of co-writing everything, she sells all of this 100%. It's like listening to "Only In My Dreams," "Lost In Your Eyes" or "Foolish Beat" by Debbie Gibson. She was 14 when she wrote those songs and she had no idea what she was singing about, but dammit, she sounded like she believed every word of it. And Carly does approach love from that same level. It's such a weird dynamic and when I really think about it, it's very off-putting (but also kind of sadly interesting).

And for me, any personality issues she has, the music takes up a ton of the slack. It's immaculately put together and every song has a chorus that kills, or a pre-chorus that kills, or the verses are good or there's a great bridge... or sometimes all of the above. This was an album I ultimately just stopped thinking about and just gave in to. Because if I think about it too much, I might have to find her and drag her to the nearest group therapy session I can find.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Jun 12, 2017 18:31:56 GMT -5 dbhmr said:

no personality to take away.

If I had any criticism of the album, this might be it. The only song to me that really showed any personality specific to Carly was probably LA Hallucinations. We don't really get to know her. But then at the same time, I'm not sure if I can imagine anyone other than Carly singing these songs and making them work.