groovetheory
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Post by groovetheory on May 21, 2020 8:05:59 GMT -5
Aah best news of the day! Summer Love is already my summer 2020 anthem!
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Dreams
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Post by Dreams on May 21, 2020 8:13:57 GMT -5
She records all this music (and 99% of it is of top quality) and keeps feeding us new songs on a consistent basis. Who else does this for their fans? I JUST LOVE HER.
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born
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Post by born on May 21, 2020 11:32:32 GMT -5
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thezatch
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Post by thezatch on May 21, 2020 11:59:41 GMT -5
Just ordered my physical CD + digital album for $17 + tax and shipping at shop.carlyraemusic.com/She’s also doing a SIGNED LP + digital combo for $28 plus there’s new shirts and a hat available too!
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ampersand
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Post by ampersand on May 21, 2020 12:09:37 GMT -5
I tried to order the vinyl from her store, but they don't deliver to Canada! Carly sis remember where you came from!
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on May 21, 2020 12:21:25 GMT -5
I ordered it too, but she better not do me dirty like she did last time. I ordered Emotion: Side B off her site when it came out and then Japan got a way better version that included "Cut To The Feeling."
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#brayden
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Post by #brayden on May 21, 2020 12:22:36 GMT -5
I didn't even notice that "Felt This Way" and "Stay Away" are nearly identical lyrically the first time listening.
Loving it, though. Generous queen always delivers.
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on May 21, 2020 12:45:32 GMT -5
I didn't even notice that "Felt This Way" and "Stay Away" are nearly identical lyrically the first time listening. That really threw me off. I thought I was listening to a messed up version of the album for a second, lol. Especially since they're the same length too. I'd be interested to hear the story behind them. I'm assuming she just re-worked the song with different producers and that took it into different directions lyrically and tempo-wise.
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ampersand
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Post by ampersand on May 21, 2020 13:17:52 GMT -5
Baby blue vinyl of Dedicated Side B available for pre-order at Urban Outfitters. Just got two for me and my bestie.
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Post by Naos on May 21, 2020 14:23:59 GMT -5
I ordered it too, but she better not do me dirty like she did last time. I ordered Emotion: Side B off her site when it came out and then Japan got a way better version that included "Cut To The Feeling." You could order a Japanese version from sites like CDJapan, I think.
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thezatch
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Post by thezatch on May 21, 2020 14:37:47 GMT -5
Good luck with international shipping right now due to the Covid-19 situation though. It’s hit or miss on which companies actually will ship abroad. I know Amazon is only shipping within its own continents/countries at this time, meaning .com only to the US, .ca to Canada, .co.uk to the UK, etc.
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on May 21, 2020 14:43:24 GMT -5
I ordered it too, but she better not do me dirty like she did last time. I ordered Emotion: Side B off her site when it came out and then Japan got a way better version that included "Cut To The Feeling." You could order a Japanese version from sites like CDJapan, I think. Yeah, I order imports all the time. I was just mad I had to buy it again, haha. I checked cdjapan and her official Japanese website this morning and didn't see anything about a Dedicated Side B import yet. But I'll keep my eyes peeled. Good luck with international shipping right now due to the Covid-19 situation though. It’s hit or miss on which companies actually will ship abroad. I know Amazon is only shipping within its own continents/countries at this time, meaning .com only to the US, .ca to Canada, .co.uk to the UK, etc. Yeah, it's been a wreck. I'm having no issues with Europe. But Australia and Asia in particular are taking forever. I still haven't gotten Dua Lipa's latest yet and I ordered that in March.
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born
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Post by born on May 21, 2020 14:53:49 GMT -5
I ordered it too, but she better not do me dirty like she did last time. I ordered Emotion: Side B off her site when it came out and then Japan got a way better version that included "Cut To The Feeling." Well, unless you want “Let’s Be Friends” on a cd...
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Bhad Bill
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Post by Bhad Bill on May 21, 2020 17:42:04 GMT -5
I didn't even notice that "Felt This Way" and "Stay Away" are nearly identical lyrically the first time listening. That really threw me off. I thought I was listening to a messed up version of the album for a second, lol. Especially since they're the same length too. I'd be interested to hear the story behind them. I'm assuming she just re-worked the song with different producers and that took it into different directions lyrically and tempo-wise. So interesting... I actually felt like “Felt This Way” and “Stay Away” were deliberately placed next to each other as one song basically. I thought of it like a two part song? Queen of inventing concepts. The same way “Window” has a line from WYIMR. Or “Solo” is clearly the B side to “Party For One”. I feel like that’s the luxury she gets by calling in a B side album and not a stand alone record? Almost like one track should be on Dedicated and the other is the B side. Just... both on the B side record. It didn’t throw me off, it actually gave me life? Separately, my two favorites are Comeback and Solo. My God! Although I wish Jack would stop fading out the production. WYIMR and Comeback have amazing instrumentals at the end that I wish would grow stronger instead of fade. Also loving FML (hehe) Stay Away, Heartbeat... pretty much all of them!
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Future Captain
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Post by Future Captain on May 21, 2020 18:48:26 GMT -5
I'll be holding out buying the physical until there's news for the Japan release since they get all the best stuff
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Zeebz
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Post by Zeebz on May 21, 2020 19:12:19 GMT -5
I’ve had this album on repeat all day. Loving the fact that she gave us a whole album’s worth of material. Much like its B Side predecessor, there’s several tracks here that I would be more than happy to see on the album proper. Even the songs I’m not immediately enthralled with I see being growers, much like a good chunk of its companion piece.
Immediate standouts are “Comeback”, “This Love Isn’t Crazy”, “Solo”, “Fake Mona Lisa”, “Summer Love”, and “Let’s Sort the Whole Thing Out”
Ordering the physical ASAP
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on May 21, 2020 19:40:10 GMT -5
OOPS. I just ran off and bought this off iTunes when I saw it available today. Surprise! Needed this and unless I can get physical from basic retailers like Amazon or Target, I don't get them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is a better album than Dedicated and I ADORE that album, even more than Emotion, honestly. It's even more mature and sexy. Those first five songs alone make it better than Dedicated. The first 5 songs might be her best songs period and I thought I was obsessed with Gimmie Love, All That, and Too Much, LOL. This album gets an A- from me.
1. This Love Isn't Crazy (What a way to start an album. Her best song. Jack Antonoff has such amazing synergy with female artists. It's been documented, but he really gets these emotions with his productions. Also, his maximalism has such a catharsis to it. I was in tears by the end.) 2. Comeback (yeah, this cinematic shit is what Bleachers does best. FANTASTIC. I wish he did more on the album, honestly. He could do for her what he did for Lorde. Imagine?) 3. Heartbeat (this is so...interesting, even for Ariel. it's giving me some Bjork or Prince vibes. it took me a while to wrap my brain around it, but once I did, I was sold) 4. Summer Love (Tame Impala swagger jacking with disco vibes, but I love it) 5. Now I Don't Hate California After All (wow.) 6. Stay Away 7. Felt This Way 8. Window 9. Let's Sort The Whole Thing Out 10. Solo 11. This Is What They Say 12. Fake Mona Lisa (eh, it's OK)
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pancakes
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Post by pancakes on May 21, 2020 23:56:27 GMT -5
Solo and Comeback are the highlights. Those two sound like it belongs on the actual album. Heartbeat sounds like a failed attempt at recreating All That. This is What They Say‘s chorus sounds similar to that of The 1975’s “This Must Be My Dream.”
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Juan Carlos
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Post by Juan Carlos on May 22, 2020 6:35:08 GMT -5
FYI, there's a Japanese version of Side B and it includes not one, but two additional tracks. They are "Let's Be Friends" and "Always On My Mind". The album is available for pre-order on CDJapan and it will be released on June 17. www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICS-1363
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Ling-Ling
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Post by Ling-Ling on May 22, 2020 6:38:29 GMT -5
Okay, more than a dozen spins later... lol. I definitely don't like this more than Dedicated. I think overall, this is my least favorite body of work by her barring her debut. I know that sounds like a diss or something, but believe me, it's not saying much, because I love it. I just love her previous three entries more. The highlights for me are: 1) "Now I Don't Hate California After All" - she pulls at least one of these off per album IMO. One of those tracks where she absolutely comes out of nowhere and stuns me with something left-field. Love the instrumental and vibe of this. 2)"This Love Isn't Crazy" - one of her classic pop moments. Big chorus, big emotions, that build-up. She and Jack need to do an album together (although "Comeback" is just okay to me). 3) "Summer Love" - Love the instrumental on this one. And if you're gonna have summer in the title, you better give me some heat. The chorus and pre-chorus, yes ma'am. Although it could have a bridge... y'all knew I was going to say it. 4) "Felt This Way" - I think this is the better of the two "stay away" tracks. I love how airy and light it is. 5) "This Is What They Say" - Something about this reminds me of Kylie's Pop&B moments on Body Language, which basically means I stan. Like I immediately want to go listen to "Promises," "Obsession" and "RBW" after this. Also, love that "got me feeling delicate" line. Because we all know "Delicate" was a Carly Rae inspired track. Taylor needs to come clean like Hilary Duff about that one. FYI, there's a Japanese version of Side B and it includes not one, but two additional tracks. They are "Let's Be Friends" and "Always On My Mind". The album is available for pre-order on CDJapan and it will be released on June 17. www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICS-1363LMAO. I knew it! Damn you Carly, getting my coins twice now.
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on May 22, 2020 21:48:11 GMT -5
Crying my eyes out to Comeback. Fuck.
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Dreams
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Post by Dreams on May 23, 2020 7:10:34 GMT -5
Immediate standouts after my first listen:
This Love Isn't Crazy - "Now That I Found You" part 2, classic Carly pop brilliance. Stay Away - Awesome disco bop with a killer chorus. This Is What They Say - I love the production on this one. Love the bridge (?) serving as an outro... Summer Love - 🔥 The instrumental is very... intoxicating. Reminds me of an early 00s summer bop by Kylie, that I can't quite pinpoint rn. Fake Mona Lisa - What.A.Chorus. Pop bliss. Too bad the song is so short. They should've dropped a sax solo and the track would be a 11/10. Let's Sort The Whole Thing Out - I like this and can see it growing into a big fav. Gives me vintage Britpop. Serves as a great addition to spice things up sonically on the album. Comeback - One of her best ballads. This would've fit in on a John Hughes 80s movie. "I don't know what I'm feeling, but I believe / I was thinking about making a comeback / back to me" : haven't we all been there at some point in our lives? 😭 Now I Don't Hate California After All - The way the production accentuates the melody! Such a sensual yet nostalgic vibe on this.
The rest will have to grow on me, but, listen, this album is *wonderful*. After being disappointed with Gaga and Katy's recent singles I thank God Carly came with this and SERVED. I'm so thankful to her for giving us a whole new album pretty much a year after Dedicated. *Off to make a E•MO•TION, E•MO•TION Side B, Dedicated and Dedicated Side B playlist*
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Kevin
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Post by Kevin on May 23, 2020 17:51:28 GMT -5
"Let's Sort The Whole Thing Out" sounds like something that would be on Miike Snow's album. I guess that makes sense since one of the co-writers of the song belongs to that group. "Comeback" is definitely a highlight. I was expecting more for "This Is What They Say" given Dev Hyne's involvement. "Now I Don't Hate California After All" is also a highlight.
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Ky
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Post by Ky on May 24, 2020 12:02:40 GMT -5
Heartbeat melodically sets me off singing 17 by Mandy Moore.
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Unhinged
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Post by Unhinged on May 25, 2020 10:11:40 GMT -5
Loving the album. This woman is amazing at what she does. I'd list my favorites but I'd just list the track list so...
Some reviews:
NME
Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Dedicated Side B’ review: an inspiration refuses to rest on her laurels
"If you’d released a world-beating pop mega-hit like ‘Call Me Maybe’, the 2011 breakout banger that made Carly Rae Jepsen a bonafide pop star – it’s shifted more than 18 million copies and was the year’s bestselling digital single – you’d might rest on your laurels a bit, mightn’t you? Not Jepsen.
In the four years between releasing two brilliant albums – 2015’s ‘80s-inspired ‘Emotion’ and 2019’s disco extravaganza ‘Dedicated’ – she flew around the world to write more than 200 songs. Somehow she also found time to tour with Katy Perry; collaborate with Charli XCX on 2017 banger ‘Backseat’; and, in 2016, play Frenchy in a US TV remake of Grease.
Now the 34-year-old Canadian has released ‘Dedicated Side B’, an album of material written during that four-year exploration. And it’s easily one of the best pop records of the year so far.
Sparkling opener ‘This Love Isn’t Crazy’ is Jepsen at full speed. Working with mega-producer Jack Antonoff (who’s twiddled knobs for the likes of Lorde and St. Vincent), it’s a glitzy, pulsating anthem that calls for open sunroofs and wind in your hair. ‘Comeback’, another collaboration between the two, is an introspective duet, swapping sun-drenched highways for something more gloomy and claustrophobic. This is as brooding as ‘Side B’ gets, but even in the darkness, Jepsen holds onto hope as she sings, “I was thinking ’bout making a comeback – back to me.”
‘Side B’ is from the same lush world as her fourth album ‘Dedicated’, all rose-tinted nostalgia and big emotional choruses, but it’s not a simple rehash. The excitement is never diluted. Full of bass-led groove, ‘Window’ is a finger-clicking pop banger, while the urgent ‘Felt This Way’ and ‘Stay Away’s find Jepson pouring her heart out. “My home is your body / How can I stay away?” she asks, finding joy and not wanting to surrender it.
‘Solo’ is a powerful anthem of self-love. “So what you’re not in love? You shine bright by yourself dancing solo,” sings Jepson. All wonky pop and pick-you-up-from-the-floor tenderness, it’s a confetti-doused burst of empowerment. On tropical slow dance ‘Now I Don’t Hate California After All’, she finds herself in paradise, singing, “Love on the beach and the tide is high.” As the track fades out to the sound of waves on the sand, it feels like the close of one era, with a door left open for wherever Carly wants to head next.
‘Dedicated Side B’ provides a joyous burst of escapism from the miserable everyday, the lockdown ying to the yang of Charli XCX’s ‘How I’m Feeling Now’. Consistently brilliant, ‘Side B’ might be a collection of offcuts but this is the sort of record that most acts could only dream of making."
Consequence of Sound
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Dedicated Side B Delivers More of the Same: Review
The prolific pop star treats her most dedicated fans to another loving batch of emotions
The Lowdown: To maintain her almost decade-long reign as the ultimate trustworthy, sword-toting synth pop songwriter, Carly Rae Jepsen has had to write a lot of songs. Like, a lot of songs. For her latest record, Dedicated, which was longlisted for last year’s Polaris Music Prize, Jepsen told Rolling Stone that she wrote around 200 tracks. “You have to promise you won’t think I’m a maniac,” she warned her interviewer before displaying a series of post-it-covered poster boards of song titles. Since the full-length version of the album was narrowed down to a mere 15 songs, it’s safe to assume that Jepsen was keeping a couple of bangers in her back pocket. And considering the success of Emotion: Side B, which turned out to be even more critically acclaimed than the 2015 album it referenced, fans have eagerly anticipated more B-sides from the Canadian pop star. Dedicated Side B isn’t full of as many hidden gems as its B-side predecessor was, but it still shines nearly as brightly as Dedicated has, especially among the gloom of COVID-19-induced quarantining.
The Good: Just like on Dedicated, these B-sides show how focused Jepsen’s writing process has been on every emotion and experience love brings. Album opener “This Love Isn’t Crazy” is a Jack Antonoff-produced declaration that honors true, uncomplicated, easy love. “You could hurt me baby, and I could hurt you too/ Oh, but love isn’t cruel,” you can hear Jepsen sing with a smile before she explodes into a gated drum-filled chorus. Jepsen never falls short of these neon splashes of danceable beats, most notably on Dev Hynes co-write “This Is What They Say”, when Jepsen shares that falling in love is actually all it’s cracked up to be, alternating between pulsing verses and a chorus showcasing her carefree, anthemic falsetto to nearly represent the trajectory of budding romance itself.
Some of Carly Rae Jepsen’s most signature lyricism has turned out to be head-turning quirkiness, from Emotion:Side B’s “The Store” or the oddly catchy metaphor on Dedicated’s “Automatically in Love” (“Right away, baby, it’s a real roller coaster when the wind goes the other way”). “Fake Mona Lisa” is CRJ’s latest addition to this quizzical collection, as Jepsen describes an early flirtation with her love interest, breathily narrating, “The night we painted over your fake Mona Lisa/ Lipstick on the corners, said her smile was teasin’ ya,” in the mysteriously addictive spell that Jepsen always manages to cast.
The Bad: Songs like the ’80s bass-heavy, ABBA-inspired “Summer Love” and soft ballad “Heartbeat” could have been beneficial additions to Dedicated, but most of the album’s tracks follow the same formula as what is already included on that record and don’t add as much as simply continue what the album already has. For big fans of Dedicated, this is ideal; for fans who were hoping for something different, it could be disappointing. Emotion: Side B set CRJ’s B-sides’ bar high. The particular songs Jepsen chose for this collection, as well as the order she places them in, also makes for a disjointed listen when “Felt This Way” transitions into “Stay Away”, because both songs have nearly the same refrain. Jepsen repeatedly asks, “How come I can’t stay away?” in one song and “How can I stay away?” in the next, leading them to sound like the same song being played twice. With around 200 songs to choose from, this was an awkward choice.
The Verdict: While the concept itself often feels like a cliche, there are few artists that are as dedicated to their devoted, niche fanbases as Carly Rae Jepsen is. When Jepsen’s Emotion had to follow the success of her most iconic song — “Call Me Maybe” off of her second record, Kiss — her new, purely joyous, romantic, synth pop tunes did better critically than their sales did, but it also won her a specific fanbase. Her fans that she adopted through that record have stayed with Jepsen ever since, and she makes a point to honor them through every song release and tour cycle. The B-side “Solo” feels like a dedication to Jepsen’s single fans within the lovefest of her latest music, as she insists that despite all of her new songs about being madly in love, she’s been lonely, too. Just listen to her past albums. “So what, you’re not in love?/ You shine bright by yourself dancing solo,” she shouts on the track, which feels like one big, bright, bop of a hug. The little wink that is “Solo” represents what Dedicated: Side B is as a whole. Perhaps the B-sides are not all as special as what Jepsen chose for her official album, but she saved them and released them with her fans in mind. All along, she was most dedicated to them.
Essential Tracks: “This Is What They Say”, “This Love Isn’t Crazy”, and “Fake Mona Lisa”
Uproxx
Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Dedicated’ B-Sides Hits A Sweet Spot For Fans
"Too much of a good thing feels just fine when the rest of the world is as bleak as it’s been lately. So, when Carly Rae Jepsen announced to the quarantined masses last Friday morning that a surprise collection of more pop bops was on the way from their fav, it immediately registered as fantastic news. Following up on the same timeline she used for her last album cycle, Jepsen dropped the B-sides collection to the 2019 record, Dedicated, on the one-year anniversary of the original album’s release date.
“So yes there have been whispers and I’m bad at keeping secrets,” Jepsen wrote in an Instagram post last Friday morning. “Side B for Dedicated is out now babies and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share these tunes. I hope it makes yah dance your pants off! Thank you for all the joy you shared with me on this last year of touring. I owe ya one.. or like two albums turns out. For the record, I love all of you.”
Perhaps this release wouldn’t feel as rote if she hadn’t followed this exact same formula for the one-year anniversary of Emotion, and unlike that cult-classic record, Dedicated didn’t quite have a career-altering, critical-darling impact. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of sparkling, left-field jams on both B-sides that will have fans just as excited as her once-massive hit “Call Me Maybe.” And the pop star release schedule has been strained in 2020 due to the impact of a global pandemic, and with Lady Gaga and the Dixie Chicks both pushing big releases, there was a Carly-shaped-hole in the listening calendar — Dedicated B-sides slots there just fine.
Without huge stadium tours from the likes of Lana Del Rey — who may or may not have lost a bulk of ticket-holders due to her repeated rants over the last week — or Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, there’s even more attention to go around to new pop albums. And these deeper cuts from Carly are also a welcome balance to huge new singles like “Rain On Me” or the lingering impact of hip-hop focused hits like Doja Cat’s “Say So,” Megan The Stallion’s “Savage” remix with Beyonce, or Roddy Ricch’s “The Box.”
There is nothing there that will vie with any of those songs for a spot in the top 20, and even less that leans into the hip-hop sound that has become all but synonymous with radio dominance. But for those who are into the optimistic synth-pop sound that Jepsen has leaned into on her last two albums (or make that four releases, counting both B-side compilations), here’s another twelve songs that flit between wide-eyed innocent love, occasional fits of regret, and the kind of nights that make the constant vacillating between those two extremes feel completely worth it.
Returning to tried and true producers and co-writers like Ariel Rechtshaid, Jack Antonoff, and Dev Hynes, along with plenty of others in keeping with her proclivity toward an always eclectic sound, Dedicated B-sides has some moments that are even stronger than the namesake that preceded it. “Stay Away” is the addictive, glitchy sendup of the honeymoon stage with a new lover that’s great for a dance party anywhere, even alone in your bedroom, and “Fake Mona Lisa” contains the kind of strangely specific details that Jepsen fans quickly turn into wry inside jokes and memes, while the production is funkier and weirder than she usually gets, almost like a younger sister of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories era.
Then, there’s the knockout — every Jepsen album has one — “Comeback” showcases the feathery register of her voice that resonates so much more than when she belts. Joined on vocals occasionally by Antonoff, and with the only credited guest on the record, Antonoff’s project Bleachers, “Comeback” is the kind of uplifting epic that transcends romantic pain and gets into self-actualization. This song heads straight into Phil Collins territory and doesn’t look back, looping vocal tracks and synths into a glistening web of nonsensical lyrics that are nevertheless inspiring — “I am the keeper of that beat” will make sense to every music lover, regardless of context.
Some critics argue there is a certain generality to Jepsen pop songs, and she’s been faulted for that before, but within the broad strokes she paints — and occasional idiosyncratic, wildly specific motif — listeners can fill their own colors in between the lines. It’s why the last four albums have resonated so deeply with her core fanbase, even if the charts and the mainstream at large have never connected as strongly with her as they have with other pop stars. For those who see and hear themselves in a Carly Rae Jepsen song, even the most nonsensical phrase has the sheen of unassailable wisdom. These dedicated ones, we are the keeper of that beat."
Stereogum
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Joyous Low-Stakes Rom-Com Continues Unfettered
"The television landscape in this era of Peak TV comprises many overlapping tiers and ecosystems. Within this moment of seemingly infinite choice, there are genres — dramas, comedies, talk shows, reality shows — but more importantly, there are target audiences. The style, subject, and stars of a program are not meaningless, but the more important questions are: Who’s watching? Where are they watching it? And are they buzzing about it online afterward? It’s why you might expect shows as theoretically disparate as The Good Doctor and Young Sheldon on the same DVR, and why viewers of Curb Your Enthusiasm probably also enjoyed Mad Men. It’s why some viewers are content with network primetime and why HBO was able to attract a certain type of viewer with the tagline, “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” It’s about the perception of prestige.
This hierarchy also exists within the music industry, a world that has always been far more expansive than Peak TV’s endless sprawl. As with TV, genre seems to matter less than which class of listener you’re appealing to. As with TV, much of the delineation is driven by critical acclaim, and certain kinds of work tend to receive a larger share of attention from tastemakers. But occasionally an exception comes bursting through the noise, and even in a time when critics and other self-appointed gatekeepers of cool are likelier than ever to take pop music seriously, Carly Rae Jepsen qualifies as a major exception. With Dedicated Side B, a new 12-song set released last Friday, she’s once again deserving of hosannas.
Jepsen, the Canadian pop singer who enjoyed a massive worldwide smash with “Call Me Maybe” in 2012, once seemed destined to become a one-hit wonder. Maybe for most people, that’s exactly what she is; “Call Me Maybe” is still the only Jepsen song you can be certain any random stranger will know, despite her Owl City collab “Good Time” also hitting the top 10. Yet with 2015’s E•MO•TION, Jepsen launched into a new career phase.
Musically, it wasn’t much of a pivot. She continued to specialize in sparkling, heart-on-sleeve pop music that could theoretically thrive on Top 40 radio, except it thrived in an entirely different context: Jepsen vanished from the radio and instead became a critically beloved cult favorite. E•MO•TION was a mainstay on year-end lists — this site ranked it all the way up at #3, below Grimes and Kendrick Lamar but above Vince Staples, Sufjan Stevens, and everyone else. The following summer, Jepsen played Pitchfork Music Festival, essentially opening for indie rock bands Beach House and Broken Social Scene.
Even coming off a decade when indie went pop and pop went indie, Jepsen represents an outlier among prestige pop stars in that her records don’t bear any of the usual earmarks of prestige. She’s not a massive superstar like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, for whom each new release expands a vast mythology. She’s not an experimental auteur like Grimes or FKA twigs. She exemplifies neither the endless onscreen/offscreen drama of Sky Ferreira and Lana Del Rey nor the hipster club-queen edge of Robyn and Charli XCX. Her music is not decidedly artsy. There’s nothing grandiose about it. It’s just one impeccable pop song after another performed by an eminently likable singer.
The low-stakes pleasure is a big part of Jepsen’s appeal. Even as she has transitioned from singles artist to album artist, her songs have continued to be self-contained stories, not chapters in some larger narrative. She has managed to avoid scandal and has kept the twists and turns of her personal life to herself. Even when her songs are inspired by her own experiences, you never get the sense they’re supposed to function as commentary on her life, crammed with subtext to be mined out by stans like Lost fanatics deciphering Easter eggs or The Sopranos viewers debating what happened in the final scene. That kind of hypermodern pop stardom has its allure, but it can be exhausting — whereas freedom from the weight of extracurricular baggage makes Jepsen’s songs soar higher. It’s just really good pop music, the kind that can tingle your spine and amplify your emotions four minutes at a time.
It’s not that Jepsen has no persona — quite the opposite, in fact. She’s a distinctive presence with a carefully honed aesthetic, and she’s been laying claim to her lane ever since E•MO•TION popped off. In her music, she often comes off like a plucky sitcom protagonist whose depth is often underestimated because of her optimistic outlook and fundamentally cheery demeanor. Think The Mary Tyler Moore Show rebooted for millennials or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt without the traumatic backstory. Or maybe, given the standalone quality of each track, she’s less like one character than an actress who specializes in a certain type of role, like Audrey Hepburn or Meg Ryan hopping from one romantic comedy to the next, forever tracing the path from stomach-fluttering flirtation to euphoric romance to crushing heartbreak to post-breakup resilience.
The soundtrack for these exploits usually hearkens back to the 1980s, a time when the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson were pioneering the larger-than-life imperial pop stardom of today but most singers were just trying to cut as many fire singles as they could. On E•MO•TION, Jepsen teamed with a mix of mainstream hit-makers (Shellback, Greg Kurstin, Sia, Peter Svensson) and indie-adjacent cool kids (Dev Hynes, Rostam, Ariel Rechtshaid, Haim) to carve out a bespoke alternate history of that moment, a brighter alternative to the pervasive glamorous gloom of the influential Drive soundtrack. From that opening saxophone blare on “Run Away With Me” onward, Jepsen has been running wild through a pristine synthetic wonderland, becoming an icon of effervescence along the way.
But what happens when the breath of fresh air starts to go stale? In sound and substance, Jepsen’s releases since E•MO•TION have adhered strictly to her personal brand. First came 2016’s Emotion: Side B, a set of solid outtakes that understandably did not deliver the same glimmering rush as the tracks that ended up on the album. The towering 2017 one-off “Cut To The Feeling” lived up to its title, but a proper follow-up was still two years off. And when Dedicated finally arrived last year, it was… fine? The album did not lack for highlights, particularly in its opening stretch, yet in sum it felt forced and underwhelming, like the work of people who were very intentionally trying to recapture the lightning that had coursed through E•MO•TION. Her core fan base remained delighted, but Carly Rae Jepsen now sounded like she was doing a bit.
Perhaps Dedicated Side B benefits from the absence of all that pressure. These 12 tracks are once again leftovers from Jepsen’s album sessions, a pool of material supposedly more than 200 songs deep. Yet track for track they’re at least as good as the original Dedicated offerings, if not better, and they hang together much more naturally. When you’ve spent almost half a decade choosing between dozens upon dozens of songs, your judgment can become clouded. We must now consider the possibility that Jepsen simply chose the wrong songs last year because this collection of outtakes is easily her most satisfying release since E•MO•TION.
Right away, the Jack Antonoff collab “This Love Isn’t Crazy” finds liftoff; it sounds like hearts swirling around Jepsen’s head until they blur into neon glow of the dance floor. The plea for transparency “Window” is even better — a bass-popping, finger-snapping midtempo bop crafted with Vulfpeck’s Theo Katzman and relative unknown Tyler Andrew Duncan. The fizzy “Felt This Way” somehow manages to be crisp and soft-focus all at once, and then its sister song “Stay Away” explodes back from the mirage in bright, bold colors. Both Dev Hynes and Warren Oak Felder of Pop & Oak had a hand in the strutting, squelching “This Is What They Say,” while Ariel Rechtshaid and Chiddy Bang (the rapper who once flipped MGMT’s “Kids” into a novelty hit) molded “Heartbeat” into one of Jepsen’s prettiest, most resonant ballads, one that lets her conjure her signature vulnerability: “And I don’t wanna tell you/ Anything about me/ ‘Cause everything about you/ Is speeding up my heartbeat.”
The second half is nearly as rewarding. Jepsen plays around with rock sounds on the bass-grooving “Summer Love” and the frantically upbeat “Let’s Sort The Whole Thing Out.” She taps into one of her most exciting lyrical modes on the synth banger “Solo,” counseling a friend to get over themselves and enjoy life: “So what? You’re not in love!” On the other hand, the loose, airy, Noonie Bao-assisted closer “Now I Don’t Hate California Anymore” shows Jepsen can widen her lane to make room for feelings less extreme than rapture and irrepressible perseverance. Turns out there’s room for versatility even if you aren’t building out your catalog into an extended universe.
Ironically, only the inert “Fake Mona Lisa” hits like counterfeit CRJ. Meanwhile the ballad that seems least obviously like a Carly Rae Jepsen song could work as this project’s mission statement. Antonoff’s band Bleachers is featured on “Comeback,” and melodically it sounds like something he might have originally pitched to Taylor Swift for Lover — that is, when it isn’t borrowing heavily from Donna Lewis’ timeless “I Love You Always Forever.” Yet the lyrics sum up the way Dedicated Side B steps back from the prior album’s “Carly Rae Jepsen” routine. “I was thinking ’bout making a comeback, back to me,” she sings on an early chorus. Later that line morphs a bit: “I was thinking that maybe you’ll come back, back to me.” I was thinking the same thing. It’s unlikely many of her fans tuned out in the first place, but it’s time for those of us who were losing interest in the Carly Rae Jepsen show to tune back in."
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Au$tin
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Post by Au$tin on May 26, 2020 5:46:18 GMT -5
8. Fake Mona Lisa (9/10) Wait... did she just sing "spotting f***ots"? I cannot unhear this now, thank you.
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Dreams
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Post by Dreams on May 26, 2020 17:38:47 GMT -5
She wrote (with Tavish Crowe) and recorded an entire album in quarantine!
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Janhova's Witness
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Post by Janhova's Witness on May 26, 2020 23:15:53 GMT -5
Summer Love - 🔥 The instrumental is very... intoxicating. Reminds me of an early 00s summer bop by Kylie, that I can't quite pinpoint rn. ? 😛 I would die for a Carly covers Kylie album 🤯
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Active Aggressive
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Post by Active Aggressive on May 27, 2020 16:32:13 GMT -5
These other styles are cute, but no one gets Carly like Jack Antonoff. This Love Isn't Crazy and Comeback are her two best songs. I need more of THAT cinematic epicness. When she and Jack sing, "and I show UP to your place (whoa-oh!)" I cry.
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daddy
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Post by daddy on May 28, 2020 3:32:12 GMT -5
“Comeback” is definitely the highlight here 😍
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