Carly Rae Jepsen is Back, We Are All Saved

Photo+courtesy+of+Interscope+Records

Photo courtesy of Interscope Records

Remember when you were 14 and watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower for the first time and thought it was the most profound piece of art that you’ve ever seen in your life? Remember when Emma Watson dangerously stuck her head out of the sun roof while “Heroes” by David Bowie was playing? It’s the moment in all teen coming-of-age movies where all of the angst and joy and uncertainty come crashing into one another and then settle into an equilibrium, complete with some prominent musical stylings to underscore that “everything will be okay even though things feel weird!”

 

There are some songs that let you write movie scripts in your head. They take your most indulgent fantasies of living out the moment where you finally figure out the meaning of life or something and let you just go with it for three minutes. One of my favorite “movie moment” songs is “Cut to the Feeling” by master songstress, Carly Rae Jepsen. I know that it sounds weird that the girl who sang “Call Me Maybe” could come up with anything that anyone, even myself who admittedly has weird and sometimes bad taste in music, could have an emotional reaction to. “Cut to the Feeling” is upbeat, happy, but also has kind of a yearning and wistful vibe of longing for some kind of epic romance. I could seeing it coming on after a song like “Dancing On My Own;” it’s lightens the mood but still elicits the same feelings.

 

Jepsen has gained a semi-cult following, especially after the release of her 2015 album E-MO-TION, a collection of disco-esque pop tracks that sound how glitter looks. Last month, Jepsen released three new tracks, including her new single “Party for One,” a fun new addition to the growing canon of songs by female artists that celebrate independence. One of the others, “Now That I Found You,” falls in line with the songs found on E-MO-TION, giving hope to the fans that our queen of bops is back in full swing. The third track, “No Drug Like Me,” is one of her slower ones, and kind of sounds like it would be a slow dance song at prom in 1986 (this is a major compliment in my book). So, as the days get longer and the springtime starts to creep in, fans of Carly Rae have new jams to enjoy while watching the flowers bloom.