120 carly rae jepsen songs ranked from fine to great
I’M BACK. I’m back to laud the people’s blonde pop star, the queen of everything she does, the dedicated swordswoman who just met you, and this is crazy…
Contrary to what I assume is a relatively popular belief, Carly Rae Jepsen did not disappear after “Call Me Maybe”, and has in fact released six (6) more albums since then – or rather, three pairs of companion albums, because she’s an extraordinarily prolific songwriter. I have no idea how many CRJ songs the average person knows – I’d wager maybe three? At the most? – and if this sounds like you, please let this serve not just as a ranking, but as a case for CRJ, whose discography boasts dozens of underappreciated gems, and whose worst output is still pretty solid. Queen of quality control!
That said, this list is not entirely comprehensive – I’m only including songs on Spotify from official United States releases – but I think 120 songs is a pretty good jumping off point. Here’s the playlist. Enjoy your SEVEN HOURS OF JEPSEN.
#120: “Beautiful” (with Justin Bieber) – Kiss, 2012
It is largely due to Bieber, who promoted “Call Me Maybe” and invited CRJ on tour with him, that those of us outside Canada know who she is at all, but he did her zero favors with this song, the most boring thing on Kiss. The chorus is just a lifeless rehash of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful”, highlighting how inane that song’s lyrics are without an elite instrumental behind them.
#119: “Both Sides Now” – Single, 2012
An infuriating dance cover of Joni Mitchell’s opus, sledgehammered to fit into a Kiss-shaped mold. What kills me is that the song, in its original form, works pretty well with CRJ’s voice! I know this because she has in fact done good, live, acoustic renditions! Why this is the iteration released as the B-side to “Call Me Maybe” is something I suspect I’ll never know at all, regardless of how many sides I look at it from.
#118: “Sunshine On My Shoulders” – Tug of War, 2008
Less offensive than her “Both Sides Now” cover, but it does nothing for me.
#117: “Weekend Love” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Has potential, but I don’t think the choppy instrumental works at all. If anything, I would not have made this the album closer???
#116: “Last Christmas” – Single, 2015
There’s saxophone? I don’t know, I don’t really like “Last Christmas” in any form. Plus, I’m still mad about losing Whamageddon 2024.
#115: “Part of Your World” – Single, 2013
Why.
#114: “Heavy Lifting” – Tug of War, 2008
I don’t dislike Tug of War, CRJ’s debut, but at the end of the day, it’s a low-key acoustic guitar-driven album from a woman destined to make passionate synthpop bangers. There’s just something off about it, as though her innate pop sensibilities and unconfident attempts at folk rock are each holding one end of a rope and trying to pull the other until one of them falls flat on their face. Is there a term for that?
#113: “Comeback” (with Bleachers) – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
For all my documented animosity toward Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff, I think he has written a lot of good songs, especially before he cemented himself as Taylor Swift’s work husband and enabler. This is not one of them! Because unlike his other collaborations with Carly Rae Jepsen, “Comeback” does not sound like a Carly Rae Jepsen song! It sounds like it should be on a theoretical Lover: Side B!
#112: “Heartbeat” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
City to city, heartbeat to heartb– wait, wrong song. This is an inexplicable slow jam about how CRJ’s love interest is speeding up her heartbeat, and it doesn’t even have the decency to pick up the tempo as it goes on.
#111: “Sour Candy” (with Josh Ramsay) – Tug of War, 2008
If you don’t know Josh Ramsay by name, he’s the lead vocalist (and flugelhornist) of Marianas Trench, the band that would go on to release my personal favorite pop punk album of the 2010s. And just as Jepsen is far better suited to synthpop than acoustic folk, so do Ramsay’s true strengths lie in Queen pastiches.
#110: “Don’t Speak” – Single, 2019
This is low not because it’s bad, but because everything good about it was already intrinsic to the original. I don’t want you to be Gwen Stefani, Carly Rae Jepsen! I want you to be yourself!
#109: “Never Get to Hold You” – E·MO·TION (Deluxe Expanded Edition), 2020
E·MO·TION is CRJ’s generally agreed-upon magnum opus. Even its weakest songs are pretty good. Then there is “Never Get to Hold You”, a never-released bonus track from the fifth anniversary edition. I… disagree that this one needed to see the light of day.
#108: “No Thinking Over the Weekend” – The Loneliest Time (Deluxe Edition), 2022
…Great flutes, beautiful flutes!
#107: “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries” – Single, 2020
I feel bad placing this so low, because there’s a lot to like about it musically and lyrically, (she accidentally gives her grandpa a weed gummy!) but I find most modern Christmas songs… challenging.
#106: “Everywhere You Look (The Fuller House Theme) – Single, 2016
Somehow her best cover.
#105: “Fever” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
The Jack Antonoff-iest CRJ song that didn’t involve Jack Antonoff. My only skip from the excellent E·MO·TION: Side B.
#104: “The Sound” – Dedicated, 2019
The best sound here is the gentle piano cradling the verses. The rest of them are pretty unremarkable.
#103: “Bends” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
Unfortunately not as good as that other “Bends” you may know.
#102: “Everything He Needs” – Dedicated, 2019
CRJ is so based for being a fan of the 1980 Popeye movie, but this sample just doesn’t really work for me.
#101: “Tug of War” – Tug of War, 2008
You can really hear the pop queen of today struggling to break though the acoustic constraints of this song’s namesake album. It has an actual beat! She’s almost there!
#100: “Shadow” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Despite the fact that it isn’t actually billed as a B-side, The Loveliest Time is really the B-side-iest of CRJ’s B-sides. The remix by George Daniel of The 1975 is pretty good, though.
#99: “Felt This Way” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
CRJ was not afraid to get calypso on Dedicated: Side B. I don’t know, 2020 was weird for all of us.
#98: “Bucket” – Tug of War, 2008
You know when she should’ve gotten calypso? On this beach song!
#97: “Bad Thing Twice” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
The Loneliest Time is loaded with incredible bass, provided here by Jordan Palmer and John Hill, who also cowrote and produced the song. Unfortunately, the bass is the only incredible thing about it.
#96: “No Drug Like Me” – Dedicated, 2019
This was a promotional single that had me worried about the album. I needn’t have done so, but this song still isn’t my drug of choice.
#95: “Automatically In Love” – Dedicated, 2019
That low, descending synth line that segues the pre-chorus into the chorus is the only noteworthy element of this song, but it is noteworthy.
#94: “Roses” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
CRJ reunited with her primary Tug of War collaborator Ryan Stewart for this one. It’s better than “Fever”, but still a relatively nothing song from the otherwise stacked E·MO·TION: Side B.
#93: “Money and The Ego” – Tug of War, 2008
Hardly the scathing social commentary the title had me hoping for.
#92: “Let’s Get Lost” – E·MO·TION, 2015
E·MO·TION is such a staggering achievement that even its weakest standard edition track, with its weakest use of saxophone, isn’t bad at all.
#91: “Hotel Shampoos” – Tug of War, 2008
I challenge you to ever get that “he’s gonna proooooove me riiiight, till I’m wrong” melody out of your head.
#90: “Tell Me” – Tug of War, 2008
This is effectively a Michelle Branch song, and I assure you, that’s a compliment.
#89: “Anything to Be With You” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Not a personal favorite of mine, but I do love the audacity of opening a B-side by shouting, “NEVER OVER, NEVER, NEVER OVER!”
#88: “Worldly Matters” – Tug of War, 2008
Another Michelle Branch pastiche with relatively interesting chords.
#87: “Wrong Feels So Right” – Kiss (Deluxe Edition), 2012
A Kiss bonus track if I’ve ever heard one!
#86: “Drive” – Kiss (Deluxe Edition), 2012
… A Kiss bonus track if I’ve ever heard one!
#85: “Hurt So Good” – Kiss, 2012
Okay, by all accounts, Kiss was kind of a rush job to cash in on the unexpected success of “Call Me Maybe.” While it is shockingly good considering the circumstances, I do find it difficult to critically analyze so many light, major key, extremely 2012 synthpop songs, let alone pit them against each other. There are some standouts, but we’ll get to them when we get to them.
#84: “Emotion” – E·MO·TION, 2015
I’m gonna be killed in real life for putting this in the bottom 40, if it’s any consolation. You’d think the title track on CRJ’s best album would be better.
#83: “All I Need Is An Angel” – Single, 2016
An original song from the Grease Live! soundtrack, in which CRJ showed off her angelic musical theater voice playing Frenchy. If I recall correctly, it served as a thoroughly unnecessary precursor to “Beauty School Dropout”, but it’s fine, I suppose.
#82: “Your Heart is a Muscle” – Kiss, 2012
I do believe I have spent a cumulative four weeks of my waking hours with that piano part in my head.
#81: “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
A Tug of War-esque acoustic slow song with a few glimmers of synth. I still don’t think it’s CRJ’s stylistic strong suit, even though she’s clearly matured as a songwriter.
#80: “Feels Right” (with Electric Guest) – Dedicated, 2019
Amazing keyboards, but I think I’d have preferred this as a solo number.
#79: “Tiny Little Bows” – Kiss, 2012
The most twee song in CRJ’s repertoire. Coming from another artist, it might’ve been insufferable, but she manages to make it work.
#78: “Keep Away” – The Loneliest Time (Deluxe Edition), 2022
More excellent Loneliest Time bass, this time provided by Oliver Lundström.
#77: “Stay Away” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
Perfectly fine!
#76: “Far Away” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
I admit I did think it would be funny to rank the trio of “X Away” songs together, since I feel strongly about none of them. This one’s the best, though, which is probably why it got to be on an A-side.
#75: “Aeroplanes” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Probably the most interesting chord progression we’ve gotten from CRJ so far.
#74: “So Nice” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
A considerably improved “Feels Right.” Obligatory top-tier bass by producer-cowriter Kyle Shearer.
#73: “This Kiss” – Kiss, 2012
Never has Carly Rae Jepsen sounded so dangerously similar to Katy Perry.
#72: “LA Hallucinations” – E·MO·TION, 2015
Carly Rae Jepsen and I have diametrically opposed opinions of Los Angeles, but in fairness, I’ve never had to deal with “Buzzfeed buzzards and TMZ crows.” I appreciate this song for being weird as hell.
#71: “More Than a Memory” – Kiss, 2012
WE’LL GET TO THE KISS STANDOUTS WHEN WE GET TO THEM.
#70: “Julien” – Dedicated, 2019
I remember not liking this at all when it was released as a promotional single. I may have been stupid in 2019.
#69: “Sweetie” – Kiss (Deluxe Edition), 2012
The earliest documented Jepsen-Antonoff collab is… fucking awesome, actually. Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara is also here as a cowriter, because all Canadian artists are legally mandated to work together at least once.
#68: “Warm Blood” – E·MO·TION, 2015
Utterly deranged lyrics and a creepy whispered bridge from Count Jepsen and her “cavern of secrets” over here.
#67: “Black Heart” – E·MO·TION (Deluxe Edition), 2015
Even the worst of the original three E·MO·TION deluxe tracks is great.
#66: “After Last Night” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
This song sounds like how a good Studio Ghibli movie feels.
#65: “The One” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
I love E·MO·TION: Side B! I love E·MO·TION: Side B!
#64: “Guitar String/Wedding Ring” – Kiss, 2012
Lyrically ridiculous, sonically immaculate in that distinctly 2012, golden-era One Direction sort of way. My Kiss apologia is about to start up in full force.
#63: “Sweet Talker” – Tug of War, 2008
Aaaaand Tug of War’s finest hour is… the original composition with which a twenty-one-year-old “Carly Jepsen” auditioned for Canadian Idol in 2007! Somehow, she only placed third, and I suspect this is why the show only limped along for one more season afterwards.
#62: “For Sure” – Dedicated (Deluxe Edition), 2019
Dedicated stands easily on its own; it is not E·MO·TION: Side C. That said, I am convinced this song is left over from the E·MO·TION sessions.
#61: “Window” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
A de facto sequel to a certain standout track from Dedicated that also foreshadows the top-quality bass we were in for on The Loneliest Time.
#60: “Favourite Colour” – E·MO·TION (Deluxe Edition), 2015
Two years before Taylor Swift released Reputation, Carly Rae Jepsen clocked its entire sound, and executed it way better.
#59: “Come Over” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
It’s good!
#58: “First Time” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
Justifies the existence of a B-side to E·MO·TION right out of the gate, and it’s still only the fifth-best song on the thing.
#57: “Sideways” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
It’s The Loneliest Time, you know the drill. Bassists of the hour are once again Jordan Palmer and John Hill.
#56: “Let’s Sort the Whole Thing Out” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
This was one of my favorites on the album when it came out; that was my brain on two months of quarantine. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s cute and fun, if saccharine. Plus, it sounds like “Vacation” by The Go-Gos, which means it’s doing something right.
#55: “So Right” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Finest bass on The Loveliest Time!
#54: “OMG” (with Gryffin) – Single, 2019
Only Gryffin song I’ve ever liked!
#53: “Now I Don’t Hate California After All” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
I quite genuinely have trouble understanding how this song exists sometimes. Like, the “Call Me Maybe” girl wrote this. Think about that.
#52: “Western Wind” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
The guitar is MVP for once, played here by cowriter-producer Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend).
#51: “Fake Mona Lisa” – Dedicated, Side B, 2020
Another Dedicated-era song I’m convinced actually originated circa E·MO·TION.
#50: “Store” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
No, I also cannot believe this novelty jingle written for a 2011 anti-smoking ad campaign was reworked into an E·MO·TION B-side. I prefer the ad version, quite honestly, but good luck going to the store ever again without getting this stuck in your head.
#49: “Move Me” (with Lewis OfMan) – Single, 2022
No idea who this Lewis OfMan gentleman is, but he and CRJ released a stellar house song together and NO ONE TOLD ME?????
#48: “Kollage” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Don’t let the titles fool you; The Loveliest Time gets a lot moodier than The Loneliest Time ever does. And if I had a nickel for every one-word D minor jam that starts with the letter K…
#47: “Kamikaze” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
…I’d have two nickels! This one edges out “Kollage” by having a beat. By far CRJ’s best collab with Swedish production team Jack & Coke, who also showed up on Dedicated: Side B a few times.
#46: “Gimmie Love” – E·MO·TION, 2015
Now That’s What I Call E·MO·TION.
#45: “Good Time” (with Owl City) – Kiss, 2012
Not only is it inescapably fun, but this song rescued both CRJ and Owl City from one-hit wonder purgatory.
#44: “Shooting Star” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
Sounds exactly like a disco song called “Shooting Star” should!
#43: “Right Words Wrong Time” – Dedicated, 2019
A Dedicated song with an E·MO·TION-caliber bridge.
#42: “Stadium Love” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
What I’d give to hear this in a stadium…
#41: “Backseat” (with Charli XCX) – Single, 2017
This is really Charli’s song, not Carly’s, but Carly is still really good on it, especially during the bridge.
#40: “Let’s Be Friends” – Single, 2020
Per the Canadian stereotype, Carly Rae Jepsen is rarely mean, but when she is… eh, the guy sounds like he probably deserved it. Bonus points for the dick double entendre.
#39: “Real Love” – Dedicated, 2019
The most E·MO·TIONal song on Dedicated, wherein CRJ abandons all pretense and pleads for real love, summoning a powerful synth horn to go crazy and back her up.
#38: “All That” – E·MO·TION, 2015
E·MO·TION’s second promotional single doesn’t sound much like the rest of the album – it’s slow and elegant, with crystalline synths and just the right amount of punchy bass hits – but if anything, that just highlights how incredible it is. The ’80s influence is courtesy of producer Dev Hynes, (a.k.a. Blood Orange) who Jepsen found in her quest to emulate the sound of Solange’s 2012 EP True, which should not make as much sense for CRJ as it does.
#37: “The Loneliest Time” (with Rufus Wainwright) – The Loneliest Time, 2022
What’d I tell you about Canadian artists? Do their vocal stylings mesh? Not really – Wainwright’s performance here, true to form, has a laid-back, melancholic quality that stands in stark contrast to CRJ’s inexorably playful spirit. But who cares? This is the most straightforwardly ’70s disco CRJ has ever gotten, and she shouts, “I’M COMING BACK FOR YOU!” during the bridge, triggering a swell of strings, and Rufus Wainwright is here! What more could you want in a song?
#36: “Too Much” – Dedicated, 2019
“If I feel it, then I feel it too much,” may as well be Carly Rae Jepsen’s thesis statement.
#35: “Boy Problems” – E·MO·TION, 2015
This would be lower if not for the surprise double-time final chorus, which is one of the best moments on the entire album.
#34: “This Is What They Say” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
Dev Hynes is back, thank God.
#33: “Put It to Rest” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
The closest a Carly Rae Jepsen song has ever gotten to being creepy, which is not something I think her discography was missing, per se, but it is something I always appreciate.
#32: “Summer Love” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
I also can’t believe this was relegated to the B-side!
#31: “Shy Boy” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Three incredible minutes and twenty-nine incredible seconds of CRJ uncharacteristically negging the titular shy boy. That seems counterintuitive, but the production is so good that it might actually work on him.
#30: “Love Again” – E·MO·TION (Deluxe Expanded Edition), 2020
WHY DID SHE SIT ON THIS MASTERPIECE FOR FIVE CALENDAR YEARS?
#29: “Making the Most of the Night” – E·MO·TION, 2015
Have you had a rough time? Here comes Carly Rae Jepsen to “hijack” you! I think this is a romantic song, technically, but it also works as a friendship anthem. Fun fact: It was written by Sia and the Haim sisters.
#28: “Take A Picture” – Single, 2013
The last gasp of the Kiss era is better than like, two thirds of the actual album. You can’t quite hear E·MO·TION coming yet, even with the benefit of hindsight, but it’s not a complete surprise.
#27: “Happy Not Knowing” – Dedicated, 2019
An underexplored topic not just in CRJ’s discography, but in pop music overall. She likes this guy, this guy might like her, and she wants NO PART OF IT. She’s learned from the breakup songs on E·MO·TION!
#26: “ok on your own” (with mxmtoon) – Single, 2020
Carly Rae Jepsen, as you may have gathered, will collab with anyone, but I think her voice works best with that of mxmtoon, who turns in a career highlight here. I hope they work together again!
#25: “Surrender My Heart” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
Everybody give it up for CRJ’s first F-bomb!
#24: “Tonight I’m Getting Over You” – Kiss, 2012
The most 2012-sounding song on Kiss, the most 2012 album of 2012.
#23: “Now That I Found You” – Dedicated, 2019
In a 2019 not ruled by Billie Eilish, this would’ve been the song of the summer.
#22: “Beach House” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
CRJ finally gives us the damning specifics of various non-starters from her evidently dismal dating pool in the funniest song she’s ever released. Special shoutout to the little “oh no” in the second verse, when Boy Number Twelve says “I love you” on the first date.
#21: “Body Language” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
You know, ranking all these songs and attempting to justify my innately correct opinions isn’t actually the easiest thing in the world. The 30s and 40s in particular were a headache and a half. But whenever I got overwhelmed, the CRJ of E·MO·TION: Side B highlight “Body Language” would appear in my brain and shout, “I THINK WE’RE OVERTHINKING IT, DON’T THINK IT OVER!” and I’d go, “You’re right, ‘Body Language’ Carly.”
#20: “Solo” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
The best thing about Dedicated and Dedicbted is that you can tell CRJ was a huge fan of 2018’s “What I Need” by Hayley Kiyoko and Kehlani.
#19: “I Really Like You” – E·MO·TION, 2015
The essence of E·MO·TION, distilled for your convenience. This got a music video starring Tom Actual Hanks.
#18: “Joshua Tree” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
I present the finest guitarwork in Carly Rae Jepsen history, courtesy of cowriter Luke Nicolli. This probably would’ve made the top ten if it had a stronger chorus.
#17: “Party For One” – Dedicated (Deluxe Edition), 2019
This Robyn pastiche is about exactly what you think it’s about. I actually have a conspiracy theory that the second “back on my beat” in the chorus was originally “beating my meat”, but everyone gets super mad at me when I bring it up.
#16: “Higher” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
The best Carly Rae Jepsen song not written by Carly Rae Jepsen. And it slots so seamlessly into her discography that you’d never notice.
#15: “This Love Isn’t Crazy” – Dedicated: Side B, 2020
Nowhere is it more apparent that Dedicated: Side B wasn’t supposed to be a pandemic album. Delaying its release until 2021 would’ve made perfect sense. But then its indefatigably optimistic opener wouldn’t have hit as hard. The first time I heard “This Love Isn’t Crazy” was also one of the first times since the mid-March lockdown that I thought things might maybe be alright eventually. “If this helps in any small way,” Jepsen wrote on Instagram when she announced the surprise release, “I’m relieved.” Thanks, Carly. It did.
#14: “Call Me Maybe” – Kiss, 2012
I’ll say it: I wasn’t totally sold on “Call Me Maybe” when it took over the world. I was an irony-poisoned high schooler who preferred parody Tumblr posts to the real thing. Then I heard the Demi Lovato knockoff “Give Your Heart a Break” and was so offended on CRJ’s behalf that I instantly reevaluated “Call Me Maybe” and decided it was pretty good after all. Now, with nearly a decade and a half of hindsight, it’s seminal. Before it came into my life, I truly did miss it so bad. And you all should know that.
#13: “Curiosity” – Kiss, 2012
Kiss, as its title implies, is so riddled with upbeat love songs that it’s easy to mistake “Curiosity” for one as well (the big, stupid key change doesn’t help). It took me a humiliating number of years to realize that this is actually CRJ trying to convince her terrible love interest to be less shitty, because she’s too fascinated by him to break things off. This, I think, was the birth of the self-aware CRJ we’d see more of on subsequent albums, and I’m still kicking myself for not noticing at the time.
#12: “Want You In My Room” – Dedicated, 2019
See? Jack Antonoff has the sauce occasionally!
#11: “Your Type” – E·MO·TION, 2015
In the hilarious “Call Me Maybe” music video, Carly Rae Jepsen accidentally becomes infatuated with her gay next-door neighbor, who only has eyes for her guitarist. Ah, well. It happens. She looks incredulous upon realizing, but not particularly upset, because “Call Me Maybe” is a silly song about having a brand new crush. The kind incapable of delivering true heartbreak, because the stakes are too low.
But what if they weren’t? Imagine the same situation, except the guy is an actual friend of hers, with whom she’s fallen in genuine, doomed love? How might a song about that sound? It would sound like this, and it would be devastating, and it would kick ass.
“Your Type” is almost ten years old now, and CRJ is by all accounts happily engaged to a heterosexual producer she worked with on The Loveliest Time, but the song hits just as hard as it did in 2015. Not only because its subject matter is universal, (adjust sexual orientations where applicable) but because it’s still powerful enough to engender sympathy specifically for CRJ in this specific scenario.
#10: “I’ll Be Your Girl” – Dedicated, 2019
A cathartically petty subversion of “Your Type.” The highlight of Dedicated.
#9: “Psychedelic Switch” – The Loveliest Time, 2023
Two months before The Loveliest Time’s August 2023 release, I decreed it C Sharp Minor Summer, and as always, Carly Rae Jepsen understood the assignment. That’s not why the perfectly-crafted “Psychedelic Switch” is the best song on the album, but I’ll always appreciate it for that alone.
#8: “I Didn’t Just Come Here to Dance” – E·MO·TION (Deluxe Edition), 2015
Every club in the entire world should be legally obligated to play this song at least once per night. It should be on health and safety inspection checklists. If your establishment isn’t conducting the requisite nightly playthrough of “I Didn’t Just Come Here to Dance” by Carly Rae Jepsen, you should be fined heftily. Shut down, if it happens more than once a year. I’m so serious.
#7: “Turn Me Up” – Kiss, 2012
I think it took most people until E·MO·TION to realize that Carly Rae Jepsen was more than a flash in the pan with a good novelty song, but I knew as soon as “Turn Me Up” – the best song from Kiss – showed up on my Tumblr dashboard, shared by an early CRJ defender in hopes of converting others. It’s the kind of immaculate pop song that almost sounds like it created itself, like it sprang fully-formed onto iTunes in 2010. I can’t even call it a portent for E·MO·TION, because it’s better than almost every song from E·MO·TION and E·MO·TION: Side B!
#6: “Anxious” – The Loneliest Time (Deluxe Edition), 2022
As we reach the upper echelons of this list, I find myself less and less confident in my ability to articulate why these songs are so good. Like, just listen to this thing. Imagine a song with “All That”-caliber synth and bass, but with a beat. Inexplicably, CRJ made it a bonus track instead of the lead single.
#5: “When I Needed You” – E·MO·TION, 2015
Before Dan Nigro quietly became the best pop producer of the 2020s through his work with Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan, he collaborated exactly once with Carly Rae Jepsen on E·MO·TION’s standard edition closing track, and I don’t know how that didn’t instantly grant him royalty status.
E·MO·TION is about breakups and makeups, so of course it had to conclude with a song where CRJ waffles between which one this lukewarm love interest deserves, finally deciding during the quiet, trembling bridge that she doesn’t want to work it out, that she’s not going to work it out. Fuck this guy! Where was he when she needed him?
Et finally, CRJ’s catalog is full of wonderfully euphoric “HEY!”s, and the best one of all occurs thrice as a victory lap, starting at this song’s 3:24 mark. And they aren’t just “HEY!”s; they’re “HEY-EE!”s. Incredible stuff.
#4: “Cut to the Feeling” – Single, 2017
“Petition to give Carly Rae Jepsen a sword,” wrote Tumblr user swordlesbianopinions on the first day of 2018. “I like her, and I think she should have one.” Eight months later while CRJ was performing her new single at Lollapalooza, a fan passed her an inflatable sword, and she hoisted it toward the sky in utter bewilderment.
Most pop stars don’t have a song in their catalog that would organically call for a sword, but that’s what sets Carly Rae Jepsen apart. In that single, “Cut to the Feeling”, instead of telling the object of her affections that she wants to go out sometime, CRJ shout-sings her desire to “cut through the clouds, break the ceiling” and “dance on the roof – you and me alone.” And then, just below the ceiling of her own vocal range, she proclaims, “I WANNA CUT TO THE FEELING!” with a thundering determination that renders any sword superfluous.
#3: “Talking to Yourself” – The Loneliest Time, 2022
On October 21st, 2022, I woke up at ungodly hour on my friend’s futon after a cross-country flight, and the first thought to flit across my jetlag-addled brain was, Ugh, I have to listen to Taylor Swift today. The second: Oh, and Carly Rae Jepsen! Out of respect, I queued up the latter first, which turned out to be a huge mistake, because by the end of “Talking to Yourself”, only the third (and Dedicated-est, if I’m being honest) track on The Loneliest Time, I knew that even if Midnights turned out to be a masterpiece, (ha) it could not possibly contain a song even half as good. And it doesn’t! Listen to this thing. Listen to how effortlessly confident CRJ sounds as a performer. Listen to the way she pronounces the word subLIMinal (oh-OH-ah). That alone could’ve landed the song in the top ten, but every single other component is also firing on all cylinders. Two of the producer-cowriters, Benjamin Berger and Ryan Rabin, worked on “Party For One” and “Now That I Found You”, so it’s no surprise that “Talking to Yourself” is good, but this good? Sometimes when I listen to it, I worry that I’m about to wake up on that futon again, having just dreamed the whole thing. As though I’m remotely capable of dreaming a song like this.
#2: “Cry” – E·MO·TION: Side B, 2016
Despite consensus that Carly Rae Jepsen’s specialty is soaring, synthpop declarations of love, this understated, synthpop declaration of heartbreak is my personal favorite. In it, CRJ laments that her dickbag boyfriend refuses to “strip down to his feelings” or “kiss and close his eyes” or even cry-hy-hy-hy. She spends the whole song sounding increasingly like she’s going to cry, and by extension, you hope more and more that this bastard drives his stupid car off a cliff or something. Of course the cruelest villain of the E·MO·TION duology is the one who doesn’t have any.
#1: “Run Away With Me” – E·MO·TION, 2015
In “Cut to the Feeling”, Carly Rae Jepsen demands that her love interest “take [her] to emotion,” and in her masterpiece, “Run Away With Me”, she begs him to “take [her] to the feeling.” I suspect only she truly knows the difference, but to my bystander ears, the CRJ of “Cut to the Feeling” is confident and destined for true love, if attained only through sheer force of will. She’s going to cut to the feeling, sword or no sword. But is this guy going to run away with her? I have no idea, and neither does she. We can only hope.
“Run Away With Me” had to be the E·MO·TION opener, because there are simply so many competing emotions jam-packed into its four minutes and eleven seconds. It’s simultaneously hesitant and brazen, shattered and triumphant, and the tension between them builds dangerously throughout each verse until it explodes into the chorus, when CRJ has no choice but to erupt, “BABY! TAKE ME! TO THE! FEELING!”
I bring up “Cut to the Feeling” not just because of the lyrical parallel, but because without “Run Away With Me”, there is no “Cut to the Feeling.” I don’t even know if E·MO·TION could function without it. It’s not just the best Carly Rae Jepsen song, it’s a load-bearing Carly Rae Jepsen song. She could still be an acclaimed pop singer in a world without “Run Away With Me”, but could she be an icon? Could she be the queen of everything? Could she wield that sword? I mean, probably, but I have to imagine it’s much easier since “Run Away With Me” permanently silenced any potential remaining detractors.
In light of my inability to adequately explain the true greatness of “Run Away With Me”, I direct you to this video where YouTuber Mic the Snare breaks down the song from a music theory perspective, showing how the lyrics and composition bolster each other. The segment on the chord progression has haunted me for years.
As for my own closing argument… what do you even want me to say? It’s fucking “Run Away With Me.” You know it, you love it, the sax riff is permanently seared into your brain. I have butchered this thing at so many karaoke bars, and you should too. It’s a towering achievement from an underappreciated artist with like, seventeen other towering achievements to date. Hail Carly Rae Jepsen, queen of all.