Carly Rae Jepsen
Emotion Side B
School Boy / Interscope
Release date: August 26, 2016
By Shawal Ras
Carly Rae Jepsen was helmed as the underdog of the pop world when she released Emotion last year to endless rave by pop critics in every major music magazine but it sold so low it was really really really really a commercial flop (everyone already owned a copy of the album 'cos it was released in Japan three months earlier!). This week, Jeppo released the outtakes of the album - worldwide, simultaneously - and they're so good, in fact, I think they're much better than the tracks in Emotion. Gasp.
Emotion Side B, packed with more infectious songs about heartbreaks and crushes, might be a little weird knowing the singer is a 30-year-old woman but, to be honest, no one cares 'cos she perfectly plays every Millenial's dream of being forever 13 and a little throwback to the heydays of our teenage years is not a wrong thing.
Thanks to the magic touch of Greg Kurstin, Dev Hynes, and Tavish Crowe, Side B is crafted with a lot of nostalgic 80's grooves and warm synths over thumping choruses (checkout the soaring whoah-oh-ohs in 'Higher'), and these tracks are equally strong as those in Emotion, some are better (the handclaps over 808s in 'Body Language' and also 'Cry').
After spent a few days listening to the album, the darling of Side B would be 'Fever', a sing-along karaoke smash best served with a depressing thought to that time when you've been friend-zoned by your crush; "My breath was lost when you said 'friends?' / Well, that could work but I'm still hot for you."
Aiming to please her cult followers, I think Jeppo is no longer toying with the idea of being the Britneys or Taylors of the pop world. Side B (alongside Emotion) is an empowering statement from the singer who we once thought as just another one-hit-wonder.