Supposed To Feel Like

Carly Rae Jepsen “This Is What They Say”

I wish that Carly Rae Jepsen would or could give her new album a distinct title rather than call it Dedicated Side B, which bashfully suggests the material is not as strong as the music on Dedicated and not worthy of being considered as a record in its own right despite being of roughly equal quality and all her music being relentlessly consistent in style and theme to the point of monomania. This is probably to a large extent a record company decision that allows her to release multiple albums within a particular production and promotion budget, and given the way she talks about her prolific nature might also speak to how she does not differentiate her output beyond “eras” of writing and recording. And while this approach plays into the underdog narrative that drives her career – “her b-sides are better than most pop stars’ album tracks!!!” – I think it is ultimately something that undermines her as an artist. Why not own it more? It’s not as though Radiohead felt compelled to call Amnesiac “Kid A Side B” despite it essentially being outtakes from the sessions for that record released as an album a year later.

“This Is What They Say” certainly fits into the “her b-sides are better than most album tracks” narrative in that it’s definitely in the top percentile of all her work and yet has been lumped in with the supposedly second rate tunes. That said, with Jepsen’s music being so uniform lyrically and musically all matters of differentiation are extremely subjective. How do I actually make a convincing case that this boppy, joyful pop tune about having a mind-consuming crush is better than all her other boppy, joyful pop tunes about having a mind-consuming crush? Her level of craft is always solid but a lot of them do nothing for me, yet I think this one is excellent. You’re just going to have to take my word for it, I guess.

Buy it from Amazon.