The New Yorker Radio Hour - Carly Rae Jepsen Talks with Amanda Petrusich

Episode Date: July 16, 2019

“I can remember, even four months after [“Call Me Maybe” ’s] release, being claimed in the press as a one-hit wonder,” Carly Rae Jepsen says. “Isn’t it too soon to decide that? Give me a chance!” The Canadian singer and songwriter was by no means a one-hit wonder, and her talent for crafting earworm pop songs about love in all its forms won her a legion of fans and the devotion of many critics, including The New Yorker’s Amanda Petrusich. In 2017, while Jepsen was working on her fourth album, “Dedicated”—which was released in May, 2019—Jepsen sat down at the New Yorker Festival with Petrusich, to talk about her creative process. She had already written eighty songs for the record, she estimated. “If you wanted, I could write you a song right now, but it might not be good. I never run out of ideas, and I never stop enjoying doing it.” With her collaborator and guitarist Tavish Crowe, Jepsen performed an acoustic version of her hit “I Really Like You” live.  New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you.  We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better.  Take the survey here.

From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of the New Yorker and WNYC Studios. Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Remember 2012? It seems like about 50 years ago. But if you've forgotten your ancient history, 2012 was the year of Call Me Maybe. Carly Ray Jepson's song was so big, so in your face that ubiquitous is an understatement. In the year since, Jepson won a legion of Fetting. and the devotion of countless critics, including several of my colleagues here at The New Yorker. Her fourth record, dedicated, just came out in May.

And while she was still working on it, this was back in 2017. Carly Ray Jepson sat down at the New Yorker Festival with our music critic Amanda Petruson. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. My goodness, I mean, I wish you guys were around every morning. That's just like the best, sweetest response that means world to me. So your last album, Emotion, was released in late 2015. I'm asking for it now.

I know. I'm provoking it. I can't help it. So lyrically, a lot of the songs on Emotion, I think, either describe or sort of take place in what I would call a kind of liminal sort of in-between state. So sometimes, as in, I really like you, it's that kind of tense and extraordinary moment right before a relationship begins. Or in a song like Boy Problems,

it's the moment right before a relationship ends. So I wanted to start by talking with you a little bit about what interests you about those kinds of high-stakes moments. I don't know if I know the answer to that completely. Like, what attracts you to anything? I think I had a fascination my whole life with love. And I think because of my lifestyle, being on the road, there is sort of more a fantastical

side of love that I've experienced. And that is like the high of you don't get the day-to-day kind of mundane chores, but you get like the runaway weekend in Paris. And it's this sort of feeling of, I don't know, movie-style love. And I think I'm quite addicted to that feeling. But it also has its ups and downs and everything in between. And with emotion, I was really looking for a way to tap into kind of the different phases of love that I was allowed to talk about, which were things that I had experienced.

So you have said, I love pop music from the 80s because there's so much longing in it. And I thought, gosh, that's exactly right. And it's a melancholy kind of longing. And it feels to me that something different is kind of happening in contemporary pop nowadays. It's a little more boastful or sort of self-empowering or maybe even self-aggrandizing at moments. And it's kind of less frank about how sad or suffocating desire can be sometimes. I mean, was that also a sort of theme for you as you were working on the record?

I don't know if I thought too much about it. I do remember falling in love with the 80s around the time that we were in Osaka at a festival where Cindy Lopper was playing and she was doing like, girls just want to have fun. And that kind of dug into some old school Madonna and some prints. And I think you're right, that sort of feeling of maybe not holding your heart back so much. I'm just sort of being like, this is passion and this is real and this is life. and death, I loved that versus just like, we're having a house party. Like, I don't know. I just needed more.

And I think that pop can be thought of as trite if there isn't that emotion behind it. If there isn't really almost like in a 1940s, like a jazz song, it's like a very constricted amount of space for lyrics. So let's make every word count and like let's not talk about trite things. Let's talk about the heart. I mean, you mentioned prints and I hear a lot of prints on emotion, particularly in the title track, I think something about your phrasing. And also in LA hallucinations, the way you sort of hit the beat that hard. I mean, is he an influence of yours,

and are there other records in your collection that maybe would surprise some of your fans? Well, I find if I'm working during the day one type of music, if I'm working in sessions right now for this next album, I'll go home and I'll go home and I'll need to listen to very opposite. So I'll drive in the car to 40s on 4

or I'll listen to like classical at home and kind of need to just rebel from what I'm doing. And when I was doing Cinderella on Broadway, I would run to Prince in the morning. That was sort of my, like, Cinderella had a little, like, you know, kiss. And then that would sort of motivate for the day of just, like, being ready to go into, like, this very romantic theatrical side of myself. That's awesome. because Prince's sort of the consummate performer in a way.

Yes, and his rhythms are just so exciting. And that's sort of what caught my attention, I think. Absolutely. I know that you wrote over 200 songs for emotion. Yeah. You have been teasing us with some of those B-sides. Do you ever get writers' block? No, but that doesn't mean I don't write back.

songs. Like, yeah, I think that, I think that, no, I mean, if you wanted, I could write you a song right now. But it might not be good, but it would just be, I never run out of ideas, no, and I never stop enjoying doing it. And that's, I think, what keeps me so excited about having found something I love so much is that, I mean, I'm probably about 80 songs deep for this next album, And I keep on sending, like, whenever I get on a flight or anything, I'm like, if something were to happen to me, I've got the order in my closet underneath the back of, please still release her. So, call me maybe.

Was released at the end of 2011. Of course, became one of the best-selling songs of 2012. But I wonder at a certain point, do you know, have to kind of, and you mentioned this a little bit when you were talking about heading into the recording sessions, both for emotion and for the new record. Do you have to kind of compartmentalize that success in a way, almost mentally or emotionally, sort of place it aside to kind of move forward and make new work? I think there was a time and a place in my life where I really had to, and that would be in between releasing Kiss the album and releasing emotion because I knew I was

sort of identified as like, call me maybe girl. And I can remember even four months after it's really sort of being claimed. in the press as like a one-hit wonder and I was like, isn't it too soon to decide that? Like, give me a chance. And but again, talks with Tavish, talks with my bandmates, they were just sort of really adamant that this was not how they identified me and nor how I should identify myself. So that was a really important time for me to compartmentalize it. But at this point in time, it just feels like a really wonderful ride and memory and kind of part of the catalog that was a hive for sure.

And who gets a dream like that to come true? I'm so lucky. But also, it was like crazy. So I'm glad it's done. Yeah. So I don't think anyone here would forgive me if I didn't ask about the new record. Well, I don't know, because being 80 songs, it could be a lot of different things. At this point, it's about kind of choosing them and polishing and getting it to a place where I feel like order makes sense and everything. I was really highly attracted to this sort of understated disco.

But having an intention and going into the studio, sometimes I would realize that, wow, like I wanted disco, but I made a mamba. So I'm not really giving any disclaimers about what this is going to be because I think it's got different different flavors in there. And I'm really excited about it. I think that I'm finally at that place where I'm starting to feel like, whew, now is the fun part of like cleaning and polishing and picking

all this stuff. But it's great to have an intention. It's great to sort of say, you know, it's got to have like a little bit of this understated disco while still tapping into this. And then I can remember trying to explain it in an articulate way to my publishers and my A&R guy. And they were laughing at my pitch

so hard. Because I was like, okay. So I want to make an album kind of like music to clean your house too They're like what? I know but think about it. I don't want to do it at the club because I don't know yeah And I don't want to do it like when else do you listen to music like exercising like I want to clean my house And put on an album that I can just listen to I'm in a good mood about Well now I have to ask what do you listen to when you're drying the dishes or like unpacking your suitcase. I'm really into Wolfbeck. You guys heard that song Backlac? Different things. I think

that it's really important to push yourself to continue to find new music. And Spotify's great for that. There's a lot of different ways where you can be, I don't know, just sharing, like get your coolest music friends and send playlist romantically to each other. That's like my favorite thing to do. I've been like, I heard that you're going to China. I made you a China and on playlist for that, you know. That's amazing. You are a great friend. On behalf of the New Yorker,

thank you for coming. And now I think Carly has someone she would like to invite on stage. This is Tabby Tab, Tabish Crow, my love. Hey, hey, hey. So it's strange to make like a synth-based pop album and then do them acoustically. We always find that to be sort of funny to me.

But we're going to do it anyways. And if you want to sing along, We always encourage that. It'll make it less awkward. We're going to open with how I feel about this room tonight, which is, guys, I adore you. I'm really, really, really, really, really.

I really want to stop, but I just got the taste for it. Feel like I could fly with the boy on the moon. So, honey, hold my hand. You're like making me wait for it. Feel like I could die walking up to the room. Oh, yeah. night watching television but how'd we get in this position it's way too soon I know this isn't love no but I need to tell you something I really really really really

like you and I want you to want me do you want me to I'm really really really really And then I want you, do you want me, do you want me to. Oh, did I say too much? I'm trying to touch. Thank you. And I want you, do you want me, do you want me too? It's like everything you say is sweet revelation. And all I want to do is get into your head.

Yeah, we could stay alone. You and me at this temptation. I'm sipping on your lips hanging on by thread. Baby, late night watching television But how'd we get in this position? It's way too soon I know this isn't love, no, that I need to tell you something I really, really, really, really, really, really like you,

and I want you, do you want me, do you want me to? I really like you want me, do you want me too? me too. Oh, I'm so in my hair, I want you. Do you want me? Do you want me to? Thank you. Carly Ray Jepson performing I really like you at the New Yorker Festival in 2017, along with Tavish Crow on guitar. She spoke with our critic Amanda Petrusich. I'm David Remnick, and that's the New Yorker Radio Hour for right now. We've got a new episode of the podcast up every Friday and Tuesday at New YorkerRadio.org or wherever you get your podcasts. The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Merrill Garbus of Tuneiards,

with additional music by Alexis Quadrado. This episode was produced by Alex Barron, Emily Boutin, Ave Carrillo, Riann & Corby, Jill Duboff, Karen Frillman, Cala Leah, David Krasnow, Louis Mitchell, Sarah Nicks, and Stephen Valentino, with help from Emily Mann and Meng Faye Chen. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Cherie Endowment Fund.