Tug of War – Carly Rae Jepsen: The pop star has more going for her than asking guys to call her
Everyone has heard Jepsen’s infectious number 1 hit, “Call Me Maybe.” I bought, listened on repeat and got sick of the single, like a lot of people. I then received the Kiss album from him as a gift and found it to be an incredibly catchy album, great for working out. Honestly, I was a little sad because I thought there was more to his music than that. As I always do, I became interested in her and found out that she had released another album, her debut album.
Fresh from Canadian Idol, Jepsen released her debut album, filled with songs she wrote herself. With this record, Jepsen drew influences from many genres of music, making this album a collage of different types of music. It builds on typical pop rock and adds a folky edge to it, and even throws in some country vibes at points. She makes her sound unique, something she lost after she decided to go mainstream with “Call Me Maybe.” This album sounds like her personality, and it sounds different.
The first song on the album is “Cube”. In this song, Jepsen samples a children’s song and fuses acoustic pop, reggae and some kind of Hawaiian music. She uses the metaphor of building a sandcastle to talk about her problems with her boyfriend and life in general. This is the first look listeners have really gotten into Jepsen’s songwriting chops. She is capable of taking a childhood hobby and turning it into a song suitable for a young couple. Another song on the album that really showcases Jepsen as a songwriter is “Money and the Ego”. Along with “Bucket” and “Tug of War”, Jepsen was nominated for Juno Awards Songwriter of the Year with this song. Jepsen debates the meaning of life, but makes the heavy track more radio-friendly with a light acoustic production.
Two tracks with interesting production are the title track and “Heavy Lifting”. The title track has many different parts of the song that play on top of each other until the very end where they all play at the same time, making the song really challenging for your ears trying to hear each part. It becomes an experience for your ears. “Lifting” is my favorite track on the record. Describes the story of first love and your first time. She’s innocent and naive in songwriting, making for a truly upbeat love song that radio misses these days. The song has a strong country pop influence with a great bridge based acoustic production and chorus that completes the track and makes for a pleasant listen.
The bass on this album is “Sunshine on My Shoulders”. It’s a cover of the classic John Denver song. A song like this is very difficult to interpret well due to the beauty of the original track. Jepsen tries to make it more pop and it doesn’t really work in his favor. This was her debut radio single of hers and she doesn’t reflect her as an artist, like the rest of her album does.
Ending the review on a positive note, here’s a song that Jepsen should have based his entire career and sound on. “Tell Me” is a short folk-influenced acoustic ballad, only striking the clock at 2:21. It tells the story of a breakup and the need for her lover to tell her things directly, and not try to dance around her feelings, because she can’t understand it. Jepsen’s voice shines, with his little imperfections turning into positives on this revealing track.
It’s easy to see why Jepsen didn’t keep making these kinds of records. This album didn’t sell well, only selling 10,000 copies today and coming out in 2008. But this is the kind of music that makes Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen, and not just another Katy Perry/Britney Spears clone. I hope that with her new album, Jepsen decides to go back to her roots a bit and create another amazing album like this one.
Best clues: Money and Ego, Tug of War, Heavy Lifting, Tell Me
Disposable tracks: sun on my shoulders
General rating: 4 and a half crowns