‘Dedicated’
Carly Rae Jepsen’s pop delight
Carly Rae Jepsen started as a meme of a musician.
In 2012, “Call Me Maybe” blew up as a comically cute radio hit with a chorus that’s permanently embedded it into America’s collective psyche. But three full-length albums later, Jepsen’s proven her talent goes above and beyond one viral hit.
Dedicated, Jepsen’s fourth album, released May 17 to a number of reviews praising her resilience and musical talent. The 15-song collection has the sugar and spicy of 80’s pop with elements of techno to keep it fresh. It demonstrates that though Jepsen may not be the most visible mainstream pop star, she’s one of the genre’s most innovative voices.
Jepsen gave the world a taste of her latest work with the release of en EP titled Too Much on May 9. The collection featured five songs that would later appear on Dedicated. Among those tracks were some of the best of her new era, including the high-energy single “Now That I Found You.” The EP also includes “Too Much,” a slow-tempoed song with a newly released video featuring Jepsen and several doppelgängers dancing, eating and food fighting.
Dedicated is a collection of primarily love songs, but with an underlying tone of strength and independence to it. “Want You In My Room” and “Everything He Needs” are sexy and flirtatious without desperation. The album ends on a high note with “Party For One,” a testament to happy solitude as a better alternative to a relationship without depth.
With each new song and album she releases Jepsen proves a face of maturity and innovativeness in pop music. Her love songs and others are mature and original, and continues to leave us wanting more.
