In which we profess our undying love for Carly Rae Jepsen

MANILA, Philippines - Since Carly Rae Jepsen teased us in January with photos of her in the studio, working with Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, fans have been restless in their seats, waiting for new stuff from the girl who gave us Call Me Maybe. This week, a new single finally dropped; it’s called I Really Like You, and boy, does it not disappoint.

For the purpose of this article, I won’t be addressing the non-seers of Carly Rae’s appeal. These people have relegated her to pure Internet novelty, but this is always the danger when a celebrity becomes famous off a viral video. And besides, Carly Rae non-likers are people who probably have never, ever been on the awkward end of a relationship or are way too cool for school.

See, Carly Rae is successful in doing what she does as she is the voice of our inane, lovelorn embarrassment. She is the musical equivalent of practicing your hypothetical signature when you marry your dream crush or the sonic representation of spending hours scrolling through profile pictures and wondering if it’s creepy to save any of them on your phone. She sings about things we can’t or don’t want to say out loud but makes it feel okay for us to sing loudly along and unapologetically nonetheless.

MADLY IN LOVE

In IRLY, our lady continues to be coy about being madly in love with some guy. This time around, though, she’s more familiar with her object of affection — a step up from the guy that she liked in Call Me Maybe, the guy she broke up with in Turn Me Up, and the guy she couldn’t quite figure out if she wanted to kiss in This Kiss. This latest single is about how young hearts are too precious for blind leaps into the risky enterprise of love. Depending on your level of self-love, you can interpret it as Carly Rae asking a guy if he wants her to like him — or, in the chorus, if he really really, really, really, really, likes her, too.

Many have noticed that this part of the song is higher than the rest of the track, describing “the soar” as a hackneyed pop song device that directs the listener’s emotions to peak in auditory ecstasy. This has led people to dismiss the song’s structure as standard, brainless bubblegum pop, in every way discounting the song’s brutal honesty and timeless instrumental. At first listen, I felt like I could’ve pulled the song out of an obscure ’80s nobody’s LP and cried, “Wow, it’s a travesty that this wasn’t more famous.” And, 90 listens later, I still feel the exact same way.

At the end of the day, however, Carly Rae delivers a solid, well-formed banger set to meet or exceed the success of her previous hits. Personally, I think she can do no wrong because anybody who can make Owl City seem bearable to human ears is a consummate artist in his/her own right. Her music presents itself like a treat — the lollipop after a vaccination, the ice cream buffet after a tonsillectomy, or my favorite, the proverbial Chinese food binge after a breakup. Her songs are meant to make you feel better and not think more which shows me that any “think piece” regarding her work completely undermines what she tries to do. Instead, everything about her should be a feels piece because emotions.

Carly Rae Jepsen, for all intents and purposes, is the unlikely pop superstar. After failing to win on an obscure Idol franchise in Canada, she faded away but quickly rose from the ashes like the bubblegum every-girl phoenix that she is. The fact that she is the “girl next door” to a fault is her biggest asset. She will never make a super-stylized video of her standing atop a horse in designer clothes. She will never be on the cover of Vogue. She will never have a supermodel best friend. She won’t be the type to date A-Listers — and Kanye will never interrupt her when she accepts an award. All of these are extrapolations, of course, but a Canadian woman pushing 30 does not an It girl make — so it doesn’t make sense for her to be that way.

* * *

Tweet the author @cocoquizon.