Carly Rae Jepsen Talks with Amanda Petrusich

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Carly Rae Jepsen Talks with Amanda Petrusich

Podcast: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Host: Amanda Petrusich (New Yorker music critic), David Remnick (introduction/outro)
Guest: Carly Rae Jepsen
Date: July 16, 2019
Location: New Yorker Festival, 2017

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Episode Overview

This episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour features a candid and insightful conversation between Amanda Petrusich and pop artist Carly Rae Jepsen. Together, they explore Jepsen’s songwriting process, influences, her approach to pop music, and the experience of navigating massive success after the phenomenon of "Call Me Maybe." The episode concludes with a warm, acoustic performance of "I Really Like You" accompanied by Tavish Crowe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jepsen’s Fascination With Liminal Moments in Love Songs

• Timestamps: 01:22–02:51
• Amanda Petrusich notes that many songs from Jepsen’s album Emotion capture the tense, high-stakes moments before a relationship begins or ends.
• Carly Rae Jepsen:

  "I think I had a fascination my whole life with love...because of my lifestyle, being on the road, there is sort of a more fantastical side of love that I've experienced...that movie style love." (02:07)

  • Jepsen explains her music is drawn to the highs and lows of love, often skipping the mundane and focusing on intense, cinematic emotions.
  • She aims to represent the various stages of love authentically, drawing from personal experience.

2. Longing in 1980s Pop vs. Modern Pop Trends

• Timestamps: 02:51–04:13
• Petrusich observes that 1980s pop is imbued with a sense of longing and melancholy, contrasting with more self-empowering and boastful themes in present-day pop.
• Carly Rae Jepsen:

  "That sort of feeling of maybe not holding your heart back so much and just 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 have. I just needed more." (03:23)

  • Jepsen insists that for pop to resonate, the emotions must be real, drawing parallels to jazz—“make every word count...let's talk about the heart.”

3. Influences: Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Old School Madonna, and More

• Timestamps: 04:13–05:26
• Petrusich hears Prince’s influence in Jepsen’s work, especially in the song "LA Hallucinations."
• Jepsen shares that her influences are eclectic. When working on pop, she listens to classical music or 1940s standards to “rebel” from her studio sessions.

  "When I was doing Cinderella on Broadway, I would run to Prince in the morning...that would sort of motivate for the day." (04:31)

• She values Prince’s exciting rhythms and credits them with fueling her performance energy.

4. Songwriting Process & Overcoming Writer’s Block

• Timestamps: 05:26–06:37
• Petrusich highlights Jepsen’s prolific writing—over 200 songs for Emotion.
• Jepsen claims she doesn't experience writer’s block, but does write her share of bad songs:

  "No, I mean, if you wanted, I could write you a song right now, but I'm not going to. But it might not be good, but it would just be. I never run out of ideas. No." (05:42)

• She keeps songwriting joyful, using flights and spare moments to create, often jokingly leaving instructions about her demos, should anything happen to her.

5. Compartmentalizing the Success of “Call Me Maybe”

• Timestamps: 06:37–08:06
• Jepsen discusses the challenge of being defined by her hit single.

  "I can remember even four months after its release being claimed in the press as a one hit wonder. And I was like, isn't it too soon to decide that?" (07:05)

• Support from bandmates and close friends helped her move past the pressures and perceptions, enabling her to keep creating and not let “Call Me Maybe” overshadow her entire identity.

6. Previewing the Dedicated Album and Understated Disco

• Timestamps: 08:06–09:30
• Petrusich asks about Jepsen's upcoming record, prompting Jepsen to discuss her intention of creating “understated disco” music.

  "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, I wanted disco, but I made a mampa." (08:14)

  • She wanted the record to have the vibe of “music to clean your house to”—upbeat but approachable and not club-centric.

  "I want to clean my house and put on an album that I can just listen to and feel in a good mood about it." (09:31)

7. Musical Discovery & Friendship

• Timestamps: 09:48–10:25
• Jepsen shares her love of the band Vulfpeck’s “Back Pocket” for day-to-day listening and emphasizes the importance of discovering new music, often sharing personalized playlists with friends.

  "Get your coolest music friends and send playlists romantically to each other. That's my favorite thing to do." (09:54)

  • Petrusich notes, “You are a great friend.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On artistic identity:

  "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 high 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." – Carly Rae Jepsen (07:05)

• On writing songs:

  "I never run out of ideas. No. And I never stop enjoying doing it." – Carly Rae Jepsen (05:42)

• On her musical approach and influences:

  "Pop can be thought of as trite if there isn't emotion behind it...Let's make every word count." – Carly Rae Jepsen (03:23)

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Performance Segment

Acoustic “I Really Like You”

• Timestamps: 10:33–13:41

Jepsen is joined by her longtime collaborator Tavish Crowe on stage for a heartfelt, stripped-down rendition of “I Really Like You.” She encourages the audience to sing along:

"We're going to open with how I feel about this room tonight, which is. Guys, I adore you." (10:33)

The interactive, friendly tone highlights Jepsen’s warmth and connection with her audience, ending with applause and gratitude from both artist and interviewer.

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Conclusion

This episode presents an intimate, engaging portrait of Carly Rae Jepsen—not just as a global pop star, but as a thoughtful songwriter, attentive friend, and someone who has navigated the complexities of fame with humor and heart. Listeners gain insight into the excitement, doubts, and authenticity that power her music—and are treated to an up-close taste of her performance joy.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

From one World Trade center in Manhattan, this is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co production of the New Yorker and WNYC Studios.

[David Remnick]

Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

It's hard to look right at your baby but here's my number so call.

[David Remnick]

Me maybe Hey, I just met you 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 Rae Jepsen's song was so big, so in your face that ubiquitous is an understatement. In the years since Jepsen won a legion of fans 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 Rae Jepsen sat down at the New Yorker Festival with our music critic, Amanda Petrusic.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Thank you so much.

[Amanda Petrusich]

Thank you so much for being here.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

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 the world to me.

[Amanda Petrusich]

So your last album, Emotion, was released in late 2015. Sorry, I'm just 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.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

I don't know if I know the answer to that completely. What attracts you to anything? I think I had a fascination my whole life with love and I, I think because of my lifestyle, being on the road, there is sort of more 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.

[Amanda Petrusich]

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?

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

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 Cyndi Lauper 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 and 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 have. 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 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. Talk about the heart.

[Amanda Petrusich]

I mean, you mentioned Prince and I hear a lot of Prince 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?

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Well, I find if I'm working during the day at one type of music, if I'm working sessions right now for next album, I'll go home and I. I'll go home and I'll need to listen to very opposite. So I'll drive in the car to 40s on four, 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. 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 for myself.

[Amanda Petrusich]

That's awesome. Because Prince's sort of the consummate performer in a way.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Yes. And his rhythms are just so exciting. And that's sort of what caught my attention, I think.

[Amanda Petrusich]

Absolutely. I know that you wrote over 200 songs for emotion, is that right?

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Yeah.

[Amanda Petrusich]

You been teasing us with some of those B signs. Do you ever get writer's block?

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

No, but. But that doesn't mean I don't write bad songs. I think that. No, I mean, if you wanted, I could write you a song right now, but I'm not going to. 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. Yeah. 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 package. Please still release it.

[Amanda Petrusich]

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 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. To kind of move forward and make new work.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

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 its release 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? But again, talks with Tavish, talks with my bandmates that were just sort of really, that this was not how they identified me nor how I should identify myself. So that was. 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 high 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. Yeah.

[Amanda Petrusich]

So I don't think anyone here would forgive me if I didn't ask about the new record.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

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, I wanted disco, but I made a mampa. So I'm not really giving any disclaimers about what this is going to be, because I think it's got 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 now is the fun part of cleaning and polishing and picking this stuff. But it's great to have an intention. It's great to sort of say, it's gotta have a little bit of this understated disco. I'm still tapping into this. And then I can remember trying to explain it in an articulate way to my publishers and my A and R guy. They were laughing at my pitch so hard. So I was like, okay, so I want to make an album. Kind of like, music to clean your house to. They were like, what? They're like, no, 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 and feel in a good mood about it.

[Amanda Petrusich]

Well, now I have to ask, what do you listen to when you're drying the dishes or, like, unpacking your suitcase?

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

I'm really into Wolfpack. You guys heard that song Backpack? Mm. Different things. I think that it's really important to push yourself to continue to find new music. And, like, Spotify is 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, like, send playlists romantically to each other. That's, like, my favorite thing to do. To be like, I heard that you're going to China. I made you a china. And on playlists for that, you know, that's amazing.

[Amanda Petrusich]

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.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

This is Tabi. Tab. Tavish Crow, my love. Hey, hey, hey. So it's strange to make like a synth based pop album and then do them acoustically. I 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.

I really wanna stop but I just got the taste for it Feel like I could fly with the boy on the moon so, honey, hold my hands you like making me wait for it? Feel like I could die walking up to the room oh, yeah Late night watching television but how'd we get in this place 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, really, really like you and I want you do you want me? Do you want me too? I really, really, really, really, really, really like you and I want you do you want me? Do you want me to oh, did I say too much? Out of touch but I really, really, really, really, really, really like you and I want you do you want me? Do you want me too? It's like everything you say is a sweet revelation and all I want to do is get into your head yeah, we could stay alone you and me and this temptation I'm sipping on your lips hanging on by spread, baby late 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, really, really like you and I want you do you want me? Do you want me too? I really, really, really, really, really really like you. I.

[Amanda Petrusich]

Me too.

[Carly Rae Jepsen]

Oh, did I say too much? I'm so in my head when we're out of touch But I really, really, really, really, really, really like you and I want you do you want me? Do you want me to?

Thank you.

[David Remnick]

Carly Rae Jepsen 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 [e-mail] or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator/Announcer]

The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker. Our theme music was composed, composed and performed by Meryl Garbus of Tune Yards, with additional music by Alexis Cuadrado. This episode was produced by Alex Barron, Emily Botin, Ave Carrillo, Rhiannon Corby, Jill Duboff, Karen Frillman, Kalalea, David Krasnow, Louis Mitchell, Sarah Nix and Steven Valentino, with help from Emily Mann and Meng Fei Chen. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Turin Endowment Fund.