Carly Rae Jepsen has spoken to NME about her upcoming double album, ‘Day And Night’, as well as heading out on tour for the first time since becoming a mother in March.
Jepsen has always been a prolific songwriter who tends to follow each studio album with a companion piece featuring previously unreleased tracks. For example, her 2015 pop opus ‘Emotion‘ was accompanied by the 2016 EP ‘Emotion: Side B’, which yielded the euphoric hit single ‘Cut to the Feeling’. But this time around, the cult Canadian artist said she is going all-in from the start.
“Sometimes in the past, it would feel like the B-sides [project] was my personal favourite, which was sort of strange,” she told NME. “But I felt less like I had to hide my freak flag on this [album]. It’s purely a passion project, and I don’t know if that’s [because of the] confidence that comes with putting in time in this industry.”
After coming to attention on Canadian Idol in 2007, Jepsen scored her global breakthrough five years later with the chart-topping single ‘Call Me Maybe’, which has now amassed more than two billion streams.
For ‘Day And Night’, which is set for release on September 18, she worked closely with trusted collaborators including Noonie Bao, Patrik Berger, Tavish Crowe, Markus Krunegård and Pontus Winnberg. She also co-wrote songs with musician-producer Cole M.G.N., whom she married last October and welcomed a daughter with in March.
“At the time, he was just my boyfriend, and a lot of this album is really about that relationship: [us] falling in love and deciding to make a family together,” Jepsen said. “There’s nothing wilder than writing a love song about your husband, then showing it to him, and having him participate in it! It was honestly a really beautiful process.”
Check out the rest of the interview below, where Jepsen recalls how the ‘Day And Night’ concept took shape, outlines her future touring plans, and explains how her new single ‘On Wires’ reflects the tensions of pop star life.
NME: Hi Carly! So, did the songs inform the album concept, or did the album concept inform the songs?
Carly Rae Jepsen: “You know, the honest truth is it was a little bit of both. I never want to have constraints on what the album is supposed to be until I allow myself to play a little bit and just reach for what I’m attracted to. Then there’s a point where I stop and look at it, usually with my close friend and collaborator, Tavish Crowe.
“I write a lot, so even in the beginning phases, I still had a pretty hefty body of work on my hands. So I flew Tavish to New York and said, ‘I’m really torn. I love this and I love this, but I don’t know how to make it go together.’ What I had was obviously the beginnings of ‘Day And Night’. The ‘Day’ songs were a bit more organic in nature, with more live instruments and a little hint of my roots in folk music. But then I also wanted to go in this darker, more experimental, synth-based direction, which is [what became] the ‘Night’ songs.
“The mix wasn’t making sense to me, but Tavish just said: ‘It’s like this amazing house party with an upstairs and a downstairs’. I was like, ‘That sounds a little like Downton Abbey, but I feel you’. And then later on, when I was back in LA, the idea of ‘Day And Night’ really got formed in my head. And we all got excited about the indulgence of not having to decide, and just getting to do everything that you want. I’ve released B-sides projects in the past, so I was like, ‘You know what, with intention, at age 40, let’s just do a double album.'”
How do you see the project as a whole, now that it’s all finished and ready to go?
“As two full bodies of work that in my mind really belong together; it’s 12 songs for ‘Day’ and 12 songs for ‘Night’. They’re kind of the full spectrum of my musical tastes. I started to show up at sessions and be like, ‘Today I’m in a ‘Day’ mood, so let’s do something that feels Minnie Riperton-inspired.’ Or, ‘I just got back from London and saw ‘ABBA Voyage‘, so I really feel like we should do our version of ABBA, but with synths.’ But it wasn’t necessarily that LA thing of like, ‘Here’s the catchphrase [for the song], here’s the jingle.’ It was more like ‘I’m working with friends here, so let’s throw it all together and see what happens.'”
Why is your new single ‘On Wires’ the right song to launch this era with?
“As an artist, you’re always searching for something that you haven’t quite done before, which feels powerful and exciting. This song is all of those things. It feels like a way for me to say: ‘Expect the unexpected with this album.'”
What’s the story behind the song?
“Well, it’s really funny to answer this question with the [added] perspective of the music video, because it’s brought a whole new meaning for me. When the song was born, it was more of a cut to the heart, ‘come hither’ kind of song. I pictured chasing this man through the streets of New York – just being unabashedly bold about it, like I almost can’t stand the pleasantries of flirting and dating. There’s something really exhilarating about being the pursuer like that.
“But then, by the time we shot the video – and I hope this isn’t too much of a giveaway – I was like, ‘How do I chase a man through the streets when I’m six months pregnant?’ It would look like I’m looking for child support! So my creative directors came up with this concept where there’s, like, this really beautiful tug-of-war between me and the microphone cable.
“And the more we talked about it, the more it became [a metaphor for] what was really going on in my life, which was me carving out space for my personal life within the business of music, while I’m in the middle of this pregnancy. So this tug-of-war I’m having with the microphone cable, it’s like the umbilical cord! No, that’s a little too far, a little too gross, let’s not go there. But in the video, I take the microphone out into the streets and you see it pulling me, then me pulling it back. And you kind of see who wins at the end.”
One of the songs from the album, which we’re not allowed to name yet, definitely seems to celebrate the idea of family…
“Yeah, I sort of love the anthem [quality] of a family song, but my version is complex and dynamic… I was thinking of my own [biological] family and my chosen families and everything in between. And as I was halfway into making it, I also pictured the family that comes to my concerts. I thought of how in love I am with this little carved-out space that we’ve created together. It’s actually been the gift of my life, because I can’t believe what kind, open-hearted, beautiful people come to my shows.”
Can we expect a tour announcement soon? And might we see you at Mighty Hoopla? You seem like an ideal headliner.
“Well, sign me up, thank you, yes! I am so excited to tour. I actually don’t know what we’re announcing, but I do know that we’ve got plans in the works, and there’s something really amazing about the idea that it’s going to be, like, [touring with] my band boys, my baby and my husband: this whole group going out and doing it in a completely different way,
“My team has been with me for a really long time, so now we have back-up singers with babies and glam artists with babies. So maybe we’ll have [baby] play stations on tour instead of, like, trips to the Great Wall of China? But I can’t wait to bring this body of work to life; it’s gonna be such a blast.”
@markkanemura It’s tiiiiiime! HAPPY PRIDE!!! 🤗❤️🌈 #pride 🎵Cut To The Feeling – @Carly Rae Jepsen
Your fans have sent your songs viral in the past – most notably, ‘Run Away With Me’ and ‘Cut To The Feeling’. Which unsung Jeppobop would you like to pop off next?
“From the past? This is the first thing that comes to mind… My friend Nate Cyphert, one of the collaborators on my new album, just sent me this picture of a little girl with her cat in a grocery bag going to the store, and he was like, ‘She’s just going to the store…’
“And I just died because of all the songs I’ve written, ‘Store’ [from 2016’s ‘Emotion: Side B’] is one of the most out there. Like, I don’t know why I’m choosing my strangest song, but I can see ‘I’m just going to the store’ as a TikTok song.”
‘On Wires’ by Carly Rae Jepsen is out now. The album ‘Day And Night’ follows on September 18.