E•MO•TION, the glittery third album from Carly Rae Jepsen, was both one of the best pop albums of 2015 and one of the most annoyingly stylized album titles of the century. The record delighted critics and fans of Technicolor '80s pop, but it didn't sell all that well, for a variety of reasons.
Jepsen, to her indefatigable credit, is not discouraged. After shaking off the one-hit-wonder tag and conquering an entirely new population (she played Pitchfork Festival!), she just resurfaced with E•MO•TION: Side B, which is exactly what it sounds like: an EP comprised of leftover tracks from the E•MO•TION sessions.
Though it doesn't contain classics on the level of "Run Away With Me" or "All That," the mini-album shares E•MO•TION's fondness for big hooks, lovesick sentiment and washed-out, '80s-inspired synth sounds. It even starts with the sound of a cassette tape being rewound and played (God bless the cassette obsession).
Jepsen makes clear that it's not the proper follow-up album (she's working on that). In a typewritten note about E•MO•TION: Side B,she also thanks all her fans for "the memes, the covers, the parties and the shows." So yes, she has seen your "Run Away With Me" memes.
For you. Love, Car 💌 https://t.co/vTzW8kRNkF pic.twitter.com/rnRmvcSEgY
— Carly Rae Jepsen (@carlyraejepsen) August 26, 2016
While you're listening to the EP, read our interview with Carly Rae Jepsen about what her high school years were like.
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About the writer
Zach Schonfeld is a senior writer for Newsweek, where he covers culture for the print magazine. Previously, he was an ... Read more
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