Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen stands among today's most buoyant pop performers, shaping tracks that blend immediate appeal with memorable hooks. Building from her worldwide breakthrough via the Grammy-nominated 2012 hit "Call Me Maybe," she broadened her bright, free-spirited approach across subsequent releases. Her first full-length effort, 2012's Kiss, captured the thrill of new romance while drawing on sleek inspirations such as Kimbra, Robyn, and La Roux, resulting in heartfelt, accessible compositions. She deepened this direction with the widely praised 2015 album E-MO-TION, an homage to the grand '80s style of Madonna and Prince that influenced late-decade pop trends and cemented her place in popular culture. On the introspective and stylistically varied 2022 release The Loneliest Time and its upbeat 2023 follow-up The Loveliest Time, Jepsen's artistic scope expanded, yet her warm tone and ear-catching melodies stayed consistent.

During her early years in Mission, British Columbia, Canada, Jepsen immersed herself in pop culture. She took leading parts in high-school stagings of Annie, Grease, and The Wiz before earning one of 25 spots for women at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, British Columbia. After completing her studies and settling in Vancouver, where she balanced barista duties with assisting a pastry chef while singing at open-mike nights, her drama instructor encouraged an audition for Canadian Idol. Placing third in the program's fifth season in 2007, she joined the show's cross-country tour, and her recorded material from the contest attracted manager Jonathan Simkin, who secured a contract with 604 Records. In 2008 she issued her folk-leaning debut album Tug of War, which included a version of John Denver's 1974 ballad "Sunshine on My Shoulders," while its singles "Tug of War" and "Bucket" both reached the Canadian Hot 100's Top 40.

Jepsen shifted toward dance-oriented pop for her next project, enlisting Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench—who had contributed to Tug of War and brought her on tour with his group—alongside Ryan Stewart and Tavish Crowe. The 2011 single "Call Me Maybe" introduced this sound, becoming 2012's top-selling track, reaching number one in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and 18 additional nations, and earning a Song of the Year Grammy nomination plus a Juno Award for Single of the Year. The Curiosity EP, containing that hit, surfaced early in 2012, followed in June by the Owl City collaboration "Good Time," which climbed to number eight on the Billboard charts. Kiss arrived that September, debuting inside the Top Ten in both Canada and the U.S. and claiming Juno Awards for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year the following year; the Japan-exclusive Kiss: The Remixes surfaced in 2013.

Early in 2013 Jepsen began shaping her third album alongside Ramsay, Stewart, and Max Martin, exploring '80s pop and folk influences. She portrayed the title role in a 12-week Broadway run of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella starting in early 2014. New material returned in March 2015 with "I Really Like You," another Top 40 entry. Featuring contributions from songwriters such as Sia, Devonté Hynes, and Ariel Rechtshaid and producers including Mattman & Robin and Greg Kurstin, E-MO-TION arrived that August. The more seasoned-sounding set reached the Canadian Top Ten and the U.S. Top 20 while earning a spot on the 2016 Polaris Prize shortlist. She appeared on Bleachers' Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2 in 2015 and the Knocks' first album the next year.

In early 2016 Jepsen portrayed Frenchy in a live television production of Grease and sang the theme for Fuller House, the revival of Full House. August brought E-MO-TION: Side B, an eight-track EP of songs considered for the album. The following May, another leftover, "Cut to the Feeling," featured in the animated film Leap, where she voiced Odette. After touring with Katy Perry, she issued the single "Party for One" in November 2018. For her fourth album she composed nearly 200 songs, drawing on ABBA and Donna Summer among broader influences. Working with Jack Antonoff, Patrik Berger, Tavish Crowe, and Captain Cuts, Dedicated arrived in May 2019, merging '70s disco elements with tropical pop and contemporary trends; it entered the Billboard 200 at number 18, marking her third Top 20 album. Dedicated Side B followed a year later.

Alongside the 2020 holiday single "It's Not Christmas 'til Somebody Cries," which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Holiday Digital Songs chart, Jepsen spent the ensuing period crafting material with Crowe. The July 2022 standalone "Move Me," a collaboration with Lewis Ofman, preceded October's The Loneliest Time. This contemplative collection of folk, funk, disco, and pop drawn from the '70s and '80s involved Crowe, Captain Cuts, Alex Hope, Rostam Batmanglij, and Bullion; it reached the Top 20 on the Canadian, U.S., and U.K. album charts and received a Juno nomination for Pop Album of the Year. Touring continued into early 2023, coinciding with her contribution of the theme song for the Amazon Kids+ series Hello Kitty: Super Style!. Produced by James Ford, the single "Shy Boy" emerged in June 2023 to announce the July arrival of The Loveliest Time. Serving as a companion to The Loneliest Time, this upbeat collection gathered tracks from those sessions, featuring production from Ford, Batmanglij, Patrik Berger, and others; it reached number 20 on the U.K. Album Downloads chart and number 72 on the U.S. Top Current Album Sales chart.