Susan: Unless you were living under a rock any time between 2012 and present day, you know at least one Carly Rae Jepsen song, and that song is “Call Me Maybe.” If your Carly Rae knowledge stops there, we’re here to correct that for you, because you haven’t even scratched the surface of the pop perfection that is our Canadian Queen, CRJ. Don’t get us wrong — we love “Call Me Maybe.” It’s a dance pop anthem, and it has Kelli’s favorite bridge of all time: 

Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans, skin was showin'
Hot night, wind was blowin'
Where you think you're going baby?

If you’ve missed out on CRJ’s other work, we’ve put together the ultimate starter pack to show you why she’s the most underrated pop star ever.

Kelli: So, putting together this list was hard. We made a doc where we started to list our favorite songs and our honorable mentions, and we ended up with half of her discography. The songs we ultimately decided on are not necessarily our individual favorites but what we agree to be peak CRJ, and after we go through our picks we’ll list some honorable mentions. It should be said that we have not included “Call Me Maybe” because you’ve already heard it, and we have not included anything from Carly Rae’s debut album “Tug of War,” because it is… not very good. 

Susan: Seriously, this was so difficult to narrow down. Starting with her 2012 sophomore album, Kiss, and continuing in chronological album order, here are our picks for the best CRJ jams.

“This Kiss” - Kiss (2012)

Susan: More than any other song on this album, including “Call Me Maybe,” this song makes me want to dance around in my underwear like I’m in a teen rom-com. It’s a great song to rock out to if you’ve got a serious (and somewhat dangerous) crush and need to let the feelings out. Everything about this song just feels good to me, even when it’s definitely about cheating on your boyfriend with a non-single dude. I support it in this context.

Kelli: I love how unabashedly slutty this song is. BTW, I use “slutty” in a good way because it means someone is doing what they want and being sexually free. I agree with you - could definitely sing this into my hairbrush. This song is one of many examples of CRJ making really basic rhymes that work surprisingly well for me. I am a person who gets distracted by bad lyrics, and while CRJ’s lyrics are often sort of naive and simple, the way they work in the context of her bright dance pop sound is really satisfying. “Your lips are undeniable / your heart is unreliable”??? Tattoo it on me. (I will note that Carly Rae did not write this song entirely on her own, but she has co-writing credits on most of her songs.)

“Run Away With Me” - Emotion (2015)

Susan: “Run Away With Me” is the first song on Emotion, which, in our opinion, is CRJ’s best album to date (though Dedication is a very close second). What a way to kick off an album. While I think sometimes people associate synth-pop with autotune and lack of talent, let it be known that CRJ can SING, and she shows her range in “Run Away With Me.” Oh, and this song has a goddamn saxophone, so enough said. It’s a song for every occasion, but if you’re a runner, I highly recommend adding this song to your running playlist ASAP.

Kelli: This is truly a top CRJ song for me, possibly my #1. I mean, can we talk about the saxophone solos THROUGHOUT? I love how this song has serious 80s vibes — I feel like it should be playing over the opening credits of a romantic thriller starring Kim Basinger. I want to drive through a city at night with my windows down smoking Virginia Slims while I listen to this. 

Anyway, I think this is also a good time to mention the fact that CRJ is one of the straight girl pop stars who has made it into the canon of music loved by queer people (specifically gay men). To quote from a piece by Michael Waters in Electric Literature on “Run Away With Me”:

Jepsen’s concern is with celebrating desire in all of its forms, especially desire that lacks an endpoint — she captures the excitement, the fear, the stomach twisting that comes with impossible love. In “Run Away With Me,” for instance, she revels in the privacy of her feelings: “Baby, take me to the feeling / I’ll be your sinner in secret / When the lights go out.” When Jepsen sings, she’s letting you in on a secret, a feeling so big she can’t contain it.

After reading this piece and then going back through to listen to CRJ songs for this post, I can completely see why her music has been so embraced by the gay community. Her songs are a celebration both of sexuality and pure romantic love, and the earnestness of her lyrics brings me the same kind of fluttery heart feelings that I get listening to love songs from musicals.

“Emotion” - Emotion (2015)

Susan: This song takes me on a ride. The verses, bridge and chorus all sound markedly different to me, but they somehow fit together into a cohesive dance-y bop. I don’t know why this song wasn’t one of the lead singles from this album, because it definitely should have been. This song is prime material for 20 different remixes, and I’d love all of them. Also, I think of this song every time I drink tequila thanks to that one lyric in the first verse. I like tequila better now because of this.

Kelli: Yeah it’s funny that this wasn’t a lead single when it’s also the titular track. This song demonstrates her versatility for sure, because you’re right, the pieces don’t seem like they should fit together but they do. This is another song about desperate longing, which is what all of CRJ’s best songs are about. Literally the fantasy of being with a person before it actually happens.

“Gimme Love” - Emotion (2015)

Susan: “Gimme Love” is one of many, many sexy af CRJ songs (and another song about longing) that prove she can do more than produce dance jams. Carly does this breathy thing with her voice on certain songs that just gets me. (See: other very sexy CRJ songs “Warm Blood” and “All That,” also from Emotion.) I love the second verse in particular.

Eyes so bright
You got a hold of me the whole damn night
I toss and turn but still I can't sleep right
I should've asked you to stay, begged you to stay
But when I get right next to you
I hear this heart beat break in two
I feel the earthquake in the room and so I pray
Fall into me and then

Kelli: Absolutely a sexy jam. I also like that the longing in this song is less about the before moment and more about being with a person and wanting to tell them that you want so much more from them than they might be able to give you. It’s also exploring another theme of CRJ’s music, which is the fear that she might be too overwhelming with her emotions and her passion. “Give me touch, ‘cause I want what I want - do you think that I want too much?” It’s sort of a precursor to the song “Too Much” from Dedicated, another one I love.

“No Drug Like Me” - Dedicated (2019)

Susan: Wow, “No Drug Like Me” has such a catchy chorus, which starts with one of my favorite lyrics from the whole album: “And if you make me feel in love then I'll blossom for you.” That simple lyric is at once really sweet and totally sexy. Sign me up. This song reminds me of “Emotion” because of the different styles between the bridge and chorus. And while it’s a common trope that love is like a drug (we all know the Kesha song), this song really captures the feeling that being fully open and vulnerable in love is a high like nothing else. 

Kelli: I think that’s what’s so great about her pop songs - they’re recognizably catchy, but they don’t really follow a pattern that you can predict the first time you’re listening to them. Just the melody of this chorus is so unique, the way she sings the title line, “you ain’t tried no drug like me.” I agree that this song captures the ‘love is a drug’ feeling, not just in the lyrics but in the sound itself. It has a sort of underwater synth vibe that makes everything feel like it’s moving in slow motion, and then you get these little ghost vocals that float through the instrumental breaks the way thoughts move through your head when you’re intoxicated. It’s really lovely.

“Party for One” - Dedicated (2019)

Susan: “Party for One” is the second-best breakup song ever, only because another CRJ song,  “Boy Problems,” is the first. Not only is this a great dance-pop jam, but the lyrics are super empowering and will definitely give you that “I don’t need no man” attitude. (Plus there’s a nod to self-pleasure, which I love to see represented as celebratory and not shameful!)

You don't want my love
If you don't care about me
I'll just dance for myself
Back on my beat
Party for one
If you don't care about me
Making love to myself
Back on my beat

Yassss! Get it, girl. Dance FOR YOURSELF.

Kelli: Ugh, YES. This song was a go-to for me during my most recent break-up. It’s empowering yes, but it also acknowledges that feeling this way is easier said than done, like in the line “Was it all a dream I let myself believe? I’m not over it / but I’m trying.” Also, the music video is great — it’s so much fun to watch all of these different people engage in their own versions of self-love, including ordering postmates, drinking wine in a bubble bath, cutting their own bangs, experimenting with sex toys, and more. It also features a cameo from Bread Face, which I just find hilarious and so very niche. 

Also, around the 3:30 mark there’s a breakdown of the chorus that fuckin rules. Like, not only does this song have a great message but it’s also just such a fun, catchy pop song. It’s the fact that a song like this came out on her most recent album that makes me believe the best from Carly Rae Jepsen is still to come. So you’d better become a fan NOW.

Susan’s Honorable Mentions

“Making the Most of the Night” - Emotion
“Automatically in Love” - Dedicated
“OMG (with Carly Rae Jepsen)” -  by Gryffin and Carly Rae Jepsen

Kelli’s Honorable Mentions

“I Really Like You” - Emotion
“Want You In My Room” - Dedicated
“The Sound” - Dedicated