Emotion (Carly Rae Jepsen album)
Emotion (stylized as E•MO•TION) is the third studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen. It was released on June 24, 2015 in Japan and worldwide on August 21, 2015 through 604, School Boy, and Interscope Records.[5][6][7][8] Looking to transition from the bubblegum pop-oriented nature of her second studio album, Kiss (2012), Jepsen found inspiration in 1980s music and alternative styles. She enlisted a team of mainstream and indie collaborators, including Sia, Mattman & Robin, Dev Hynes, Ariel Rechtshaid, Rostam Batmanglij, Greg Kurstin, and Peter Svensson of the Cardigans, culminating in a largely synth-pop-centric effort.
Emotion
June 24, 2015
2014–2015
- Conway (Los Angeles)
- Echo Studio (Los Angeles)
- Heavy Duty Studios (Burbank)
- Kinglet Studios (Stockholm)
- Lounge Studios (New York)
- Monarch Studios (Vancouver)
- MXM Studios (Stockholm)
- No Excuses Studios (Santa Monica)
- Paramount Studios (Hollywood)
- PS Studio (Stockholm)
- Templebase (Los Angeles)
- Record Plant (Hollywood)
- United Recording (Hollywood)
- Veniee Way Studios (Los Angeles)
- Wolf Cousins Studios (Stockholm)
44:02
- Ariel Rechtshaid
- Ben Romans
- Carl Falk
- Christopher J Baran
- Dan Nigro
- Dev Hynes
- Greg Kurstin
- Greg Wells
- The High Street
- Jeff Halatrax
- Kyle Shearer
- LULOU
- Mattman & Robin
- Peter Svensson
- Rami Yacoub
- Rostam Batmanglij
- Shellback
- Stint
- Stargate
- Wouter Janssen
- Zachary Gray
Emotion received favorable reviews from contemporary music critics, who praised its pop escapism. The album underperformed worldwide, debuting at number sixteen on the Billboard 200 with 16,153 units. However, in Jepsen's home country, it became her third top ten, peaking at number eight in Canada with 2,600 copies. The album fared better in Japan, debuting at number eight with 12,189 physical copies sold and subsequently being certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments exceeding 100,000 copies.
The album was preceded by the release of its lead single, "I Really Like You", which reached top five in several territories including the United Kingdom and Japan. It was followed by "Run Away with Me" and "Your Type". Jepsen embarked on the Gimmie Love Tour in support of the album in November 2015, with a second leg commencing in February 2016. In April 2016, she toured Canada in support of the album as the opening act for Hedley on their Hello World Tour.
In lieu of commercial success, Emotion reinvigorated Jepsen's career as an "indie darling", garnering her a cult following.[9][10][11][12] The album was shortlisted for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize. A companion EP entitled Emotion: Side B (2016) was released on its first anniversary and features eight songs that were cut from the original project.[13][14]
Composition and lyrics[edit]
Emotion contains elements of synth-pop and new wave.[49][50][51] Consequence of Sound summed the record up as a "more mature, sophisticated version of her [Kiss] hyperpop", Jepsen elaborating: "I wanted to kind of blur the lines of what [a pop album] needed to be."[52][53] She found it a challenge to repurpose the album's 80s influences into a modern context without delving into "empty nostalgia", stating that the album is not strictly a "period piece", but is "tinted with shades of that era".[54][31] The lyrics on Emotion "shade her old ebullience with darker, more complex feelings", and it is sonically grounded with "earthier textures" from 80s R&B–cleansing herself of the Cinderella performances during the record's production.[23] Elsewhere, Jepsen explores funk and disco on "Boy Problems", and house music on "I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance".[55][56][57]
Jepsen singled "All That" out as most representative of the goals she sought to accomplish with Emotion. Lyrically: "['All That'] holds a special place in my heart because it is so revealing: It's talking about the desire for intimacy with somebody. And I think with songs like 'Call Me Maybe', that can be quite light and a little bit more surfacey, it's fun to get a little deeper."[54][53] Jepsen penned "Your Type" with Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk at four in the morning when she was "losing her mind": "They got me hooked for a week on those little fake cigarettes that taste of strawberries. You can hear it in my voice, I sound all gritty. It's because I was vaping for a week."[58]
"Warm Blood" was produced by Rostam Batmanglij and co-written with Tino Zolfo and Joe Cruz. It initially held the hook "warm love feels good" to which Batmanglij misheard as "warm blood", sticking as its main motif as he was drawn to its physical rather than abstract connotations.[32] Jepsen explained: "The more we chipped away at it, we couldn't get away from how much better 'blood' felt and how realer it was. It's almost like that warm skin or that feeling of intimacy."[34] The song has been noted for its experimental vocal effects, with Batmanglij scattering distorted vocal cuts throughout, a "creepy" quality that the pair immediately liked. Elsewhere, sections of "Warm Blood" were sung in a lower pitch; Jepsen was to re-record these parts as she came to the session with "shot vocals", however its "smokier" quality abandoned these plans.[59] Brad Nelson of The Guardian compared Jepsen's performance to that of Ezra Koenig's "machine-produced flexibility" on the Vampire Weekend song, "Diane Young".[60]
In a session with Tavish Crowe, the closer "When I Needed You" was written to process a break up where Jepsen realizes the faults of her seemingly "perfect" relationship: "[...] but in order to stay in it, I would have to be quite a different person than who I naturally am [...] and that sacrifice didn't seem worth it in the end." Dan Nigro and Nate Campany composed the "happier-sounding" instrumental, to which Jepsen felt a sense of catharsis in concealing a "very serious" emotion. Ariel Rechsthaid reworked the chord progression in order to invoke a sense of "desperation", droning through it with a series of bell notes that made the composition sound "a little bit more somber". The "five-string, funk-R&B" bass line was played by Ethan Farmer, and the drum fill, "an 80s kind-of snare with a big reverb on it," was inspired by John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane".[61]
"When I'm Alone", a song written and co-composed by Jepsen during sessions for Emotion, was eventually purchased by SM Entertainment and given to K-pop girl group f(x) for their album 4 Walls.[62] "Cut to the Feeling" and "Runaways", both written by Jepsen during sessions for Emotion, were recorded for the soundtrack of the 2016 film Ballerina.[63] "Wildflowers", a song written during the sessions for Emotion which leaked online in 2016, was covered by Elle Fanning for the soundtrack of the film Teen Spirit (2018).[64]
Title and artwork[edit]
Eternal Summer was a running contender for the album's title, in reference to Los Angeles being an "eternal summer in sunshine" where time perspective is lost.[14][16] It originated from the song "Eternal Summer" which Jepsen developed for a scrapped indie-folk effort; the song was ultimately cut from Emotion as well. Per suggestion from her A&R, the song "Emotion" was retrofitted as the album's title as Jepsen was fond of its strength, both as a one-word title and its complexity as a concept.[65] Jepsen further stated that the song "Emotion" itself encapsulated her feelings of clarity, as its writing process steered her in the direction of "'80s emotional pop". Jepsen was "sold" on the title Emotion after she was sent its phonetic spelling, which is reflected in its stylization (E·MO·TION).[65]
The album artwork features Jepsen sitting in a reserved position as she dons a technicolor sweater and black tights: "There were a few different pictures that had more of a decided facial expression, but I kind of liked the fact that I can't totally read what I was thinking in that picture. It could be many things, and this album, to me, was sort of a collection of many different emotions."[65][66] The artwork's typography bears the dictionary entry of "Emotion" as a noun.[67]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200, earning 16,153 album sales in its first week. By the end of 2015, Emotion had sold a total of 36,000 copies.[123] In Canada, the album debuted at number 8 with 2,600 copies sold in its first week. In Japan, the album debuted at number 8 with 12,189 physical copies sold in its first week. On April 2, 2016, Jepsen revealed via Twitter that Emotion was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, having sold over 100,000 copies there, these copies represent physical sales of the album only.[124] The album entered the UK Albums Chart on September 25 at number 21 with sales of 4,150 copies in addition to streaming figures.[125]
Legacy[edit]
Emotion is considered a crucial factor in Jepsen's "unlikely" career trajectory, following her stint on Canadian Idol and the ubiquity of "Call Me Maybe" to "cult idol".[126][127] Marked as a transitional piece, publications commended Jepsen for cultivating her sound, which "[reestablished] herself as a pop star for grown-ups".[128][129] Carrie Battan of the New Yorker posed that Emotion spared Jepsen from "falling to her death" and instead descended her to the bottom akin to a rising "mindie" artist, online buzz and "underground cred" in tow: "Jepsen, the woman behind one of the biggest songs of this century, now resembles someone whom she never had the opportunity to become at the beginning: an indie darling."[10]
Emotion was labelled a "commercial flop" as its promotional cycle waned.[130][131] James Rettig of Stereogum writes, "The lead-up to Emotion played out like a lesson in what not to do with a pop singer sitting precariously on the edge between cultural ubiquity and cult following."[132] Some blamed its promotional roll-out, with a Japanese release arriving two months ahead and therefore susceptible to leaks. Elsewhere, others focused on creative choices–Rettig criticized "I Really Like You" as lead single, the "most damaging misstep" that hindered Jepsen's ability to showcase her artistic growth.[132] FasterLouder's Jules LeFevre noted that Jepsen's decision against promoting any archetypal identity rendered herself "indistinct" in the "crowded pop landscape".[133]
The record grew to become a cult hit with Jepsen labelled as an "underdog" as it spread by word-of-mouth.[132] Whereas music critics were "compelled by the narrative of a one-hit wonder trying to rebuild herself", as quipped by Battan, Caitlin White of Uproxx writes, "I think Emotion wouldn't be as meaningful if we had to share it with capitalism's steely machinery; its commercial failure is part of what makes it continue to feel intimate, ours."[10][134] Emotion is noted for garnering Jepsen a large LGBTQ audience,[135][136][137] Brandon Tensley of Pacific Standard opining that her music "taps into a shared queer history of escape, possibility, and disappointment", likening her to Kylie Minogue.[138]
NPR called Emotion a "modern touchstone", by which they compared the Aces and Paramore's After Laughter (2017) to.[139] In developing her EP Now That the Light Is Fading, Maggie Rogers resolved to make pop music after being inspired by Emotion.[140] Jay Som counts Jepsen as a notable influence on her debut album Everybody Works: "I felt very assertive with [Everybody Works] because I was also listening to her music. I liked how energetic and youthful the spirit is—and it's just so not ashamed to be this pop record."[141] A tribute album was released digitally by Something Merry on November 21, 2018. The album is a track-by-track cover of Emotion, including covers made by Wild Pink, Cheer Up, Future Teens, Gabe Goodman, Good Looking Friends, Kiki Maddog, Lilith, Mandancing, oldsoul, Photocomfort, Pushflowers, the Aux, the Superweaks, Tuft.[142]
Notes