Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time / The Loneliest Time

he/him
I dare not go back and read some of the apathetic posts towards this album around release because I felt like I was listening to a different record.

Even though EMOTION remains my favorite and a masterpiece she's unlikely to top in terms of artistic evolution and audience expansion, The Loneliest Time is a refined version of the pop she began cultivating with that album. It has a warmth and confidence that feels new for her, while simultaneously using all of the strengths she's shown since the beginning of her career. The slower numbers - Bends, Western Wind, and Go and Find Yourself or Whatever are especially strong. Combine them with classic Carly pop songs like Surrender Your Heart and Talking to Yourself, add in the eccentricity of Joshua Tree, Sideways, and Bop House, then throw in the all out dance of Bad Thing Twice, The Loneliest Time, and Anxious... I mean there isn't a single dud.

Don't be a Shy Boy. Stream The Loneliest Time
 
He/Him
The initial takes shocked me because I was shook when it was released. I think I had a bad reaction to the singles but I was sold on the album as a whole.

The fact that she made something as basic as Sun On You into one of the album’s highlights in Bends is just a reason to never judge her for recycling ideas we’ve heard that weren’t finished. She was right not to put it on Kiss in its original form.
 
He/Him
I can only imagine that Carly has a Prince-esque vault of recorded songs at this point in time. The only things even close to misses she’s had of late were a couple of one off tracks or collabs like Let’s Be Friends or Move Me.

I’d be satisfied to have a new Carly release and gig every year for the rest of my life.
 
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