I'm actually a bit annoyed I
completely forgot "Call Me Maybe" was original released in 2011 because if we're gonna talk about the last ten years and the legacies of the artists involved, Carly's is quite a curious one.
Would it be fair to say that she maybe ushered in the idea that a pop album could be critically acclaimed, and thus, was instrumental in creating the wave of poptimism that we've been seeing in agonising death throes for a year or two now? I remember thinking around the time of Emotion's release that... she got them gals! She presented an unimpeachable album, unimpeachably. Back in the day the girls would be hobbled critically because... they were successful, or openly sexual, or working with the wrong people, or not appearing in the writing credits... and Carly bucked
all of those trends they would typically use to get at a woman in pop. Charting low enough to still feel exclusive to the blogs, wearing a sweater on her album cover, a smorgasbord of Acceptably Cool Pop Producers as collaborators, and she had written everything. And of course it was all brilliant.
I might be off base, but I do remember thinking there was a bit of a sea change in the way pop albums were approached in music journalism after that. Gone was having to accept average scores and write ups full of backhanded, reluctantly given compliments, and in its place was an attitude that approached these albums in the spirit they were intended.
I also think there's a conversation to be had about how she also launched this brand of neurotic, irritating, possessive, and self-entitled Gay Twitter fanbase which Charli XCX would go on to take the reigns from, and have it trickle down to Caroline, Rina, and more than I'm probably forgetting about... but let's not sully the thread by talking about that particular...
ash tray of pop music fans.
Also, in thinking about this post, I relistened to all of her stuff, which was nice. No idea why I was so damn fuming at the time, but in 2022 I can say proudly that "Party For One" might slap ferociously tbh.
@Laura Vanderbooben finally won I guess.