An interview with then-European-F3 driver Alain Prost, from Auto-Hebdo issue 185, published October 11th, 1979. The quote highlighted, which I suppose could serve as an unofficial title for this interview, translates to "good for service" - as in, finally, it's F1 time for him.
Some of the greatest thing you can find in Ye Olde Magazines are interviews of legendary drivers before they reached F1 or whatever it was they did that made them legendary to begin with. Late 70s French publications had quite a wide array of talents to display - and in 1979, in an era where we had 7 drivers in F1 (and it could've been 8), the brightest and newest talent to be promised to F1 was Alain Prost.
Alain was always something special for these publications. Auto-Hebdo in particular would give him an interview at the end of every year starting from his victorious run in the Volant Elf in 1975, so this was their fourth. It's short, but in it, they do get to ask him about his feelings on his career up to that point, if he's ready for F1, and his "purgatory-like" 1978 season, among other things. A short but cool read if you can speak French! (I say that in all of my posts ffs)
Fun fact I forget to mention often: most of the interviews from back in the day have the reporter call the drivers "tu", which is a far cry from today where they use the much politer "vous" (it's a pronoun thing in French). It's not just F3 Alain that got this, even F1 drivers were called tu, and that to me sounds like a proximity we did kind of lose. Imma blame social media for no real reason.
How Carly Rae Jepsen Found Strength And Freedom With New Album 'The Loneliest Time': "It's Surrendering To Everything"
On her fifth album, 'The Loneliest Time,' Carly Rae Jepsen dances her way through the "hard-hitting lessons" of life — celebrating growth as both a person and an artist.
"Rather than free falling, I'm free-flying," Carly Rae Jepsen says, the warmth of that untethered freedom radiating in her smile. That artistic liberty fuels the pop star's fifth studio LP, The Loneliest Time.
The album weaves in and out of pure danceable joy, but with the lyrical prowess of a pop artist who has fully embraced every emotion she feels — even if it doesn't spawn a feel-good earworm. With a catalog full of delightful hits like "I Really Like You," "Run Away With Me," and "Call Me Maybe," Jepsen felt it was time to stop trying to figure out her place in the greater pop landscape and just chase the songs that felt right in the moment — and that felt true to herself.
But thanks to Jepsen's pop genius, The Loneliest Time still brims with memorable hooks and candid emotional resonance. There's the sweet and earthy "Western Wind" and the sincere soft folk of "Go Find Yourself or Whatever." Add in the epic title track's expansive disco strings and sloping melody, and it feels as if Jepsen has explored the full spectrum of both pop music and human nature.
"I feel a little less constrained by this idea of what type of pop I'm making," Jepsen says with a calm certainty. "My loneliness made me do some of the bravest and craziest and wildest things of my life. And I loved the reactions that it caused, because they're so dramatic, and I felt it was worthy of an album."
With The Loneliest Time, Jepsen isn't denying or rejecting her past, nor is she ignoring it. This isn't Carly Rae Jepsen reinvented, it's Carly Rae Jepsen in this moment. That's a powerful step for any artist in pop, a genre prone to pigeonholing stars, especially after a runaway hit.
Ahead of the album's release, Jepsen spoke with GRAMMY.com about the emotionally empowering process of The Loneliest Time, maturing as a pop star, and building genuine longevity.
Do you have any tricks for keeping yourself focused and healthy on tour? Personally, I now judge my day by how much water I've had.
So funny, this age that we're in. We've started so many different clubs on this tour. One is Book Club, where we all get ourselves scooched together reading on the bus. We wanna read Dracula for Halloween month!
We also started this thing with me and Josephine, my glam girl, Scott, our merch guy, and Chris, our tour manager, called Water Club. When we see each other we're like, "Have a water". We literally are just helping each other stay hydrated on the road. What does that say about touring in your thirties, that we started a group called The Water Club?
I can only imagine that reflecting on and comparing to how you toured in your twenties is an interesting experience for you.
I've always felt a little like I'm floundering in the good graces of some luck that came my way. That "Where am I?" energy is always with me. But I do feel like this era, being 36 now, and almost 37, I do feel more confident and excited and a little less shocked all of the time. It's kind of registered that this is my life. Which is great.
If anything, I just feel a little bit more purposeful with every decision. A little bit more confident, even with our stage show. I play it like a little boss lady within the group dynamic that we have, where I used to ask questions like, "Why do we do it that way? Could we do it this way?" Having enough meetings to get to the bottom of things that always were big question marks for me. That part's really empowering and exciting.
Lyrically, there is this acknowledgement throughout The Loneliest Time that the softer, gentler version of you is still accessible, even when you're tapping into larger, more powerful emotions. You alluded to intention earlier, which is so appropriate.
Definitely. This album is very much about taking away the things that Scorpios love, the controlling factor or whatever. It is surrendering to everything — whether happiness, love, hardships or grief, taking on the full experience of life and not trying to avoid any of the hard stuff, or fast forward to the good stuff. It's feeling all of the things.
This is what this album really was for me, but that's also very much in line with what my life experience has been over the last few years while working on this. It's a lot of hard-hitting lessons about all of that growth.
Carly Rae Jepsen via Instagram: THE LONELIEST TIME 💌 Oct 21. I’m quite fascinated by loneliness. It can be really beautiful when you turn it over and look at it. Just like love, it can cause some extreme human reactions.
Preorder now. 💖🖤🌛🍇
I love that you started the album with "Surrender My Heart". When moments are intense and you surrender to it, things are just so much clearer.
Absolutely. It was a very true sentiment when I first started going to therapy — for a lot of reasons. My whole family had dealt with a ton of tragedy all at once. You know that thing, when it rains it pours. I felt like that really happened to us, and my solution to it was so pragmatic. "I'll go to therapy, she'll tell me how to be tougher in life. I will leave with an extra layer of skin and armor and I'll just know how to handle things because life's gonna get harder. I fell apart, let's fix me." And it was just so enlightening to be there in the room. After one session I was like, "Here, take all my money." [Laughs]
She said, "Maybe you need to soften up. Maybe you have to feel all the things." It's so funny, because I'm sitting there being like, "Wait, I wrote an album about being in touch with your emotions. I should be in touch with them." But no, it's still hard to take it in all the time.
I was kind of avoiding some of the experiences of life. And I don't think that's how you get to feel any of the highs or the lows. Being less frightened of both of those things can make you feel a little bit more stabilized. You continue on without denying any of the highs or the lows as they happen. That's a really huge part of it for me.
I see other people who walk through life just doing things that I admire so much. I have a girlfriend right now who's going through some big grief and every time I hang out with her she's just like, "I'm sad." And I'm like, "Cool, well be sad with me. Let's be sad and have a sad day together." Just seeing her being brave enough to do that makes me feel braver when I'm having an off day.
There's power in not wanting to fix everything at every point. And while I don't necessarily think it stems from control, it can stem from this sense of perfection and ideas that we've all been sold, which you cover a lot in your music — of how things are meant to be, how love is meant to be, and sometimes it isn't.
Yes! I think that tension between how it's "supposed" to be and what it is, there's some real dissonance in there that gets to be worked out. But if you can let go of how it's supposed to be and just be really accepting of how it is, I think you're off to a good start.
Emotion was about fusing together everything you had learned on Kiss and Tug of War, and Dedicated started going into heartbreak and creating that new story. Now that you're on your fifth studio album, where do you feel like you're at now? What was the guidepost for you while writing the album?
Rather than free falling, I'm free-flying! I feel a little less constrained by this idea of what type of pop I'm making. Is it '80s? '70s? '90s? Am I sad or happy? What am I emoting as a message? It's like, screw all of that. At this point, being 10 years into the business and change, I am a woman. There are many different things I feel. I can be very playful, I can be hurt and resentful and confused, and I can also have a disco ballad that's five minutes long, and indulgent, and is my opus. And all on the same album, because I contain multitudes.
I believe that people are ready to expand this pigeonholed idea of what a pop artist can be, which is a genre that's very tricky to break out of the mold of. You can be all of the things. And I've felt that desire in this genre that is so playful in the types of music that you can do.
But I wanna also break the perception of, "Am I the sexy pop artist?" I just don't wanna have to fight that fight anymore. For The Loneliest Time, the main theme of it is just loneliness and how that can cause such extreme reactions within you. Because my loneliness made me do some of the bravest and craziest and wildest things of my life. And I loved the reactions that it caused, because they're so dramatic, and I felt it was worthy of an album.
I was less concerned with, "Are they all gonna fit?" and a little bit more excited that they would be as diverse as they were meant to be — and to let the songs speak for themselves.
There's this intriguing blend between pure fragility and super confidence. You just sound like you're having the time of your life.
Thank you. I really overwrite. Even last night I was with my A&R talking about what we could potentially consider if we were to do a B-side [record]. And we were laughing, like, "Let's bring up the folders again."
So much thought goes into these things. It's a little bit of a Beautiful Mind mapping. By the time I'm done I'm like, "Oh my God, I seem insane." But it was a method to the madness, and I swear I feel that way every time. When I know it feels done and the order feels good, it was some puzzle I had to unlock. But as much as I'm like, "This is not cohesive," it, to me, is meant to be together.
Maybe I rebel because of having a song like "Call Me Maybe". I've just so desired to be [putting] all of my attention into being an album artist since then, not a single artist. And that's maybe why I put out B-sides that aren't even counted at the label. They're just gifts.
There's something of a gift with The Loneliest Time, too — people are really coming to understand that you want to be understood. I like the immediacy here.
Thank you. You know how you can only gush to certain people about the things that you're secretly really excited or a little proud of? I almost feel guilty saying that word, like it should be shameful. But I'm embracing it. Like, "What am I happy about?" I said it to my boyfriend last night, because we just did the final cut and color [for a video], and I'm like, "It's so lovely."
You can look back on a career with nostalgia, and like Björk said once, "I don't wanna be a nostalgic artist." I really loved that. I love that we're constantly pushing forward, especially for a woman in pop music.
There was a time where I thought, "It's a young woman's game." So for me to be 36, almost 37 and feel like I'm about to put out my favorite video of my career? It's not so much about anything other than the growth. I've learned how to communicate. And to have the trust of a team at the label now.
It took me a long time to have that confidence, but also to feel like I have a team of people who trust that we can do this together. We can find the right pieces. For the first time in a hot minute, I was like, "Well, I don't wanna be stale. I don't wanna just be putting out music because I'm chasing a thing that was a dream when I was a teen. I'm just as invigorated and as excited now. Why not take all the lessons I've learned and keep growing?"
For pop artists that I look at — there's a few, like Cyndi Lauper — but I would love to be a part of that catalog that gets to have some longevity with this thing. That'd feel fantastic. That's my secret goal and I'm saying it out loud to you.
I appreciate that, and when you are having fun — the raw, pure, sugar-rush fun — even in a song that covers really wobbly moments, your artistry has legs. It makes the listener excited for what's to come.
You're so right. Joy is the spot. I had a child come into a VIP Q&A session, and she asked, "Do you write when you're sad or when you're happy?" And I was like, "It's interesting because when I'm sad, I wanna eat a tub of ice cream and do nothing." But I know that there are artists that go to those places they wanna emote to get through. When I get out of my sadness is when I might be able to start talking about my sadness. Then there's a spark, a curiosity I have about it.
I think that's where "Bends" came from. I think that's where "Surrender My Heart" and "Go Find Yourself" [came from]. My creativity is sparked around a really limitless possibility, a free-flying feeling where you're like, "I'm here to catch this feeling in a way and document it." And it does feel quite joyful.
You have this ease and comfortability because you use pop as an escape, to a degree, but you're also not running away from these feelings.
Oh yeah. I think that's a real difference with even how I'm looking at shows lately. It was, "Come to my show. We're gonna forget how scary the world is for a night. I'm here to help you." And now I'm looking at it in the way that I experience the best shows that I go to.
I recently saw James Taylor and I said to my boyfriend, "Just so you know, I grew up on James Taylor, and he's this link between my divorced parents. I'm gonna cry a lot, Maybe I'll be fine." He hadn't seen me cry, so I was thinking it was gonna be super embarrassing if it happened.
I make it through the first half of the set dry-eyed. And then [James] comes out and he's like, "Fire and Rain," "Sweet Baby James," "The Secret of Life." And my neck is wet. It was just a wet neck situation. [Laughs]
[My boyfriend] was putting his arm around me, and James was telling these stories, and by the time it was done, I was like, "I'm so sorry. I can't stop." There was clearly some stuff I needed to feel.
"The Secret of Life" is the last song that my mom heard in the car the day my grandmother died. I wasn't there because of COVID, but I knew that experience. So I got to feel some things in a safe place that I needed to feel, really safely, really comfortably. And it felt wonderful. I had been needing that night. And it was so cathartic that when I left, I felt 10 pounds lighter.
That's what the best, most joyful experiences can make me feel. When I saw David Byrne's "American Utopia," my brain got twisted about what a concert could be. Holy s—, I felt better about life. I thought, "God, I've been looking at this all wrong. I've been thinking my job is to help people escape, but what if my job is to help people feel whatever it is they need to? Or a little bit of both?"
That's where I got the idea for the moon mascot who comes at the beginning of our show on this tour and goes, "Tonight is for you to feel what you need to in a safe place, to escape if you need to." Hopefully it can be that for some people.
Feeling the confidence that you can be the type of artist that you look at and are inspired by, that's the ultimate achievement, right?
It is the best feeling. That's the dream, the goal. Some joy, some happiness, but also some real in-touch-ness with yourself, and maybe some sadness too — all in a cathartic way.
On her fifth album, pop’s ray of sunshine Carly Rae Jepsen found herself dappled by shadows. Out of the introspection came ‘The Loneliest Time’: a record that finds power in curiosity and self-belief.
King’s Cross, mid-July, and we’re a week into the freak heatwave that will soon transpire to be the summer’s default climate. In the foyer of Universal Music, late lunch-takers shuffle out into the sunlight as their clammy colleagues scuttle back in from their breaks, visibly relieved as the wall of icy air-con hits them.
Cutting a glamorous contrast to the sea of summer office wear, however, Carly Rae Jepsen glides through the security gates in a ‘60s-inspired outfit comprised of white, patent, thigh-high boots and a long-sleeved shirt dress dappled with green psychedelic swirls - seemingly impervious to the fact it’s an airless 32 degrees outside. Indeed, when we officially meet minutes later in the meeting room of her label offices, she politely orders a tea while the rest of the room desperately wolfs down water.
Affectionately known to her fiercely-loyal fans as Jeppo, in person the Canadian pop singer is every bit as warm and engaging as you might hope. Blessed with a glass-half-full outlook and perpetually smiling eyes, words tumble out of her mouth at a rate of knots, with reflections often punctuated by a silvery laugh. Fresh from a day off after headlining Bristol’s Pride celebrations on Saturday, tonight she will turn in a triumphant performance at Somerset House - her last European engagement following a brief run of festivals, and her first UK show since February 2020. Though she’s been intermittently playing live since Coachella back in April, the 36-year-old is the first to admit she’s still reacclimatising to the challenges of life on the road.
“It’s a little bit like Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” she chuckles, locking eyes knowingly with her manager across the room. “But with my bandmates and crew, a lot of us have been together for 10 years plus, so we’ve had our fair share of rough and tumble. It’s just so nice to have the whole gang back together. Plus any time that I get that relief of that hour on stage, it does make everything worth it.”
For Carly, these moments of communal catharsis have been an integral part of life since finding fame on Canadian Idol back in 2007. Propelled to international megastardom four years later with viral smash ‘Call Me Maybe’, the singer has spent the intervening decade cementing her reputation as pop’s uppermost romanticist, both through the unabashedly heart-on-sleeve songwriting on ‘Kiss’ (2012), ‘E•MO•TION’ (2015) and ‘Dedicated’ (2019), and via famously euphoric shows that actively encourage fans to luxuriate in their feelings. To sacrifice the latter outlet entirely during the pandemic proved a real wrench, prompting a period of introspection that would ultimately inspire her upcoming fifth studio album: next month’s evocatively-titled ‘The Loneliest Time’.
“Essentially we’re all in our feelings, even though we all look for different ways of hiding it.”
“Under house arrest” is how Carly jokingly frames the experience of living alone in LA at the height of COVID. Still processing a romantic break-up, isolated from friends and homesick for her family back in Canada, she threw herself into an array of hobbies, from solo hiking and cooking to what she cheerfully describes as “a failed attempt” to teach herself audio engineering. In between self-improvement activities she found herself repeatedly returning to the idea of loneliness, reflecting on it both from a personal perspective and as a wider concept.
“I think when you're at your wit's end, loneliness can cause these extreme behaviours,” she explains. “And I was really fascinated by diving into what those reactions could be. Because the experience from there on in is really dealer’s choice. From my own experience, I can say loneliness can make you feel and do all sorts of unusual things.”
Certainly, finding the resilience to withstand the isolation proved extremely difficult at points. When her maternal grandmother passed away, social distancing rules meant Carly was forced to grieve alone, an experience she still struggles to talk about today. “My grandmother is one of the most incredible women I've ever met and I was very lucky to know her,” she says, her voice wavering with emotion. “So it was extra hard going through a grief like that, and not being able to be with my family or be a part of that whole ceremony of saying goodbye properly. It was something we had to figure out how to do from a distance and that was definitely a very painful experience for me.”
But out of this period of darkness she also found hope, as she grasped the opportunity to reevaluate her journey to this point and recalibrate - a process that she describes as “a gift, provided you’re ready to handle those thoughts”. “I was just digging further into this concept,” she continues. “Like, what is loneliness and why am I intrigued by it? And why does it have to have a negative connotation to it? Because any touring artist who takes on the adventure of this type of lifestyle is gonna have to battle some loneliness along the way, and figure out how to make peace with a lot of nights alone in hotel rooms. And it doesn’t necessarily even have to be a bad thing; there can be real beauty in loneliness. I think that’s why I like to read [Haruki] Murakami’s novels - he really has this beautiful way of shifting loneliness into a sort of poetic solace.”
“Women can have silliness and depth, and we can be sexy one moment and then be really serious the next. So why should I have to choose?”
A notoriously prolific writer who - by her own admission - creates “all the time” simply to “survive life”, Carly began reaching out to potential producers and co-writers to arrange sessions, including regular collaborators John Hill (Sigrid, Muna), Patrik Berger (Robyn), Captain Cuts (Marina, Allie X) and Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend, Haim). It was with the latter that she created ‘Western Wind’, the album’s utterly gorgeous yet surprisingly subtle lead single. A love story set in California and played out among feather-light brush work, shimmering keys, sonorous guitar and beautifully breezy vocal harmonies, it received its live debut at Coachella.
Back at the peak of the pandemic, Carly began dipping her toe into remote collaborations, actively seeking out fresh voices to work with. Foremost amongst these was Bullion, aka British songwriter-producer Nathan Jenkins, who she discovered via playlists shared by friends.
“I think there were maybe six different times in a row where one of Bullion's tracks would come on, and I was like, ‘Who is this?!’” she raves with the excitement of a true fan. “I loved that the chords he landed on were always surprising. Like, whenever I thought he was resolving a melody, it would instantly evolve into a completely different section of the song. And though I'm from this pop world and he’s more indie-leaning, it worked.”
This idea of blurring - or simply doing away with - genre boundaries proved key when it came to whittling down a final tracklisting from a pool of more than 100 songs. Rather than settling on a singular sonic palette, Carly looked to lyrical content to create a sense of cohesion.
Settling on songs that explored perspectives on loneliness or that originally stemmed from contemplations on the subject, it’s a theme further developed in the Renaissance-inspired album art, which sees her looking quizzically over one shoulder in a nod to Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. And by liberating it from any stylistic constraints, ‘The Loneliest Time’ arrives as by far her most wide-ranging record musically, taking in minimal sophisti-pop and Laurel Canyon-inspired cuts as well as shimmering funk, string-flecked disco and a glorious, ‘80s-inspired synth-pop track that more than matches any of ‘E•MO•TION’’s big singles for impact.
That ‘80s influence is no coincidence, it transpires: touch points for the record included Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks and her eternal muse Cyndi Lauper, enjoyed alongside “palate cleansers” like Billie Holiday. “There's so much to learn from ‘80s pop, and the way it really gets to the heart of things,” she enthuses. “I think we really gravitate to the emotion in that era because essentially we're all in our feelings, even though we all look for different ways of hiding it.”
Reflecting on the record’s eclecticism, she continues: “I thought a lot about what I wanted from this album, probably more than I ever have before. Having learned some things in my own personal life, I wanted to document that growth while looking for the thing that can connect [with fans], so that it's not just a journal entry of my intense feelings, but feelings that can be universal.
“Musically I was really trying to fight this idea that these artists are supposed to deliver one type of music. As humans we're a spectrum of different things and I want to be able to play that. Like, women can have silliness and depth, and we can be sexy one moment and then be really serious the next. So why should I have to choose? With these songs I didn’t. And the result is I’m really excited about the colours of these songs, because they’re different to anything I’ve ever done before.”
“I’m hoping that what I can do for other people is create spaces where we can let go of our worries and really connect to ourselves.”
Latest single ‘Beach House’ must surely rank among the singer’s most audacious moments. A tongue-in-cheek bop inspired by previous misadventures in the “rock ‘n’ roll world of online dating” (thankfully, she’s now happily settled in a relationship), the verses detail a litany of terrible suitors while the chorus is built around the hook of “I got a beach house in Malibu and I'm probably gonna hurt your feelings”. By the middle eight, her love interest has gone full Dexter, promising, “I got a lake house in Canada and I'm probably gonna harvest your organs…”
“That was so much fun!” she exclaims, after collapsing into giggles at the lyric. “I mean that was definitely an extreme example, but I think there's some truth to it. As women, it’s not just about, ‘Is he gonna be nice?’ or ‘Are we going to click?’ It’s also like, will I get kidnapped?! But that song’s really aimed at the poachers, who go online for the kill.”
From the psychopathic hick on ‘Beach House’ to the soft backing vocals on the bridge of ‘Far Away’, male voices are a recurrent motif on the album. For its title track, she pulled off something of a coup, securing a guest appearance from her musical hero Rufus Wainwright. Sharing the story behind the duet today, she still sounds punch drunk.
“First of all, I need to say I’m not just a fan of Rufus Wainwright; he literally had a profound effect on my career choice,” she gushes. “I can remember being 19, taking the West Coast Express from Mission – my home town – to Vancouver, and I would listen to his album ‘Poses’ over and over and over again. And it was somewhere during the song ‘Poses’, where he sings, ‘Life is a game and true love is a trophy,’ that I was like, ‘I think I'm going to make a run at this music thing, like for real, for real’. Because there's nothing that sounds better in life to me than this.
“Fast forward 15 years later, and I'm in a writing session and we’re working on this disco-like track with a Rufus-esque melody to it. And I said, imagine if he sang that dream sequence with us. When I went home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. And if I’ve learned anything in my life it’s that you can just ask, and that the very worst that can happen is they can say no. If we hadn't asked, we wouldn't have had Tom Hanks in the video for ‘I Really Like You’. So I wrote him this love letter and it turned out his husband was a fan…”
“From my own experience, I can say loneliness can make you feel and do all sorts of unusual things.”
To this day, the memory of Rufus laying down his vocals in her home studio is almost too joyous for Carly to bear. “From that train journey in Mission to having him in my house!” she exclaims, shaking her head in disbelief.
If she were a more complacent person, Carly could simply add dueting with her hero to the ever-growing list of pinch-yourself moments, which so far include fulfilling her childhood dream to play Cinderella on Broadway, ‘Call Me Maybe’ being named the best-selling single of the 21st century by a female artist, and the huge critical success of ‘E•MO•TION’. But rather than being blase, Carly remains deeply grateful for each and every achievement.
When we ask what she sees as her biggest success she replies, “My real victory is my happiness. I do feel like there's a lot of people who experience viral success and feel destroyed by it afterwards. But I feel like I've been lucky enough to have some huge factors on my side, like my team and my bandmates.”
That humility is further displayed in her determination to give back. For the Canadian and US legs of her upcoming So Nice tour, a dollar from every ticket sold will go to The Ally Coalition, a charity set up by Jack and Rachel Antonoff to support homeless and at-risk LGBTQ+ youth. And on a broader level, Carly hopes that her music can continue to facilitate fans in exploring their feelings.
“I used to kind of love the idea of indulging in escapism,” she confides. “And don't get me wrong, I still do love that you can tap into music when life is crazy. But maybe because so many things happened while making this album – in the wider world and for me personally – I felt it was also really necessary to have a space where I could safely feel whatever it was that I needed to feel.
“Like, when I go to a James Taylor concert, and I see him play, I'm allowed to cry for that moment, and it feels good. It’s like I can tap into whatever I didn't know I was actually going through that week. I'm hoping that that's what I can do for other people; create spaces where we can let go of our worries, really connect to ourselves or do whatever we need to do that day. Because if music’s not the outlet for letting your feelings out, then what is?”
‘The Loneliest Time’ is out 21st October via 604 / Schoolboy / Interscope.
Styling: Hayley Atkin
MUA: Gregory Arlt
Hair: Jon Lieckfelt
Assistant: Sofia Armenta Reyna
Vibe Assistant: Grace O’Leary
A Decade After ‘Call Me Maybe,’ Carly Rae Jepsen’s Future Looks Brighter Than Ever
On her new album, The Loneliest Time, how she feels about her signature early hit, and why she’s "the grandma of TikTok"
Rolling Stone • Jodi Guglielmi • August 23, 2022 • Photo: Meredith Jenks
People keep asking Carly Rae Jepsen how she’s doing. After all, between the pandemic and the three-year gap since her last proper album, we haven’t heard much from the pop star lately. “It’s a loaded question,” she says, “and my answer has been complicated.” Jepsen admits she struggled to adjust to life at home during quarantine after years of nonstop touring and recording, and she suffered a family loss during the pandemic that led her to therapy to deal with her grief. “It caused a lot of contemplation,” she says. “Like, ‘Where am I? What decisions have I made to get here? Am I happy?’ Many of those hard questions you have to face one way or another.”
From that time of self-reflection, she birthed her fifth album, The Loneliest Time (due out Oct. 21). But now, on Zoom, sitting in front of a painting made by her aunt and uncle, the answer to the dreaded “How are you doing?” question is clear by the smile on her face. “I’m happy,” she says, later adding with a laugh, “I’m glad I went through those last couple of years — and I don’t want to do it again.”
The Loneliest Time balances real emotions with a sense of light, upbeat energy. How did you find that balance?
Loneliness is a big theme of this album, and the extremes that come with it. It sounds like it has a negative connotation, but when you analyze your loneliness, it can be beautiful. Extreme events can take place because of loneliness, at least in my own life. Running over to your ex’s house in the middle of the night in the pouring rain and screaming, “Let’s start this again” — something happened before those decisions! Even though it’s a sad title, I feel like it’s also uplifting.
What song are you most excited for people to hear?
“Beach House.” It’s the silliest song by far, but it came from such a natural place. Everyone on dating apps has had a horror story or six. You feel vulnerable and often come up disenchanted by the whole thing. I know some people genuinely join apps to find love, but I’m after the people that are in there to play a game with you. They need to be called out.
Are you looking forward to touring again this fall?
I’m going to tell you the nonpolished, honest answer: The reality about touring right now is that it’s not for the faint of heart. Flights are delayed, gear is not arriving on time. I’m borrowing someone’s in-ear [monitors] from the set before because our stuff is still in Minneapolis. It’s a bit of trains, planes, and automobiles to get anywhere. You have to love what you do if you want to tour this year — and luckily, I do. The euphoria of being onstage and being in those moments, sharing the feeling with the crowd … it’s so worth it.
You have a strong LGBTQ+ fan base, and you’re donating $1 from each ticket on this tour to the Ally Coalition. What does that connection with your fans mean to you?
I feel so lucky. When I’m onstage, it feels less about me and more like I’m just a conductor of all this good energy. It changed how I performed; it changed how I thought about everything. I’m trying to create a playful and safe space for anyone to be whoever they want to be. I feel so happy in those moments that I almost feel like I might combust.
What do you like to do in your off time, when you’re not working?
I’ve been on a huge jazz kick, so I can spend an evening just playing my favorite records back and forth. But having those after-sunset conversations with a friend, or more than a friend, where you talk in all directions about everything — that’s just heaven to me. I’ve also made a new goal for myself where I learn to play a new song once a month. That’s been a fun little project.
Is there a song you’re trying to learn right now?
I’m currently learning “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” because I know it’s going to be hard, and I want to have it ready by the holidays so I can play it when everyone is around. I’m also learning Billie Holiday’s “You Go to My Head.”
How about social media? Do you enjoy that at all?
I’m the grandma of TikTok [laughs]. I say this in a small personal-growth way: I’m having more fun with it. I only want it to be a place where I have fun. I don’t want it to be a place of stress, where I feel like I have to post certain things at specific times. I don’t look at it as an outlet of my soul [or] creativity. I’ve heard artists say they can no longer write songs because they use all their creativity to write a good caption. That sounds terrible. I’m still figuring it out.
Most people fell in love with your music during the “Call Me Maybe” era, in 2012. A decade later, do you still feel connected to that song?
I do, which is strange because I’ve sung that song more than most people have sung most songs. There was a definite time when I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this song is scary because it’s so big” — but I’ve shed that pressure. Now, it’s a really fun moment of nostalgia. The crowd takes over. You can’t be in a room with people singing your song and not feel elated. It doesn’t feel like it’s what people are there for anymore, though, and that’s a mini victory for me.
