Another month, another pop album. Carly Rae Jepsen’s sophomore effort probably won’t evolve Bubble-Gum Pop (One of the most underrated music sub-genres) into some new Renaissance, but let’s hope its not a complete step down from 2012’s superb Kiss. While the debut single of Emotion, “I Really Like You”, didn’t quite take off like Jepsen’s first hit “Call Me Maybe”, it was a really fun pop song that certainly kept creeping into playlist after playlist over the summer.
The title track, “Emotion” stands out early. Not sure why they didn’t give this the single treatment first, as it probably would have done better than “I Really Like You”. It’s less repetitive but has a similar sound (although it is slowed down a bit).
With Emotion, Jepsen is certainly trying new things and experimenting with different sounds. “All That” feels like it’s out of the mid 90’s, but in the worst way possible. Her vocals (which are much more acclimated to the current pop sound) are a harsh contrast to the song and really detracts from something that could have been something more.
While she is trying new things, she also might be stealing a little too much from other songs. “Boy Problems” sounds exactly like “Treasure” by Bruno Mars. Like, it’s basically the same song with different lyrics overtop. It’s nice to try new things and step outside your comfort zone, but her voice doesn’t fit the style (again) and it’s already a better song somewhere else.
A good chunk of the rest of the album is mostly forgettable and bland filler songs. I must have listened to “Let’s Get Lost” three or four times and still remember nothing about it. The really unfortunate part about all this? There are a staggering 15 tracks on this album. When such a high percentage of them are unremarkable or just plain boring, that’s really unfortunate.
All-in-all, nothing about Emotion is particularly offensive or bad, actually none of it is, it’s just mostly boring. Outside of a few stand-out tracks (all of which are either at the beginning or end of the album), this is just another pop album. It would be suitable background noise at a party or in the car, but it’s certainly not going to inspire anything.
Best Tracks: “Emotion”, “I Really Like You”, ” Black Heart”
Worst Tracks: “Boy Problems”, “All That”, “Gimme Love”
Grade: C-
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