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CARLY RAE JEPSON E.MO.TION

 

(Universal)

When your first ever single (“Call Me Maybe”) turns into the biggest selling song on the planet (Over 17 million single sales globally), what do you do for an encore? That is the challenge facing Carly Rae Jepson as she releases her second studio recording, E.MO.TION.

Certainly no stone has been left unturned in the marketing of her new opus.  The tracks were recorded in three different studios in Los Angeles, London and Stockholm with an army of producers and co-songwriters creating the record’s 12 tracks. And then, there’s Academy-award winning actor Tom Hanks starring in the video for her debut single; “I Really Like You”. It Also hasn’t hurt that Jepson has already appeared on Saturday Night Live in April and more recently the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, the Ellen DeGeneres Show and an upcoming appearance (August 21 on NBC’s Good Morning America)Photo_I Really _300CMYK

But for all this hype and exposure, the reality is that the material on this record, for the most part comes across as a light-weight repackaging of similar themes that inspired “Call Me Maybe”. Tracks like the first single; “I Really Like You”, “Gimme Love”, “Boy Problems”, the new single, “Run Away With Me” and “When I Need You” are all variations of the same, repetitive idea. It’s like this army of writers are all trying to re-write the same song. Vocally, Jepson holds her own but the supporting musical arrangements are lacklustre and there’s no creative cohesion between the tracks that a sole producer would have created; just too many cooks in the kitchen.

The music industry is littered with artists who failed to live up to a smash debut single (John Waite – Missing You, MC Hammer – Can’t Touch This or even Daniel Powter’s Had A Bad Day) and there is a danger that the success of Call Me Maybe will overshadow anything else Jepson tries to record in the future – but obviously she is going to keep trying. The fact that she is already on her second single  indicates  E.MO.TION is going to struggle to match sales of her debut ‘Kiss’ release. We wish her well.

Download: “I Really Like You” “Run Away With Me”.

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