For listeners who have explored Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen’s extensive discography, it’s obvious that the singer has always worn her heart on her sleeve—but never more so than on Day and Night, the singer’s newest album, which drops tomorrow, September 18.
The album, which is her eighth, is a double album, and easily the singer’s lengthiest, clocking in at 24 tracks. The double album, in a way, follows in the footsteps of the wonderful Carly Rae Jepsen tradition of releasing an album full of great songs, and then releasing another album full of also terrific B-sides later on. But, in releasing a double album, she’s just giving fans all of the music at once.
It’s also an album that’s entirely full of love songs. It’s clear to even a casual listener of this album that there seems to be pure joy radiating through the singer’s life right now, and while most of the 24 songs (and even more on the Japanese version of the album) are centered around bliss and love lyrically and thematically, it’s an extremely interesting listen because of how much it contrasts sonically.
The album is split in half, and there’s a definite shift in between the “Day” and “Night” portions of the album. “Day” features the laid-back, relaxed and psychedelic, ’70s-influenced music that she’s been creating more recently, including on her 2022 album, “The Loneliest Time.” There is still a strong, nostalgic ’70s presence in the back half of the double album, “Night,” but it’s shifted from breezy, gentle songs to groovy pop songs that have clearly been heavily influenced by disco and funk, and are more reminiscent of the pop star’s earlier albums, like the 2015 sleeper hit Emotion.
One of the album’s first few songs, “Versailles,” which is on “Day,” romanticizes a relationship, comparing it to the famed French palace, and features a super fun and danceable electronic-infused piano riff throughout the song’s verses. But it also feels disjointed. The verses and chorus sound great individually, but don’t go together too well. They’re completely different tempos and styles, and it feels like two different songs, albeit two good songs, being smashed together.
Also featured on the first half of the album, “Blue Skies” stands out as one of the highlights on such a jam-packed project. It’s a laid back, warm, ’70s-inspired, mellow song where Jepsen sings “Take your time like lemonade in the summertime, when a lick of sweat runs down its spine, shimmering.” Another one of the best songs on the album’s first half is “Just A Little Walk on the Moon,” Jepsen’s sweet ode to her newfound motherhood, where she sings about the joys of life with her newborn son.
Jepsen’s voice, which is always crystal clear and works in so many different subgenres of pop music, really stands out in the psychedelic song, where it’s softer and more relaxed than ever before.
She’s always been at her best when she’s making poppy, exciting and vibrant bops, and that’s what “Night” is full of. One of the songs that best encompasses “Night” is “Amalfi Coast,” a song that sounds like it could be heard in any club, and old school fans of the singer will love “Patience Power Passion,” a danceable, keyboard-heavy song that is reminiscent of Jepsen’s work on Emotion.
The differences between the two sides of the album are truly as stark as day and night, but even as all the songs are sonically worlds apart, they’re all essentially about the same thing: finding love. Over the past year, Jepsen has married her producer, Cole M.G.N., and welcomed her first child. She’s happy, she’s in love, but, after 24 songs, the lyrical content does get a little repetitive.
Musically, though, it’s far from boring—this might be the most creative that Jepsen has ever been, and it’s extremely interesting to hear an album like Day and Night, where she showcases so many different influences and interests all within one work.
Day and Night is out tomorrow on all streaming platforms.
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