What better way to wake up on a day off than to find Carly Rae Jepsen dropped a surprise album, a Side B to her 2019 album Dedicated. She’s no stranger to bringing her unreleased tracks to light as B Sides, she did the same with her 2016 Side B album to her Emotion album from the year before.
Dedicated Side B is fun and full of pop perfection like Carly’s previous albums. “This Love Isn’t Crazy” starts it off with a familiar bopping sound full of youthful exuberance. Many of the songs revolve around love (“Window,” “Felt This Way” and “This Is What They Say”) but she also sings about self-empowerment (“Comeback”) and “Solo” is about enjoying your own company.
Enjoying yourself is top priority on “Heartbeat” with it’s cheezy back-up “ah-ah’s” that bring a smile to my face and the funky nod-to-disco jam “Summer Love” makes me want to hop in the car, have the radio up with the windows down, and stick my arm out riding the waves of the wind and the beats of the song.
On Carly’s Side B albums, there isn’t a need for cohesion or a common theme, the songs are individualistic and unique. “Fake Mona Lisa” has an experimental dance sound over flirty lyrics, “Lets Sort The Whole Thing Out” sounds like Echosmith, and “Now I Don’t Hate California After All” could play during a synchronized swimming number in a classic Busby Berkeley film.
It seems like many of today’s divas like to release random singles but I’m a sucker for an entire album and buying everything an artist records. Carly Rae Jepsen is the rare diva who, in my gay opinion, gives her fans what they want…or at least what I want. which is all that matters.
