The Loneliest Time review: Carly Rae Jepsen's sixth album is a lovesick study of what makes humans tick
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Ten years ago, Carly Rae Jepsen established herself as one of pop's leading chroniclers of love with "Call Me Maybe," a sugary, infectious anthem for the crushed-out that became 2012's most inescapable single. In the decade since, she has put out a steady run of albums rife with musings on romance in all its forms, her lively and polished delivery lending each forlorn lyric an immediacy that only makes the beats hit harder.
The Loneliest Time, Jepsen's sixth album (and the outcome of her being in pandemic lockdown), retains the ardor of her pop-cognoscenti-beloved albums Dedicated and Emotion, but it flaunts a new self-reflective streak that both energizes its highlights and opens the door for Jepsen to play with — and expand — her sound. Lead single "Western Wind" was indicative of that stretching. A breezy, spectral cut infused with bittersweet longing, it's the closest Jepsen has ever come to dream pop, the production spacious and wistful as she flashes back to merrier times.
Meredith Jenks Carly Rae Jepsen
That said, The Loneliest Time is also full of propulsive throwdowns brimming with bite and verve — and a bit of extra sass. On "Talking to Yourself," a distorted '80s guitar threads through Jepsen's insistent vocals, serving up a double-pronged assault on the ex she's singing about ("Could've been somethin' beautiful / But you made it impossible to stay," she snaps on the opening verse) that is made all the more potent by a razor-sharp bass line and resolute beat. "Bad Thing Twice" is a twilit dance-floor-ready cut about a relationship that might not be healthy ("Is it my destiny? I wanna do a bad thing twice"). Meanwhile, the withering "Beach House," which Jepsen ruefully referred to on her current So Nice tour as a portrait of dating in your 30s, takes catfishes and other right-swipe fabulists to task. She recounts splashy promises from her suitors, but then her sighed asides reveal glitches in the potential-partner matrix (one guy's fancy picnic spread was, in fact, made by his mom; another's chic apartment was decorated by his wife) and add a dash of acid to the track's bounce. Its chorus dreams of a universe where transparency exists in online personals: "I've got a beach house in Malibu / And I'm probably gonna hurt your feelings." Who wouldn't appreciate this kind of honesty?
Perhaps the LP's biggest departure from Jepsen's earlier output is "Go Find Yourself or Whatever," a gentle ballad about heartbreak and a paramour stricken with wanderlust. Her voice is framed simply yet not starkly; mournful strings rise as she sits inside her feelings. In another context, the titular phrase would be a spat-out kiss-off, but in Jepsen's hands it has a gravitas and oomph that evoke the most cutting thing you could hear from an important figure in your life: "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed." Jepsen hasn't been this songwriter-ly — or seemed so tormented — in a minute. Her study of pop music over the years nows doubled as an up-close examination of what makes humans tick, and "Whatever" is one of the most surprisingly satisfying results of her decade-long curriculum.
The Loneliest Time concludes with the title track, a duet between Jepsen and modern troubadour Rufus Wainwright. It's an inspired pairing; both are Canadian-born hopeless romantics who are as fascinated by love's intricacies as they are pop history and music theory. Most important, her clarion soprano and his world-weary tenor intertwine in sublime fashion. When "The Loneliest Time" reaches its soaring bridge, Jepsen realizes that the grand late-night gesture for which she'd been gearing up might have been too much: "We reached the moon / But lost in space I think we got there all too soon," she ponders. The song closes with Jepsen and Wainwright harmonizing, wondering where things will go as the sun comes up. Not an entirely happy ending, but at least one that leaves you hopeful about where Jepsen's scholarship will take her next. B+
The Loneliest Time is out now.
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