Song of the Week: Carly Rae Jepsen Speaks for All of Us With “Talking To Yourself”
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Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Carly Rae Jepsen tells it like it is with “Talking To Yourself.”
Carly Rae Jepsen speaks for those of us who are delightfully unhinged.
Following one of the most incredible lines in recent memory in last month’s “Beach House” — “I’m probably gonna harvest your organs,” she said with the same energy of a person sharing their dinner order — our Canadian pop princess is back with “Talking To Yourself.” Her fifth studio album, The Loneliest Time, is set for release on October 21st, and this wildly infectious new single gives us another taste of what’s to come.
“Are you thinking of me when you’re with somebody else? Do you talk to me when you’re talking to yourself?” she asks on the chorus. It’s not clear if the subject of her questioning is an ex, someone in a friends-with-benefits situationship, or someone she’s simply pining over — but, regardless, the song is so unabashedly obsessive.
Jepsen is asking if the thought of her is keeping someone else up at night, while it’s clear that she’s absolutely doing the same. She’s stuck in a vicious cycle, singing for the people who re-read texts, check viewers on Instagram stories, and zoom on the background of a BeReal.
Love makes people do all kinds of things, and Jepsen scored this specific emotion over a characteristically addictive bass line and an earworm chorus. She just gets it — her pop sensibilities are always fine-tuned, and this playful pre-release track continues to build the hype for The Loneliest Time.
— Mary Siroky
Contributing Editor
Honorable Mentions:
Paper Idol – “Hey You”
Electronic-pop artist Paper Idol describes his music as “delusional pop,” and his latest, the bouncy and playfully off-kilter “Hey You,” lives up to the description. The track lures the listener in with smooth vocals and quirky keys, but there’s something just a little odd lurking under the surface. The stacked harmonies on the chorus, which lead into a perfect use of xylophone, create an otherworldly atmosphere. The world Paper Idol is painting here is like the moment coming out of a dream — what’s real, and what isn’t? We’re not entirely sure, but we don’t want to stop listening any time soon. — M.S.
Jeremy Zucker – “I’m So Happy” feat. BENEE
Singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker kicks off a new era by enlisting BENEE for “I’m Not Happy,” Zucker’s first single of 2022. Zucker has been incredibly busy over the past year — following the release of his sophomore album CRUSHER, he embarked on a tour that took him through North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and BENEE’s own home of New Zealand.
Now, with his latest, “I’m So Happy” introduces itself as a love song, all light acoustics and bright melodies, before Zucker takes us back into reality on the chorus — “I’m so happy… you’re not here,” he says, pulling the rug out from under us at the last moment. One thing about Jeremy Zucker? He’s always going to tell it like it is. — M.S.
Jaws of Love – “5 Years”
Local Natives’ Kelcey Ayer has just announced Second Life, his second solo album as Jaws of Love, and shared the album’s dazzling first single, “5 Years.” The song begins with an almost impersonal feel; drums pound in a drone-like way, Ayer’s vocals are chopped up and refuse to stray from a single note. But around the 90 second mark, Ayer’s humanity and personality comes flooding in — the drums shift to an organic, snare-heavy wash, a bright piano lifts the song’s solitary mood, and Ayer begins to croon patiently, his voice now crystal clear and glowing with emotion. Paired with a fantastic and symbolic music video with dozens of shots of Ayer on multiple escalators, “5 Years” is a great example of Jaws of Love’s methodical-but-heartfelt approach. — Paolo Ragusa
Dora Jar – “Bump”
The inimitable Dora Jar is continuing her lightning run of singles with the hypnotic “Bump,” a slow jam that strikes the balance between haunting and comforting, quieting and cathartic. For “Bump,” Jar was inspired by a dream she had where she encountered a man with very long limbs and teapots for feet — that surrealist energy makes its way into both the track and its other-wordly music video, where Jar dons teapots as shoes and finds herself warped and submerged in water.
But as the chorus arrives, Jar’s quest for connection becomes a dream even more vivid than her mysterious verses, her world becoming something to discover instead of something to be afraid of. “Bump” also proves that Dora Jar is, in fact, from another weird and irresistible universe, a one-of-a-kind artist with the ability to transform lovely acoustic guitar melodies into something beautifully alien. — P.R.
Alix Page – “Pulling Teeth”
Very few breakups are easy, and Alix Page seems to have found the language for a truly awful separation. “Pulling Teeth” provides the visual for a next-level breakdown between two people, when miscommunication gives way to devastation and everything that comes next. “It’s bigger than our bodies and in our blood,” she sings, falling in the vein of a track from Chelsea Cutler or Sasha Alex Sloan. It’s sad girl pop without a shred of pretense. — M.S.
UPSAHL – “Antsy”
Describing her ailing state and the knots wrapping in her stomach, on “Antsy,” UPSAHL is aware that temperatures are rising. “The world is one fire/ I’m so fucking tired/ And equally wired,” she sings over acoustic guitar. But there’s a desire to make the change that’s needed, too; whether it be a reminder for herself or to listeners, UPSAHL realizes that everyone deserves the chance to turn over a new leaf. — Joe Eckstein
Rubblebucket – “Cherry Blossom”
It’s hard to talk about Rubblebucket’s “Cherry Blossom,” the latest single from their upcoming Earth Worship, without using the word “charming” approximately 84 times. The innocent, mid-paced instrumental? Charming. The wistful, absurd lyrics? So, so charming. The duetted vocals? So immensely flipping charming. It doesn’t hurt that it also contains an intensely hummable lead melody. “Cherry Blossom” is the type of track that immediately lifts your mood and begs you to take a jaunt into the forest, whether you’ll be able to find cherry blossoms or not. — Jonah Krueger
Housewife – “You’re Not The Worst”
Housewife have been perfecting the type of indie that is at once ’90s inspired and intensely modern, the type that comes across as both expertly crafted and seemingly effortless. Like the other gender-role-based band of this ilk, Momma, they blend the sounds of slacker rock with contemporary synth flairs and clean-but-lo-fi production. Co-written with Joe Memmel of Coin and Gabe Simon — producer for artists like Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa — it’s not surprising that “You’re Not The Worst” so perfectly strikes this indie balance. Bouncy, infectious, and honest, the Toronto-based duo have made yet another case for why they’re an act to watch. — J.K.
cruush – “False Start”
Manchester shoegazers cruush take the classic, noisy sound of bands like My Bloody Valentine and inject it with a certain eeriness. Much like Just Mustard did on their excellent Heart Under, cruush’s brand of effects-heavy indie is intensely rhythmic, structurally interesting, and sonically dense. “False Start” exhibits that style perfectly, as driving drums and slinky bass back a wall of squealing guitars. Frontperson Amber Warren melodically skates over the instrumental, cutting through the cacophony with her initially soft delivery. Yet, between an ever-increasing intensity and desperate screams, it offers only a fleeting escape from the swirling, dark world “False Start” creates. It’s tracks like this that is sure to have fans foaming at the mouth for a full-length project. — J.K.
Top Songs Playlist:
Song of the Week: Carly Rae Jepsen Speaks for All of Us With “Talking To Yourself”
Mary Siroky and Consequence Staff
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