One on one: Pop princess grows 10 feet tall

16 October 2015 - 02:20 By Sylvia McKeown

Every summer I make it my mission to find the perfect pop album to play full blast in my car while I sing along through the balmy nights. This year's karaoke soundtrack inspiration is 27-year-old Canadian pop sensation, Carly Rae Jepsen's third album, E.Mo.Tion. Produced by some of the biggest names in the pop and indie music sphere, from Sia to Dev Heyns (otherwise known as Blood Orange), the pop princess has made a major comeback and brought with her saxophones, synths and beats that force you to involuntarily pop your shoulders. It's a masterstroke of pop production genius.Next week we'll be able to see the album preformed live. I called the pop star to ask about the album and the tour.If the pop music industry was a high school, with the likes of Taylor Swift as head cheerleader and Gaga as the weird art kid, where would you fit into that scheme of things?In high school I was the '80s pop nerdy girl who just wanted to embrace music.Your album is an interpretation of the music you'd have listened to growing up. From the song Let's Get Lost , which sounds like a quintessential 1990s Janet Jackson single to the LA Hallucination , which sounds very contemporary, what's been your musical journey?I was born in the '80s and I feel I've come full circle. Early Madonna and Cindy Lauper albums are quality pop and really reflective of that time, but also classic. But I didn't want to make a nostalgic '80s album. I tried to use my favourite elements from those eras and reinterpret the style in my own way.Which is your favourite song on E.Mo.Tion?Let's Get Lost is one of the last to be added to the album. That song captures an expression of joy and the sax solo was too good to waste. So we did last-minute harmonies and sent it in the day after the album was supposed to go to print. We convinced the label to stall. It's definitely one of my favourites.I read an article in the New Yorker that claims that after the albums Curiosity and Kiss, you're trying to cement your place in the music industry as a bona fide pop star with the new album. Do you agree?Yeah, Call Me Maybe was our biggest single and a huge challenge because I didn't know what to make after that. I knew I wanted to make an album on which every song mattered. I also wanted a more mature sound. I allowed myself two-and-a-half years and wrote over 200 songs and we ended up with this album.What are you looking forward to doing in South Africa?Friends told me that the safaris and hikes are great. I'm here for six days, and I'm doing a couple of shows, so there's a lot of time off to explore the country.In the Emotion lyrics, you sing about growing 10 feet tall Why?This song was the spark for the album. I'd moved to New York [to play Cinderella] on Broadway and I'd just broken up with my boyfriend. I didn't want to blend into the shadows, I wanted to feel empowered even in singlehood. This song expresses the feeling of wanting to become stronger on my own in a new city with new adventures and new music.Carly Rae Jepsen is performing at the Grand Arena in Cape Town on October 21 and at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria on October 24..

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