Featured Essay: All That We Could Do With This E•MO•TION

by Rachel Hock

I wish I could begin an essay with a saxophone solo, wistful and bold, the way Carly Rae Jepsen begins “Run Away With Me,” the first track on her 2015 album EMOTION. These opening notes end on the “re” of a do-re-mi scale, giving an unresolved tension. It’s thematic of the album - unresolved tension is kind of Carly’s thing. “Jepsen’s concern is with celebrating desire in all of its forms, especially desire that lacks an endpoint,” writes Michael Waters for Electric Lit. In an interview with SPIN, Carly describes that sax solo as “a bit of a punch in the face, a really happy punch in the face.” It heralds what’s to come on a banger-after-banger masterpiece of pop perfection full of Swedish dance music precision, lyrics like spun sugar, and a whole lot of infatuation.

How long ago was 2015? So long ago that I made the “Run Away With Me” sax solo my ringtone, which is to say, so long ago that I didn’t just keep my phone on silent at all times.

Looking back at 10 years of EMOTION, I feel tempted towards a political narrative, to call it a pre-Trump album and describe it in terms of innocence or naivete. A sort of “How little we knew then” wryness feels tempting in 2025 for any look at the cultural moment of 2015. This line of thinking would track with the criticisms of CRJ as “juvenile” and “unsophisticated,” as noted and repudiated by Jia Tolentino. But Carly Rae Jepsen’s music seems to exist independent of the Trump storyline, encased in a shimmering bubble of limerence and synth. For EMOTION to be “pre-Trump” would mean that listening to it now would give it an altered significance. But there’s no new and unintended irony in her lyrics, nothing that has aged poorly. “Hotline Bling” is so 2015. Hamilton is so 2015. EMOTION is timeless. Paint a picture for me, boy / With the skies forever blue

I don’t honestly remember where I was when I first listened to the album. It’s more than likely, however, that I was at my desk at my abusive workplace. I know it was enthusiasm from my twitter mutuals that encouraged me to give it a listen. (I was the only employee at said abusive workplace, so I spent a lot of lonely time on twitter. The Loneliest Time? Maybe, but that’s a different CRJ album.) I do remember I was instantly hooked. I only knew CRJ from her relentlessly catchy 2012 mega-hit “Call Me Maybe.” This was something different, though. The songs on EMOTION are layered, musically and emotionally. It’s a journey through different types of love - the giddy crush of “I Really Like You,” the soulful passion of “All That,” the lost female friendship (or intimacy) of “Boy Problems,” the unrequited pining of “Your Type,” the independent self-love of “When I Needed You.” 

There is no other album I’ve listened to as much in the past ten years as EMOTION.

I don’t have a large record collection, but I do have this album on vinyl, the 5th anniversary limited edition in opaque pink. It’s my EMOTION CD that gets more play, though, the first CD I bought since I was a teen, to play in my new-to-me 2008 Honda Fit when I got my driver’s license three years ago at the ripe age of 35. Singing along to the CD in my car, I dreamed of starting a Carly Rae Jepsen cover band to play through the album. In late 2024, in anticipation of the album’s 10th anniversary, I did just that.

I put up a post on Facebook in a group for Boston-area musicians: 

2025 is the 10 year anniversary of Carly Rae Jepsen’s album EMOTION and I’m trying to put together a band to play the whole album (Deluxe edition if we can manage it!) I’d love to play out if we can, but this is mostly for fun. I need everything - vocals, drums, guitar, bass, keys, synth, saxophone… My vision for the vocals is to have 3-4 vocalists (including myself) switching off between lead and backup vocal duties. DM me with your interest, experience, general availability, and anything else you think is relevant!

The response was almost immediate. Of the 12 people who expressed interest, three decided they were actually too busy, one ghosted, and eight confirmed their participation. An additional member joined later, bringing our total number of band members to nine. Many of the musicians who responded were multi-instrumentalists and I was able to put together a lineup of: three vocalists, a guitarist, a bassist, a keyboard player, an electric wind synth player, a drummer, and a saxophonist. And one of the vocalists also plays harp. Scheduling is not easy, but we’ve been practicing once a month since December, and I look forward to it all month every time. 

These were a bunch of strangers from Facebook, united only by a love of Carly Rae (except our drummer, Tom, who hadn’t listened to EMOTION before, but who really likes to drum). I had no idea what to expect from them. And they’re all great! I couldn’t have asked for a better group. To a person they are talented, warm, energetic, and just so much fun to play with. 

I’m learning new things about the music, too - lyrics I probably should know by heart after ten years, little background vocal ad libs that I had never heard before, instrumental outros I hadn’t paid enough attention to. Playing through EMOTION with other fans is a joy, and sometimes when I’m practicing alone at home I get a little choked up, overcome with emotion, as it were, from making a dream a reality. The unresolved tension breaks over me. Catharsis. Everything you ever wanted / now it’s happening.

The name for the band came to me one night when I awoke suddenly at 1am. Carly Maybe. We have our first gig in September. 

Rachel Hock is a writer and musician based in Cambridge, MA. You can follow her on Bluesky at @rachelcraves.bsky.com and you can follow her band Carly Maybe on Instagram at @carlymaybeband