To state that Carly Rae Jepsen has had a busy year might be an understatement. Between various tour dates across Canada, walking the red carpet, promoting the release of her debut album in Japan – to name a few of her activities this past year, Carly has been even busier writing and recording for her sophomore album. And to top it all off, she recently signed a record deal with 604 Records.
We got to sit down with the lovely Miss Jepsen over a cup a coffee, and she talked to us about her plans for 2011, her new record deal, and being a part of the Canadian music scene. She also gave us her playlist and made us a Christmas card to give away for an upcoming contest here on asapmusicblog.ca. In the meantime, enjoy the interview!
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asapmusicblog.ca: Getting started with two things, you were actually the first artist we ever featured on our blog, so it’s pretty cool that we have the opportunity to interview you.
Carly Rae Jepsen: Really? Oh wow! I feel very honoured, thank you!
a: Second thing – congratulations on your new record deal with 604 Records!
CRJ: Thank you!
a: Obviously, you have Jonathan Simkin as part of your management team, was that one of the [reasons] that made you choose to sign with 604 Records?
CRJ: I think it just comes down to actually just being right now, the best possible team of people at 604. It’s definitely about Jonathan, but it’s also about all the wonderful girls who are working on the team. And because he has been my manager for two years now, I’ve had enough time to really get to know all of his staff on a personal level, and it’s made the decision really comfortable for me because I know exactly who I’ll be working with. It gave me the confidence I needed to take that step, I think.
a: You’ve worked with Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench in the past – so it’s kind of like a tight-knit family.
CRJ: It is!
a: And speaking of tight-knit families, being a part of the Canadian music scene – it’s pretty much like being a family. You’ve worked with Josh, and you’ve also collaborated with The Midway State. How do you feel being a Canadian artist at this point and time?
CRJ: I think that one of the most fortunate experiences is the opportunity to collaborate. There are so many different talents and genres of music that you get to dabble in because Canada is about sharing their music, and they are about doing stuff together, whether it be duets, or just tours. I think music is to be shared, so for that reason it makes so much sense.
a: Are there any Canadian artists that you’ve formed really good friendships with?
CRJ: Yes, I’m really good friends with all the guys from the Stereos, we’ve done a lot of shows together. Obviously the boys from The Midway State, we did that video as well. Josh and the [rest of Marianas Trench] are of course, dearest to my heart. Josh and his girlfriend were at my party the other night for the signing. I think other Canadian artists that I would be wanting to work with – I have a big love for Feist, if I could ever open for her, it would be a dream come true, but that’s about it.
a: Looking back at your debut album Tug of War, it was something that you worked on… was it independently?
CRJ: It was distributed from Maple Music, but I was independent – yes.
a: And some of those songs were ones that you wrote longer ago, before – don’t want to mention Canadian Idol too much – but before you got your foot in the door. You’re currently working on your second album, how different is working on it compared with the first?
CRJ: Well, it is very different – there’s a lot more information that I was not aware of before that I am now privy to. That being said, I think there’s also a lot of good information that I’ve taken in that’s really going to improve my songwriting, and improve even the direction of how to market my record. I think there’s always gonna be that cherished – that was my baby album, that was my coming out debut album. So I hold it very close to my heart for a lot of reasons, because there were songs that I wrote in my bedroom not really thinking of who would hear them, they did come very much from the heart. There’d be those songs that you write in the shower that are for no one but yourself, so for that reason I think they’re all very personal sort of journal entry-type songs. I’m trying to not steer too far from that, because I still do write songs from the shower, and I still do write songs from the middle of the night from my bedroom. But I definitely have a lot more people who are listening to them now, to give guidance, ‘Oh this is appropriate for your CD, and this is for you!’.
a: You mentioned briefly about touring with the Stereos, on the past few tours you’ve been on, you’ve actually performed new material. What can fans expect from the upcoming record?
CRJ: It’s definitely been influenced by – I’ve been listening to a lot of old Sinead O’Connor records, and I’ve also been listening to a lot of La Roux, and the combination of the two, as odd as the pairing as that would be, have probably been the biggest influences for me for this next record. So I would say that it’s little edgier, a little dancier. Even when I’m rehearsing with the band, I find that I’m naturally moving a little more on stage, just because I feel like dancing – not to go too far into the dance-y side of things, but it’s definitely a little bit edgier that way.
a: Speaking of your band, who is in your band and how did you meet them?
CRJ: Actually, funny story, we just had our first rehearsal last night – which I was late for. We had this leftover cake from the signing party, and I got in a huge cake fight with my roommates, which was ridiculous… it was like a bad cheesy movie! We had face-washed cake, so I showed up late for my band rehearsal being like, “I’m sorry! I got in a cake fight!” My hair was wet from the shower, and I had no make-up on, and they’re just shocked looking at me. It actually was funny, and turned out really well. But Tavish Crowe, who is the guitarist who has played all the tours with me – he’s like the leader of the band, and he actually found two great guys – a guy named Soloman and another guy named Pierre. They’re going to be the backbone to the band.
a: You’re pretty involved in using Twitter and Facebook in connecting with your fans. How do you feel about the relationship between social networking and popular music?
CRJ: I think that it is definitely what today’s music is about. It’s about being accessible to your fans, and letting them know you on a personal level as well. It definitely took me awhile to get into it – the very beginning I didn’t really understand what Twitter was about, anything about Facebook being for anyone other than my close friends. I didn’t understand the rule that you’re not supposed to add people you don’t know, I was like, ‘Sure! You want to be my friend? I want to be your friend!’ I recently learned though, that there are sort of politics to everything, but I think at the end of the day I do embrace it. It’s nice for me to get feedback on a song that I’ve played, if I’ve done a new song that week, it’s nice to see a response from Twitter. It’s encouraging to say, okay well this song is getting a lot of talk – maybe this is a song to look at for the album. I don’t know if people are really aware of the effect that they’re having on me for that reason, and how much it is really navigating the career decisions that I’m making. So I think it works good for everyone, [myself] included.
a: In the past two years, you’ve been touring a lot – you’ve done a lot of touring across Canada, you’ve stopped in Japan after signing a deal there. How does it compare touring in a foreign place and coming home to play shows?
CRJ: I always get excited about touring, no matter where it was. Japan was a completely, entirely different experience because I had nothing that was familiar to me there. For that reason, there was a different level of excitement – just going to the hotel rooms and just seeing how even differently laid out they were, it was already a bit of a trip. And on top of it, to be performing there, to have people coming up with signed posters for you to sign – it was just a little mind-boggling. I felt very much like Alice in Wonderland. They brought me this one CD, and it had my name in Japanese, it had all of my song lyrics transferred into Japanese, and I remember looking at it feeling so out-of-body, this is crazy – I never would have thought that I could see Japan, let alone go and see Japan for music. It was definitely a little bit more exciting for that reason.
a: You probably brought a few copies of those home too!
CRJ: Yes, I did! The magazines – it was kind of cool, you’d flip over and there would be Michael Jackson, and Justin Bieber, and then me – I’d be screaming because I had no idea how I landed next to those two. It was very flattering, like I said, one of those crazy experiences that you just don’t know where to put it in your head but you kind of hold onto it anyways.
a: Are you making plans to hopefully go back?
CRJ: We have kind of an agreement of sorts, that hopefully for the next record, we can go back and do a bigger tour. Tavish and me, we’ve started taking [Japanese] lessons – we want to be able to have a few little catchphrases of things to say. It definitely expands your world and makes you realize just how large it is.
a: Is there a timeframe for when the next record is going to come out?
CRJ: Yes, we have a bare bone kind of game plan of it. We have a Christmas song coming out, and we also have a couple of little collaboration things in the meantime of just waiting for the whole thing to brew and be finished. The first single is for Valentine’s Day, and then the record will come out shortly after that!
a: That’s exciting! I actually heard you perform ‘Alice In Wonderland’ on Canada Day, and I am in love with that song. I have the live version on my iPod!
CRJ: Really? You do? That’s so flattering, thank you! That song will definitely make it on the record. It was so funny when the video came out, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, what a great idea!’ and then I heard Avril [Lavigne] had written a song for it, and I was like, dang it!
a: I like yours better.
CRJ: Aw, shucks! Please keep going! (laughs)
a: Now looking back on 2010, you’ve had a pretty big year. Back February, you were a part of the closing ceremonies at Robson Square during the Olympics, and then you were nominated at the MMVA’s, the Juno Awards, and the CRMA’s – what’s coming up next in the new year?
CRJ: Well, first of all, it kind of feels like there’s a cycle per album and I feel like the Juno’s and the MMVA’s were this lovely finale to what felt like a life-changing sort of ride for me. When me and Ryan [Stewart] were in his studio, Wine Cellar Studios, and we started this album – obviously you have those hopes for it, but you never really know.
So I think that closing of it is sort of like, we put it to bed in a really lovely way, where we’re both really happy with how it ended, and I think what’s coming up next – gearing up for round two of that, but this time with all of the right help behind us, and all of the right guidance. So it’s much more exciting for me because I have that much more time, I have that much more… I think I learned a lot from Marianas Trench, I learned a lot from touring with different groups of people.
And I also think that musically, my tastes have changed. I’m really excited to present what I think is my strongest [material] to date, and I feel really proud to have a little more of – I think it’s honestly the lessons that you learn from doing things, like from different videos, and what you’re comfortable with, and what you’re excited to try. I feel like I’ve kind of learnt everything the first album around, and this time I’m like, okay! Now that I know a few things, this is what I’d like to try and do.
So for me, I have hopefully some tours coming up, I have an album to release, and I definitely have a few videos coming out. Obviously, at the same time, you still have no guarantee – you don’t know if it’s going to fly, if people are going to like it, but I’m definitely excited to share it.
a: I think what works well for you is that your songs are very heartfelt, and they connect emotionally well with listeners, and I think with what you said, about carrying on the same style, I think that you’re going to do great!
CRJ: Thank you! I hope that you’ll like it – I’ll definitely have to send you a copy and you have to give me your review on it, let me know what you think!
Thank you to Carly Rae Jepsen for the interview & Christy at Dexter Entertainment!
