Carly Rae Jepsen- Dedicated

          Before Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa or The Weeknd, first pop star that brought back the 80s to
mainstream music was Carly Rae Jepsen. Many releases in the recent years have exemplified how influential to the mainstream her 2015 album EMOTION has been. It’s a record everyone adores, so instead I wanted to write a few words about its successor that didn’t get nearly as much appreciation- Dedicated.

          This album had pretty big shoes to fill after EMOTION and after it didn’t, people kind of forgotten about it. Also,  inexplicably none of the singles had gotten much mainstream attention. Now That I Found You is a inescapably catchy track with a great staccato synth melody and a danceable refrain. Party For One is a really sweet tune that can easily serve as  a post-break up anthem. It also works perfectly as a closer. Too Much is another well-crafted track, with a killer refrain. I know some of the singles aren’t exactly radio material- as much as I love the thick synths and stellar production on Julian, it’s not something that had a chance of going viral. Still, I don’t know why the other promotional songs didn’t catch on more. When it comes to the deep cuts, the material is just as strong. I especially love Everything He Needs, that cleverly incorporates elements of Harry Nilsson’s He Needs Me, with this cut Carly crafts one of the cutest love songs in recent years. The Sound has probably the best production in the entire record, the fat beat during the refrain is such a nice touch. Dedication stumbles a few times towards the end of the track list though. I’m not crazy about Automatically In Love, the production is as sharp and detailed as on all the rest of the songs here but the melody feels a bit clunky. Real Love on the other hand feels  a bit redundant, it feels like a track Carly has already written before and did it better.

       Sure, it’s not as strong as Emotion but it would be very difficult for Carly to reach that level again. Call Me Maybe was a borderline meme song, so no one really expected that girl to gain so much critical acclaim. Despite all that, Dedication is a solid follow-up that deserves nearly as much love as EMOTION.

RATING: 8/10