Songs of 2023 by Carly Rae Jepsen

A few years ago I read an amazing post/tweet/article that I can't find anymore, but it explained that the seemingly innocuous "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen has hidden depths. In the bridge of the song, she sings:

"Before you came into my life,
I missed you so bad,
I missed you so bad,
I missed you so, so bad"

And while that seems like not much of anything at first glance, it's actually pointing out a real fact about our understanding of the nature of time and our experience of the universe: physicists can't find any proof of causality. Things happen, in our experience, one after another, events falling like dominoes, but that's just our experience. We experience time in a linear way that leads us to believe that one thing causes another, but in a real sense that isn't true.

Wild thoughts for a silly pop song to bring to mind.

But at that point I decided I liked Carly. I liked her voice, I liked her songs, and more than anything I liked her persona. She's just great. And then I noticed that a lot of younger people, Millennials with serious jobs and right-on politics LOVED Carly. So I checked out her music in earnest.

And I loved it.

What really activated me was Carly Rae Brackets, a twitter poll/March Madness parody where a bunch of fans tried to determine the greatest Carly Rae Jepsen song of all time (of course it was "Run Away With Me" - that's not the point). I started listening to her all the time. I preordered her next album - on vinyl. I got tickets to see her in concert. I listened to her music when I felt down or stressed. I became kind of a super fan. Why?

All I can think is that there was a Carly Rae-sized hole in my life, and she filled it. Before she came into my life, I missed her music so, so bad. 

Stats for Carly Rae Jepsen in 2023:

• Songs: 52
• Combined Length: 03:00:28