CARLY RAE JEPSEN - THE LONLIEST TIME

Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985, in Mission, British Columbia) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. She grew up with an older brother, Colin, and a younger sister, Katie, in a household surrounded by music. She attended Heritage Park Secondary School, where she took part in school theatre productions from an early age (her first was Annie, in grade eight), and she studied musical theatre through her school years and into university. After finishing her studies she moved to Vancouver, where she worked a variety of jobs while busking and performing in local pubs. In 2007, her high school drama teacher persuaded her to audition for the fifth season of Canadian Idol. Jepsen auditioned with an original song, advanced to the top ten, and finished in third place behind winner Brian Melo and runner-up Jaydee Bixby. The three joined the first Canadian Idol tour, which began in Charlottetown on November 18, 2007. Afterwards, she returned home to write, record demos and put a band together. Her debut album, Tug of War, produced by Ryan Stewart and released by MapleMusic on September 30, 2008, leaned toward folk. Four singles followed: the title track and “Bucket” were certified gold in Canada, and the last, “Sour Candy”, featured Josh Ramsay of Marianas Trench. “Tug of War” was named Song of the Year at the 2010 Canadian Radio Music Awards. In 2009 she toured western Canada with Marianas Trench and Shiloh. The album was released internationally in 2011. Her breakthrough came with “Call Me Maybe”, written with her guitarist Tavish Crowe from a folk melody composed on tour and reworked with production by Josh Ramsay. It was released in Canada on September 20, 2011, and climbed the charts steadily until Justin Bieber recommended it to his followers on Twitter. In early 2012 Jepsen signed with Scooter Braun and his label School Boy, with worldwide distribution through Interscope. Its music video, directed by Ben Knechtel, passed 430 million views within a year. The single was the best-selling of 2012 with about 18 million copies, topped the charts in at least 19 countries, spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and became the best-selling Canadian single in history in its home country. On that momentum she released the EP Curiosity (February 14, 2012) and her second album, Kiss (September 18, 2012), whose contributors included Josh Ramsay, Dallas Austin, Redfoo, Max Martin and Kuk Harrell. Kiss featured “This Kiss” and “Good Time”, the latter with Owl City, which reached the top ten in Canada and the United States. In 2013 she received two Grammy nominations, for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Call Me Maybe”, and won three Juno Awards from five nominations: Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Single of the Year. Dissatisfied with the two-month window in which Kiss had been made, Jepsen sought more creative control for her next project. In 2014 she made her Broadway debut in the title role of Cinderella for twelve weeks and, during that time, recorded an entire indie-folk album on her own that was never released. Her third album, Emotion, came out on August 21, 2015, with a strong influence from 1980s pop and synth-pop. It included “I Really Like You” (which reached number three in the United Kingdom), “Your Type” and “Run Away with Me.” It drew very favorable reviews, built a devoted following, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize and led to the Gimmie Love Tour. The EP Emotion: Side B, with eight songs cut from the album, followed in 2016. In 2016 she also played Frenchy in the television special Grease: Live, performing the original song “All I Need Is an Angel,” recorded the cover of the Fuller House theme for Netflix and lent her voice to a character in the film Ballerina. In 2017 she released the single “Cut to the Feeling.” Her fourth album, Dedicated, was released on May 17, 2019, and moved toward disco and funk, with “Party for One,” “Now That I Found You” and “No Drug Like Me.” That year she also collaborated with Gryffin on “OMG,” which reached number one on the Dance Club Songs chart, and sang the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game. The Dedicated Tour covered North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania between May 2019 and February 2020, with 77 shows. Dedicated Side B followed in 2020. In October 2022 she released The Loneliest Time, with the singles “Western Wind” and “Beach House” and a title track with Rufus Wainwright; it was her first collaboration with producer Alex Hope. The So Nice Tour ran from September 2022 to August 2023. On July 28, 2023, its companion album, The Loveliest Time, arrived, made up of songs from the same period and produced in part with Rostam Batmanglij and Patrik Berger, and it received generally positive reviews. Between 2024 and 2025 she kept writing and recording, and was seen in the studio with A. G. Cook, among others. On August 19, 2025, she marked the tenth anniversary of Emotion with an intimate concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles for about 500 people, playing the album in full. The 10th Anniversary Edition was released on October 17, 2025, with six additional tracks: four previously unreleased songs (“More,” “Guardian Angel,” “Back of My Heart” and “Lost in Devotion”) and two remixes of “Run Away with Me.” On June 22, 2026, she announced Day and Night, her first double album, with 24 songs split across two discs of twelve: Day, organic in character, with live instrumentation and touches of 1970s-inspired psychedelic pop, and Night, more intense and built on synth-driven dance-pop. Collaborators included Tavish Crowe, Kyle Shearer, Nate Cyphert and Cole M.G.N., among others. The singles were “On Wires” (June 26), “After All” (July 16), “Don’t Leave Me on the Dance Floor” (August 7), “Motivation” (August 21) and “Versailles” (September 18). The album was released on September 18, 2026, and earned a score of 83 out of 100 on Metacritic, the highest of her career at that point, with reviews praising its ambition, though some critics found it too long. On October 1, 2026, she announced the Day and Night Tour, with dates in Canada and the United States and her first headlining show at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 15, 2027. Jepsen has received three Juno Awards, a Billboard Music Award and an Allan Slaight Award, along with nominations for the Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Polaris Music Prize and People’s Choice Awards. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.