Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You”: Review Revue
After almost three years, Carly Rae Jepsen‘s return to music has now arrived! The singer gave us the catchy pop tune “Call Me Maybe,” as well as her debut album Kiss (which many people feel is underrated). Now she is back with her comeback single — “I Really Like You.”
So what are our thoughts on the new track? Well it turns out that we really, really like it: “The good news: The song is good. The great news: Scratch what I just wrote.. ‘I Really Like You’ is mind-blowing, fantastic, catchy-as-hell pop that will make you want to Facebook-stalk that broody guy from philosophy class, marry him and have babies with him until your future second husband comes along.”
But how do other music industry critics feel about Jepsen’s new comeback single? Read what they had to say down below!
:: The Washington Post thinks CRJ’s tune derives from other artists’ sounds: It’s got a 80s-inflected sound similar to that which permeated Solange’s 2012 album, “True,” though Jepsen also adds her own sense of pleading urgency to the synths behind her vocals. Whereas Solange coolly laments the loss of love behind the beat, Jepsen rides giddily on top of it, still chasing romance down. There’s a quintessentially Sally Fieldian feeling to the chorus. At any rate, it fits in perfectly with a post-‘1989; pop world, and it’s a progression from similar synth-pop cuts on her first album, “Kiss.” Jepsen’s definitely enjoyed the influence of Jack Antonoff, the head guitarist of Fun., who also wrote three songs on ‘1989’.”
:: The editors at Cosmopolitan have already driven their boyfriends mad: “I have even managed to drive my boyfriend slowly insane by playing it over and over again at full volume since it was released.”
:: The Verge is also digging the track: “Jepsen dips into a little bit of that ’80s new wave sauce that made Taylor Swift’s 1989 the beast that it is, further contributing to a mainstream pop era that, with any justice, will be remembered as the Age of Robyn. But being sonically on trend is not enough — Jepsen needed a lyric with the same stupid-sweet-exuberance that made “Call Me Maybe” so eminently sing-along-able, and she may have found it.”
:: While DirectLyrics said this: “It’s very pure-pop, which is the genre Carly feels more comfortable in after recording ‘Call Me Maybe’ and the genre her album Kiss was based on. This really could signify her ‘staying in the past’ but in all truth ‘I Really Like You’ is so addictive I don’t care if she’s not showing any evolution with it. It’s a catchy pop song, the chorus is absolutely glorious, the video could go viral thanks to the appearances of Tom Hanks and JB, and all in all, if Carly and her manager Scooter Braun play the cards right ‘I Really Like You’ could mean Carly’s return to the top spots of the charts.”
:: TIME also shared their thoughts: “After showing the world she could be more than a one-hit wonder with Kiss, her crush-worthy collection of flirtatious synth-pop, Jepsen proves she’s still the patron saint of anybody who’s wasted an evening staring at a phone, waiting for a text back.”
:: Slate could do without the repetition: “By my count, Jepsen says ‘really’ 67 times in this song, and every iteration is insanely catchy. If you are into nuanced lyricism, this is not for you; if you are into ’80s pop and sky-high choruses, this is your new favorite song.”
:: Billboard really, really likes it: “Jepsen creates a breathless 80’s banger that comes back to ‘Call Me Maybe’s’ fixation on ultra-crisp percussion and blurted-out flirtation. The chorus doesn’t possess a melodic hook as arresting as the syncopated strings on ‘Call Me Maybe,’ but Jepsen fills the gap by bellowing the words every high schooler screws up the courage to whisper at some point in their lives: ‘I really really really really really really like you.’ It’s darn near impossible to follow up a summer-defining hit like ‘Call Me Maybe,’ but with the giddy ‘I Really Like You,’ Jepsen has put in her bid to rule the spring of 2015.”
:: Vulture is also a fan: “You might think this single is at odds with your current winter doldrums, but maybe when the daffodils are in bloom and you see all of those fine-looking people outside you’ll just think, YES TO THIS CARLY.”
:: Lastly, our friends at Stereogum stated it is “absolute top-shelf bubble-froth”: “Swedish gold-conjuring alchemist Max Martin co-wrote the song, which hits all its marks with mathematical precision and explodes into a goofy-great chorus. If you’re going to be an indie snob about this song, it’s your motherfucking loss. (Also, Jepsen has put in studio time lately with Dev Hynes and Ariel Rechtshaid, so get used to the idea that you will end up liking at least some of her music.) ‘I Really Like You’ is a good one, and it’s one that you will not be able to escape anytime soon.”
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