"E•MO•TION" is Carly Rae Jepson's Masterpiece

When Carly Rae Jepson released 'All That' a few months ago, it was clear that she had grown as an artist since her 'Call Me Maybe' days. The Dev Hynes produced track sounded like something straight out of the 80's; a previously unearthed pop gem buried deep in a time capsule, ready to be discovered by today's listeners. Where Jepson's songs previously relied on inescapable hooks, this song was rooted deeply in its sound, with Jepson's voice twinkling throughout, slowly building to the song's masterful thrilling climax. It suggested that with the release of this album, Jepson was dropping something special.

Jepson, a seriously undervalued pop star, reached astronomical highs in 2012 when 'Call Me Maybe' topped the charts and sold a jaw-dropping 18 million copies. Since that time, she hasn't seen even 1/4 of the same success, which is disappointing, because this is a girl who gets pop music in a way a lot of the current girls being touted as the next big things don't. Jepson's songwriting has also matured in her transition from her last album to this one, and her list of collaborators are dream come true for any artist looking to shell out hit music, including Hynes, Ariel Rechtshaid (best known for his amazing work on Sky Ferreira's "Night Time, My Time"), Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, and Sia.

Jepson's manager Scooter Braun (who also manages human baby Ariana Grande and washed up teen heartthrob Justin Bieber) told the New York Times last month that with this album, they had a totally new mindset.

"We had the biggest single in the world last time and didn't have the biggest album... This time we wanted to stop worrying about singles and focus on having a critically acclaimed album" he told reporters.

Following a traditional lead single release with 'I Really Like You', Jepson and her team have been slowly previewing the album with the sporadic release of the album's strongest cuts. 'All That', 'E•MO•TION', 'Run Away With Me', 'Warm Blood', 'Making the Most of the Night' and most recently 'Your Type' are all available for listening on Spotify, Apple Music and Youtube. Each single, though clearly inspired by pop music of the 80's, is vastly different from the previous release; Jepson has been showcasing a versatility that one would never guess she possessed from listening at her last album.

The obvious comparison to "E•MO•TION" is Taylor Swift's "1989". Where Swift's album aimed (and mostly succeeded) to be a love letter to the music of 80's, Jepson achieves that and more. 'Run Away With Me', the album's opener, is as every bit listenable as Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream', but much more epic and infectious. The track's blaring horns and booming chorus are the perfect way to begin what is a wholly rewarding and memorable experience. It's the rare song that manages to be memorable enough to be embraced by the general public, without sounding empty or artificial. And that's every song on the album.

In trading marketability for acclaim, however, Jepson's team has done the album a disservice. Every song on the album sounds like a potential hit, and the album itself deserves to be enjoying the success "1989" is still enjoying almost a year after its release. Themes of self-doubt, love, depression vengeance are sprinkled throughout the album's duration.

But perhaps the only thing missing from the album is the declaration of who Jepson's musical persona is. Ever since Lady Gaga burst onto the scene with 'Just Dance', it seems like for every artist , there's an onstage persona they live behind as a way of branding their music. After listening to "E•MO•TION", I'm not so sure who Jepson is, but I don't think I really care. What she accomplishes here is something that doesn't happen too often anymore in the age where it's all about the single and sales, rather than the album and the singer behind the song. From start to finish "E•MO•TION" demands (and deserves) to be listened to in its entirety without skipping around. It won't be the next "1989", but goddamn, it truly deserves to be.

Grade: A

***Favorite Tracks: 'Run Away With Me', 'Your Type', 'Warm Blood'***