Music history is full of excellent releases made in the wake of new motherhood — from Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation to Eartheater’s Heavenly Body this year. Carly Rae Jepsen has a habit of releasing albums in two, typically releasing a B-side album for each cycle. These storied traditions came together on Sept. 18 for Day and Night, the pop star’s eighth studio release and first double album arriving right after the birth of her first child. While not quite her Ray of Light, this outing features a tremendous expansion of Jepsen’s sonic palette and some more feathers in the cap of contemporary pop’s most consistent should’ve-been-a-hit-maker.
With 24 songs for 24 hours, the album is split into ‘day’ and ‘night’ sides. The Day side songs share an autumnal wistfulness with a focus on live instrumentals Jepsen hasn’t spotlighted so strongly since her debut. The Night side gives her classic synthpop a clubbier spin. There’s no doubt Jepsen had little difficulty filling up 84 minutes — fans will recall her claims of writing 200 songs for Dedicated. The diverse production choices help the time go by quickly, but I question the inclusion of some of these tracks (‘That’s Just Me” goes in one ear and out the other).
The album’s singles are well selected for the most part. “On Wires” and “After All” mark the public’s introduction to the album’s day side, and both remain among the strongest tracks on the record. The emphatic guitar-driven chorus of “On Wires” (with the classic Jepsen brass in the back of the mix) marks a radical departure from her typical sound. Meanwhile, “After All,” a soulful and hazy fall-time picture of family life, opens the album as a natural evolution of the disco sounds from her previous The Loveliest Time. The Night side was represented in the singles department by “Don’t Leave Me on the Dancefloor,” which evokes ABBA in its bright piano keys and Robyn’s patent ‘sad banger’ style. “Motivation” marks well-explored territory as a catchy, almost embarrassingly sincere dance-pop ode to found family.
The single “Versailles,” released alongside the album, is perhaps most telling for Jepsen’s intentions with her latest project. Stuttering piano appears and disappears as she switches in and out of a slower, ballad-esque tempo and a dance track to dissolve in. These adventurous production choices crop up in several other tracks, from the mild psychedelic distortions in “Something Tragic” to the closer of the Day side, “Just a Little Walk on the Moon.” Her vocals in the bossa nova influenced song sound like they’re emerging from an evening radio, as the album prepares for the night side of life. “Gimme your time, gimme your nights, gimme your days” she demands on “Habits of Creatures” — and who can deny her?
Jepsen’s B-sides do tend to have the better songs — I staunchly maintain both Dedicated: Side B and The Loveliest Time are superior to their A-side counterparts — and this double album does not mark an exception. While the stripped back and instrument-based soundscape of the Day side do not always synergise with the pop star’s strengths, her forays into new dancefloor territory on the Night side yield more consistently magical results.
“Never Let a Good Thing Die” immediately launches listeners from the Day side into the club, pulsating with jittery beats before expertly transitioning into an expansive outro. Right after, “Amalfi Coast” recalls Jessie Ware’s nu-disco while blending a vocoder and synth to glorious house effect. Jepsen does not stray far from her usual lyrical grounds across the album, but in “Patience Power Passion” she delights in the irresistible bounce of the chorus, while in “Diver” she pulls out enough metaphors to please a high school English teacher.
Her warehouse of dance references expands with the build-up to the garage-style beat of “Near or Far,” merging with her poppy sensibilities where “No Labels, I Love You” conjures up classic house for everyone to get up and dance. Fittingly, she draws the curtains on “Super Sage,” an ethereal and enveloping track filled with love.
Day and Night is among Jepsen’s more mellow and less immediate records, along the tone of The Loneliest Time. It is also perhaps her most ambitious album so far — released during one of the busiest periods of her life (keep an ear out for her upcoming 10 Things I Hate About You musical).
“My joke is that I’m at some point going to write a memoir, and it’ll be called The Year We Did Everything at Once,” she described in an interview with Elle. For an album which reflects this breadth, all of it — the new, the familiar, the great, the less-good — feels at home in the sonic world she has constructed in her musicianship.
This stylistic expansion is a new springboard to continue growing her flawless discography (yes, including Tug of War). As the world of dance-pop evolves, Carly Rae Jepsen strengthens her niche and keeps her loyal listeners excited to run away with her once more.
