Carly Rae Jepsen: Canada’s brightest new name in pop opens up on sudden fame, family ties and a certain fanboy named Bieber

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The first thing to come out of Carly Rae Jepsen’s mouth after she rushes into Vancouver’s Sugar Studios, fresh off a flight from Los Angeles, is an apology. She wanted to arrive at her first fashion magazine cover shoot early, she tells the crew, but her driver had to “circle around the streets a bit” to shake off the paparazzi. The way she explains the schedule hiccup isn’t blasé, showy or even caustic. Jepsen’s honeyed tone conveys a blend of amazement and excitement that can only come from being nouveau famous. Unlike new wealth, freshly minted fame is not about flaunting what you have, it’s about being humble about what you’re worth.

At 26, the Mission, B.C., native has no reason to be modest right now. Ever since Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe” was unleashed last year, and fortuitously reintroduced to the Twittersphere by Justin Bieber (Jepsen is signed to Bieber’s U.S. label), the track has taken on a career of its own. It became a number one hit in 37 countries, achieving the kind of global success that has Lady Gaga going, well, gaga over it (Mother Monster tweeted “I’m coming after you” to Jepsen).

As of press time, Jepsen’s flirty anthem is 2012’s longest-reigning chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100. Armed with a lyrical hook that brings to mind the mania of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Outta My Head,” Jepsen’s synth-laced cut is so omnipresent that nobody from her team calls it by its name. It’s referred to as “the song.” Will she be singing “the song” on The Tonight Show? Does she know Will Ferrell is protesting “the song” right now? Oh, my God, did you see what the hot guys on the baseball team from Harvard did with “the song”?

All this “Call Me Maybe” talk—which makes up 80 per cent of the conversation on set—doesn’t really stop between outfit changes. When Jepsen’s Vancouver-based manager inquires whether she has seen the latest cover of the song on YouTube, her L.A.-based manager asks which one she is talking about: the Obama remix in which the U.S. president’s speeches get spliced so he’s singing Carly Rae Jepsen’s lyrics? The cover done by a little farmer boy milking cows? That bizarre Star Wars fan video? The interpretation done by the shirtless Abercrombie & Fitch models? Katy Perry’s homage? Colin Powell’s weird performance on CBS This Morning? Donald Trump’s dubious attempt?

It’s soon revealed that the video in question is one created by the U.S. Olympic swim team. Later, Jepsen admits that she has a favourite (aside from Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s version): Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster’s rendition, called “Share It Maybe,” about baked goods. As for the Olympians, Jepsen promises to stream their efforts after she finishes the last few recordings on her latest album, Kiss.

The fact is, Carly Rae Jepsen has no time to get sucked into the vortex of YouTube. One look at her schedule and even a veteran pop star would scream, “This is crazy.” Working around the clock so that Kiss could make its September deadline, she jammed in stage dates, interviews and photo shoots in different countries. Jepsen collaborated with Robyn’s producer, Max Martin, in Sweden, finished writing a song called “Tiny Little Bows” in her Left Bank hotel room in Paris, did five photo shoots in five days in London (“insane,” she recalls) and worked with Madonna’s former producer, Dallas Austin, in L.A.

Although a host of sonic chefs are cooking in Kiss’s kitchen, the sound, Carly Rae Jepsen assures, is decidedly dance-pop. Lyrically, she is staying away from revenge songs of the Pink variety, the broken-hearted beats with which Adele has cornered the market, and Ke$ha’s raging party-girl anthems. She’s also clear that she does not want to be the next Britney Spears. “Nobody can do Britney again. She did a great job at it. I just want to be the best Carly Rae I can be.”

Read the rest of this interview in the October issue of FASHION Magazine

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