Canadian songstress Carly Rae Jepsen first made it big with her ubiquitous single "Call Me Maybe", a track has been grating ears for the better part of the decade. And while I mostly find the song to be a mostly harmless bit of pop fluff, it did make Miss Jepsen a sensation overnight; however, recently with the release of her criminally underappreciated 2015 album, Emotion, Carly Rae Jepsen has decided to pretty much leave modern pop conventions off the table, instead opting to embrace the finer parts of 80's synth pop scene. That album, and subsequently this new B-sides EP, both bring to mind the likes of Whitney Houston and provide the kind of music that pays homage to the ere, without stealing from it wholesale. And while I think that Emotion is a great album (a shame I didn't get a chance to dig into it until early this year), I have to acknowledge that there are some less than stellar moments throughout its track-listing, but I have to say, Side B manages to remedy that by being an even stronger release than its A-Side counterpart.
Right from the start this EP is on a high note, from the Whitney infused "First Time", the bombastic and absolutely anthemic "Higher" and perhaps my favorite moment, the anti-commitment anthem called "The One" which coyly rejects the advances of someone by basically saying that they can do all the things that lovers do, but she simply will not commit, because it is "Too much pressure", which is sort of refreshing considering that most songs that we here with this sort of theme see the singer reassuring the listener that they will someday find the ability to settle down, but Carly Rae simply states it how it is, and does it with a splendidly funky bass synth grooving behind her.
Of course, there are some more typical lyrics her, such as on "Fever", which is probably my least favorite cut here; not bad, but it is really the only track on this EP that really does feel like a 'B-side' whereas the rest of the tracks here simply feel like tracks that just weren't ready for Emotion.
The album then winds things down with some slower moments, such as "Cry" and "Roses" which is a surprisingly dark track, considering the rest of the material here, but she still manages to fit one more bright, upbeat moment with the quirky "Store", which helps round out the end of the EP.
Gotta say, I wasn't expecting this EP to wow me as much as it did, but there is the strong possibility that this will end up on my end of the year list; it is really that great, and proved to be the best way to end the summer.
9.0/10
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