Highlights
- Carly Rae Jepsen had a massive hit with "Call Me Maybe" but hasn't achieved the same level of success since, and she's okay with it.
- Despite not reaching the same level of fame, Jepsen continues to make music and is releasing her seventh album, "The Loveliest Time."
- Jepsen values personal happiness over celebrity recognition and is grateful for the opportunity to create a strong body of work beyond just one song.
Some one-hit wonders become hard to listen to after a while, but the opposite is true of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit single "Call Me Maybe." Even over ten years later, the song is still a bop. Jepsen burst onto the music scene in 2012 when Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez shared a video lip-synching to the incredibly fun song. From that moment on, it seemed like Jepsen would have a thriving career.
Although Carly Rae Jepsen became a huge star as soon as people heard her vibrant voice, it's fair to say that this fame didn't last. She never achieved the level of success that many others have. For some, this would be a huge bummer, but she seems to have taken it in stride. Here's what Jepsen is doing now.
Why Carly Rae Jepsen's Only Had A One-Hit-Wonder
Carly Rae Jepsen is a relatable musician from Canada, and when she talks about the success that she experienced as a result of her hit single, Jepsen is honest about feeling awkward about "Call Me Maybe". When the song turned 10 in 2021, she shared a story that proves that she has never thought of herself as a huge star.
According to Exclaim! Jepsen posted a message to her fanbase and said that when the song came out, she had a restaurant job as a server. She waited on 12 people and the conversation turned to "Call Me Maybe."
She was amazed that they were discussing her, and she wrote, "A direct quote I overheard was something like, 'This girl Carly Rae Jepsen was on repeat over and over our whole trip and we are so sick of it.' Some of them sang the song in a mocking voice, oblivious to the fact that I was serving them food."
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Jepsen was thrilled to get some recognition for her song and signed her autograph on the bill. She had been making music for a while at that point and previously competed on Canadian Idol. But nothing hit quite the way that this song did.
The truth is that while Jepsen has been making music steadily since 2012, none of her other songs have been as big or as popular as this one single.
As of 2017, "Call Me Maybe" had 1 billion YouTube views, according to E! News. It was also a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, which must have been really exciting. According to Celebrity Net Worth, the singer has a $10 million net worth, and there's no doubt that much of that money is from this one song.
However, it's entirely possible that "Call Me Maybe" fans haven't even heard some of Carly Rae Jepsen's other songs. They might not even know that she has released four albums. These records just didn't get the same amount of praise or press.
After her debut album "Kiss" came out in 2012, Jepsen recorded 2015's "Emotion." She followed that up with "Dedicated" in 2019 and "The Loneliest Time" in 2022. One thing is for sure about Jepsen: she writes and records a lot of songs. She also put out "Dedicated Side B" in 2020 which includes a few extra songs.
Her album sales haven't been incredible, though. Entertainment Weekly reported that "Kiss" sold 46,000 copies in week one.
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Is Carly Rae Jepsen upset that she didn't find real success after "Call Me Maybe?" It doesn't seem like it.
In an interview with The Guardian, Jepsen described her career as "a happy challenge." She said that while she could be angry, she could also "be grateful that you had some attention at all." She chose the second option.
Jepsen said, "I was fighting tooth and nail for another song to be on the radio. Even with 'I Really Like You', I had been sending in songs every week to my label and I had no idea that was going to be the one that would work. I have zero ear for the radio, apparently. I look back and I’m proud of the album ['Kiss'] but clearly nothing did as well as that song and it was a challenge to get attention on the rest of the B-side tracks."
The singer also told The Guardian that she is glad that she has made so much music. She sounds happy to continue making music and singing and she doesn't want to dwell on the past. She said, "I saw it as an amazing gift that has allowed me to take my time with this new record and make sure that I have a really strong body of work and not just one song."
What Is Carly Rae Jepsen Doing Now?
Carly Rae Jepsen might not be in the spotlight quite as much as she once was. But her music career is still plugging along. At the end of July 2023, she will release album number seven called "The Loveliest Time."
She's really excited about it and it sounds like it's one of her most personal projects yet. In mid-July 2023, she posted about the album on her Instagram and wrote in the caption, "This one is fragile. I am nervous to share something so intimate, but I feel really thrilled too. Here goes everything."
In February 2020, Jepsen talked about her music in an interview with The Independent and said today, people tell her that they like her music, but she doesn't experience the celebrity that she once did. She sounds perfectly fine with this.
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She told The Independent, “If I am recognised it’s somebody being like, ‘Hey, I love your album!’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re a friendly person! Thank you!’ I can go live my life. That’s happiness to me.”
In the same interview, Jepsen shared her perspective on her career: make the music that makes her happy without worrying about what others are thinking.
She said, "I have to like it, and if they do too, wonderful, and if they don’t, well, nobody gets my weird self and that’s fine.”
The singer also recently shared on Instagram that she and her boyfriend, Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, went on a trip to Japan. The fact that she can go on vacation and not worry about being mobbed by fans all the time is definitely proof that her celebrity didn't last very long. However, Jepsen seems totally okay with that.
