Revisiting Carly Rae Jepsen’s Debut Album ‘Tug Of War’
“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy…” No less than six years have passed since we heard those lines for the first time. The brilliantly simple and annoyingly catchy song they belong to slowly gained popularity and began climbing the charts in late 2011. By 2012, the world was most definitely, not just maybe, calling Carly Rae Jepsen, and the Canadian singer’s career truly took off.
What many people outside of Canada — even some that really, really, really like her — don’t know is that Jepsen had already released an album before “Call Me Maybe”. In contrast to her more well-known releases, that record, Tug Of War, was a laid-back folk-pop album. And, perhaps surprisingly, it may just be her best album to date.
So let’s travel back to 2008 and take a closer look at this forgotten collection of ten fine pop songs.
Promo Shot From Jepsen’s Time On Canadian Idol (2007)
Risen From The Ashes Of A Broken Idol Dream
Carly Rae Jepsen was born in Mission, Canada, in 1985. Like many other future popstars, she began performing in school theatre productions. Later she went on to study musical theatre in Victoria, before auditioning for the fifth season of Canadian Idol in 2007.
Yes, Jepsen is indeed another performer made famous by the Idol franchise. The series, which is mostly known for its now cancelled American Idol spin-off, was created as Pop Idol in the UK in 2001. Subsequently, it conquered the world, years before The X Factor and The Voice took reality music competitions to new heights.
Carly Rae Jepsen did remarkably well as a contestant on Canadian Idol. Having auditioned with an original song, she made it to the top three. Then she was eliminated in third place. The dream of winning the show hadn’t become reality, but the times in which only the winner of a reality talent competition could have a successful career were long gone. Consequently, Jepsen began writing songs for her first album. The record, titled Tug Of War, was eventually released in September 2008 on independent label MapleMusic.
‘Tug Of War’ album cover
Sound And Subject Matter
Carly Rae Jepsen’s two internationally known albums Kiss (2012) and E•MO•TION (2015) are straightforward pop records. The ten tracks on Tug Of War, however, are clearly influenced by folk music and pop rock. While Kiss and E•MO•TION rely heavily on synths, guitars are dominant on Jepsen’s midtempo-heavy debut.
The singer-songwriter isn’t particularly known for her revolutionary lyrics. Remember, for instance, the eloquent opening lines of “This Kiss”: “I went out last night; I’m going out tonight again”. In fact, Jepsen’s biggest hits “Call Me Maybe”, “Good Time”, and “I Really Like You” were incredibly successful precisely because their lyrics were simple. They followed the proven lovesong formula; not too specific and filled with memorable catchphrases.
If you look for intriguing, complex stories and highly sophisticated wording, no Jepsen record will truly satisfy you. While Kiss falls completely flat in this regard, E•MO•TION has its few bright moments. In comparison, Tug Of War is the most diverse and, frankly, interesting of the three albums.
The songs on Jepsen’s debut touch upon various subjects — not just falling in and out of love — and radiate a certain innocence. It’s that innocence of a starry-eyed ordinary girl that already made Amy MacDonald’s first record so special. Similarly, it makes Tug Of War sound genuine and refreshing. In fact, Jepsen only recently managed to rediscover the innocence of her debut with “L.A. Hallucinations”, the standout track on E•MO•TION.
Jepsen in the music video for her single “Tug Of War”
Four Tug Of War Songs You Should Listen To
I. “Bucket” [listen HERE]
“Do you wanna start again somehow? I’ll stay until the sun comes down…”
Tug Of War’s opening track was released as the album’s third single, becoming a minor hit in Canada. It’s an upbeat popsong with nu-disco influences and incorporates a short part of the children’s song “There’s A Hole In My Bucket”. More than any other Jepsen song, “Bucket” is the perfect soundtrack to a sunny summer day. The singer realised that and shot the music video for the track with a group of friends on a beach.
II. “Hotel Shampoos” [listen HERE]
“He says that he don’t recognise us in all our pretty disguises.”
Although “Hotel Shampoos” was never an official single, it’s quite possibly the best track on Tug Of War. The melancholy, yet strangely upbeat-sounding gem details a relationship that’s falling apart over the course of a rags-to-riches story. From lines like “we were poor, yeah we were dream chasers” to a lover’s confession that “this has got away from me”, “Hotel Shampoos” is one of the rare instances in pop music when a compelling, complex story has adequately been put into simple words and to catchy music.
III. “Worldly Matters” [listen HERE]
“My best friend, she lives up the road; haven’t talked to her in weeks.”
The title of this album track makes it clear what it’s about. As a sort of antipole to “Hotel Shampoos”, the midtempo folk-influenced “Worldly Matters” reminds the listener to enjoy the little things in life. “What happened to me on the way to something higher?” Jepsen asks herself, before wondering “what will be left when I have all that I desire?”. These musings work perfectly with the inherent innocence of the entire parent album, creating a refreshingly authentic moment of sonic sunshine.
IV. “Tug Of War” [listen HERE]
“Don’t go out with the boys tonight. I won’t sleep a wink, wondering what you’re doing.”
The album’s title track and second single sounds so different from “Call Me Maybe” that it’s hard to imagine that they were written by the same artist. The overall topic, love, is the same, but “Tug Of War” focuses on jealousy and a lack of trust in an already existing relationship. Indeed, this could be the follow-up story to “Call Me Maybe”. The guy did call, and him and Jepsen did get together. But now they cannot seem to let each other go — even if just for a moment — for fear of losing the love they’ve found. Soundwise, “Tug Of War”, which doesn’t follow the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus pattern, is a contemplative, guitar-driven poprock track.
Carly Rae Jepsen in 2016, eight years after ‘Tug Of War’
The Legacy Of Tug Of War
Tug Of War was not the album that launched Carly Rae Jepsen’s international career. It wasn’t even her true breakthrough in her home country, Canada. Nevertheless, it allowed her to complete her first songwriting sessions and her first advertising campaign in a relatively safe environment. Being released on an independent label, Tug Of War didn’t have to fulfill all the crazy expectations of the often rather scary music industry. All it really needed to do was generate some interest in Jepsen’s art after her stint on Canadian Idol. And that, it did.
Even if the success of “Call Me Maybe” forced Jepsen to write pure pop material from 2012 onwards, the fact that she claims to have completed an entire (unreleased) indie album between Kiss and E•MO•TION proves that she still honours her singer-songwriter roots. Who knows, maybe her next album will be a return to her laid-back and refreshingly authentic Tug Of War style. And if not, there are always the ten original songs of her debut album to turn on when another summer comes around.
