Carly Rae Jepsen Pierces the Fantasy
“I thrive on a little chaos,” the queen of bubblegum pop said, describing her new album’s grit and glitter.
In Carly Rae Jepsen’s rich trove of gemlike pop songs, one 2019 track, “Julien,” gleams with special purity. Over a cool disco beat, Jepsen makes a promise: “To the last breath that I breathe / I’ll be whispering, ‘Julien.’” On her recent concert tour, on stages decorated with puffy clouds and silver stars, Jepsen has updated her take on Julien, a real man she once dated. He is, she has shouted at a few shows, “a dick!”
This bit, Jepsen told me recently, is less about attacking her ex than attacking her listener’s expectations. “Oh, Julien, poor guy,” Jepsen, 36, said. “He’s not, like, a guy. He’s just not the guy who ended up being for me,
