Once again, Carly Rae Jepsen will not be at the GRAMMYs

Leigh Klein ‘26 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

I’m not a person that cares about the GRAMMYs. The Emmys have always been my thing, and I had every intention of writing exclusively about television this semester. Then, something happened. On November 10th, the nominations for the 2024 GRAMMY awards were announced, and there was not one single mention of Carly Rae Jepsen. 

I am a person that cares very much about Carly Rae Jepsen.

Since the release of her hit song “Call Me Maybe,” Ms. Jepsen has been incredibly busy, and nobody even knows. She was Cinderella on Broadway. She played Frenchy in Grease Live! She did the theme song for Fuller House. She made a music video with Tom Hanks. Most importantly, she has continued to release absolutely incredible pop music and we never talk about it. We should be talking about it! “Run Away With Me” saved my life and this is barely a joke.

The eligibility period for this year’s GRAMMYs was from October 1st, 2022, to September 15th, 2023. In this timeframe, Carly Rae Jepsen (or CRJ to save my word count) released two studio albums. Yes, two. Two studio albums and zero GRAMMY nominations. Criminal.

The Loneliest Time came out on October 21st of last year, coincidentally on the same night as Taylor Swift’s Midnights — Midnights was announced 26 days after TLT, in case anyone was wondering. While everyone freaked out about “Anti-Hero,” I was perfectly content with the instant classic “Talking to Yourself.” I can personally confirm that people in a general admission venue do not know how to act when this song comes on. Jumping, screaming, tears, the whole thing.

Now, everybody knows that CRJ is notorious for writing more songs than could ever fit on the album. It’s common knowledge that she allegedly wrote over 200 songs for 2015’s Emotion, leading to the release of Emotion: Side B with 8 additional tracks that were cut from the album. She did the same with her 2019 album Dedicated, gifting the world with 12 more songs on Dedicated Side B. 

We all anxiously awaited the companion album for The Loneliest Time. She announced the lead single “Shy Boy” on June 15th as a birthday present to me — this is also not a joke, that is my actual birthday — and the rest of the album followed in late July, titled The Loveliest Time. While they both feature classic Carly 80s pop bangers, Loneliest spends a bit more time on soft pondering, and Loveliest revels in, well, love. She’s a genius.

Please do yourself a favor and listen to these two albums. 

If you spend too much time on the internet, it’s possible you’ve heard snippets without realizing. I was informed by my younger brother when the spoken interlude from “The Loneliest Time” became a popular TikTok sound. That song is a disco pop masterpiece and the only part people know is, “But you know what? I’m coming back for you, baby!” I’m not mad. 

Maybe I’m a little mad.

Again, I don’t really care about the GRAMMYs. But, come on, not even a nomination? This woman has been putting out consistently good music like clockwork for over a decade and she hasn’t been mentioned at that ceremony since “Call Me Maybe.” Even Pitchfork, a publication that annoys me for being overly critical, commented on her “gift for summoning rapturous emotion” in their review of The Loveliest Time. 

I hate saying this, but Pitchfork is right. It’s the reason that people who love Carly Rae Jepsen really love Carly Rae Jepsen — her songwriting is downright whimsical, and it just gets you right in the heart. Even in her genre experiments, she always sounds like herself. “Aeroplanes” came out this July and it’s not quite like anything she’s released before — except her 2008 debut Canadian folk album Tug of War, which I would love to discuss at length another time — but it’s still distinctly Carly. “We’re only earth angels / And every day, I want you;” if you put that line over a synth, it could be from Emotion. 

Clearly, I’m a biased reporter. That being said, I recommended The Loneliest Time to my friend last year and now CRJ is her top artist on Spotify. I brought another friend to her concert and that friend is now dating me. Make of that what you will. She’s powerful!

Carly Rae Jepsen doesn’t need the GRAMMY nomination. She’s doing just fine with her dedicated — pun! — following of people who get really heated about the term “one-hit wonder.” But honestly? She should’ve gotten it. She’s earned it. Listen to “Kamikaze” and thank me later.